Tekikaka Apple Soda

Taste the crisp, refreshing flavor of Tekikaka Apple Soda. Crafted entirely from young green apples picked more than three months before the main harvest, this sparkling beverage offers a rich apple aroma with a clean taste that is gently sweet and balanced. It contains zero percent alcohol and has a higher polyphenol content than mature fruit juice, making it a perfect mealtime pairing.

The drink takes its name from "tekikaka," the term for the unripe apples removed during thinning by orchard farmers in Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture. To keep the trees from spreading their nutrients too thin and producing small, weak fruit, farmers strip away roughly ninety percent of the apples while they're still on the branch. Picked at the size of ping-pong balls, these young apples are far too sour and astringent to eat raw. Pressed into juice, though, they surprise: the result is a fragrant, refreshing apple juice that's not overly sweet, capturing the essence of Japan's apple country.

Made simply with Hirosaki apples and carbon dioxide, this bottled soda is available in three-bottle or six-bottle sets, as well as a twenty-four-bottle case with free shipping. Mixed ten-bottle and twenty-four-bottle sets are also available if you want to sample it alongside traditional cider.