How to Make A Cherry Coke Facsimile in Japan

    My favorite soda in the states was always Cherry Coke. I have fond memories of my parents always getting me one at the gas station on our way to run some errand or take a road trip of some kind. The other day I had a sudden desire for one and popped onto Amazon Japan to see the travesty that was a single 24 pack of cans available for more than 8000 yen before shipping fees.

    I was shocked by the sudden lack of cherry coke, an American beverage that I had seen available previously on Amazon in 12 packs of cans for as little as 2000 yen before now. Appalled by the outrageous prices, I turned to the internet and searched for affordable alternatives. I can get regular coca cola from the grocery store near me. What else would I need?

    Most home-made cola sites recommended getting a cherry syrup and some grenadine, which is essentially pomegranate syrup. It turns out both of these could be procured from Amazon for less than 2000 yen altogether.

    One site recommended tablespoons and cups of cola but since I was still trying out the process, I chose to divide the recipe by three and put about 60 mL of cola with 5 mL each of the grenadine and cherry juice for which I substituted cherry syrup. The result was a little heavy on the fruit flavors for me so I added a little more soda and the result was pleasant enough. For a few sips, it tasted enough like cherry coke that my urge for beverage was satiated.

    An added bonus to making cherry cola this way is that having these mixable elements on hand lends itself well to making a whole host of other fun beverages that aren't as popular here. Given sprite and lime juice, one could make a cheap but likely enjoyable reproduction of cherry lime-ade, a beverage I swore by during my senior year of high school.

    A whole host of alcoholic mixed drinks also can be made with these and other mixers, but even if you only wanted to make cherry coke, these syrups when used thoughtfully will last quite some time. Getting the beverage into the right ratio of syrup to soda might take some work and is likely to vary based on the individual.     Still, if you're missing specifically the sodas from home or cherry coke in specific, there are ways to make it work out here without spending 8000 yen.