Mentos Melon 'n Cream and Ume (Plum)

Recently, a friend came to visit and we made a trip to a Japanese import store about an hour from my city and came back with a few treats. While in Japan, my husband and I saw many kinds of Mentos, and we bought some grapefruit ones for his sister. I never got to try any of the other kinds, though, so I was excited to see them here in America.


I'll start with Melon 'n Cream, as that's what I bought. I love melon soda, so I was pretty sure that these would be up my alley. Melon cream soda is also popular in Japan, and that's what these were trying to capture. They did a fairly good job of it, but the first taste I got from these was banana, but after some chewing, it did have a tasty (slightly floral) cantaloupe flavor. The coating actually tasted like cream, which was pretty neat. It tasted a lot like the drink. A-


Ume means Japanese plum, and there are many plum flavored treats in Japan. Umeboshi is a pickled plum that is very sour, and many Japanese people consider it to be a healthful food. I'm not crazy about umeboshi, but my friend loves ume flavored snacks, and I like many myself. These were very yummy, too! Like most ume candy, they were just a bit sour, reminiscent of umeboshi, but better. I've never had a Japanese plum that wasn't pickled, so I can't say if they are always sour. I have a hard time placing the flavor that ume reminds me of, but in these Mentos, it had a bit of a woodsy taste. A

Both of these flavors were a hit with me. I gave the ume flavor a slightly higher rating because I liked that one better (surprisingly).

The Japanese Mentos site (linked below) is pretty weird. Each flavor is represented by a character. Ume is a funky Japanese girl. Melon 'n Cream is a rather well endowed lady who enjoys country music. Their heights and weights are also listed, in case you were curious.

Mentos Website (Japan)