Ramune's party trick isn't the flavour — it's the glass marble sealed into the neck of the bottle, and the fact that you have to fight the bottle's own fizz to get it open.
How the marble bottle actually works
Ramune is bottled in a Codd-neck bottle, a design patented by the British inventor Hiram Codd in 1872 — decades before Ramune itself existed. A glass marble sits in a narrow chamber just below the cap, held firmly against a rubber washer by the pressure of the drink's own carbonation. That's what seals the bottle; there's no separate cap seal doing the work.
- The plunger — every bottle comes with a small plastic cap-and-plunger fitted over the top.
- The push — pressing down releases the gas pressure holding the marble in place, and it drops through the neck with a satisfying pop and fizz.
- The groove — the neck narrows just below the chamber, so the marble lodges to one side rather than falling into the bottle and blocking your drink.
Where Ramune actually comes from
Ramune dates to 1884, when Alexander Cameron Sim, a Scottish pharmacist based in Kobe, introduced it as a Japanese version of European lemonade. The name is a Japanese transliteration of "lemonade," and the original flavour still tastes closer to bubblegum than lemon to most Western palates. It was originally bottled using the same Codd-neck design already common for fizzy drinks in Britain at the time — Japan simply kept using it long after most of the world moved on to crown caps.
The flavour range
Today Ramune is made mainly by the Japanese drinks company Sangaria, in a colour-coded range that runs to dozens of flavours: strawberry, melon, lychee, pineapple, blue Hawaii and green apple sit alongside the original, plus novelty flavours — wasabi and curry among them — aimed squarely at souvenir shoppers rather than repeat drinkers. If it's the fizz you're after rather than the marble-popping theatre, our fizzy sweets collection scratches a similar itch.
Frequently asked questions
How does the marble in a Ramune bottle work?
Ramune uses a Codd-neck bottle, patented by Hiram Codd in 1872: a glass marble sits in a small chamber below the cap and is held against a rubber seal by the drink's own carbonation. Pushing the marble down with the plastic plunger included under the cap breaks the seal, releases the fizz, and the marble drops into wider grooves cut into the neck so it stays out of the way while you drink.
Where does Ramune come from?
Ramune was introduced in Kobe in 1884 by Alexander Cameron Sim, a Scottish pharmacist, as a Japanese take on European lemonade — the name is a Japanese pronunciation of 'lemonade.' It's now made mainly by the Japanese drinks company Sangaria.
What flavours does Ramune come in?
Beyond the original Ramune flavour, Sangaria produces dozens of varieties including strawberry, melon, lychee, pineapple and blue Hawaii, plus novelty flavours like wasabi and curry aimed at the gift-shop market.