Nineteen new lines landed in the warehouse this week, and it's a properly mixed bag: a run of Okinawa-only pretzel sticks, two Sanrio mint tins, a barley tea that brews in cold water, and a six-pack lemon soda that finally gives our carton shelf something citrus. Here's the lot, shipped Australia-wide from our Melbourne warehouse.
Drinks: Chelate Lemon lands, by the six-pack
Pokka Sapporo's Chelate Lemon is a Japanese convenience-store staple — a small, sharp, finely carbonated lemon drink in a 155ml bottle you're meant to knock back in one go. It arrives here as six-packs, which makes it one of the easier things to stack up on: three versions are now in, the original, the tarter Citric Acid 2700, and the pink-labelled Mukumi.
Because they're sold in multiples, they sit naturally with our Stash by the Box range — the shipping maths on drinks always favours the fuller box, since our checkout quotes live courier rates by weight rather than a flat fee. Worth a look if you were already eyeing the juice and soft drink shelf.
Candy and gummies: nine new ones
The biggest batch. Kanro Pure Gummy Salted Watermelon is the summer edition of the sour-dusted classic — watermelon with a pinch of salt, the way it's eaten in Japan, with shell, crab and dolphin shapes hidden in the bag. Nobel Sorbet Gummy goes the other way: a frosted sugar coating over a soft kyoho grape centre, and it's very good straight from the freezer.
From Zennoh Foods there's Shizuku Gummy in Yamagata cherry (shizuku means droplet, which is both the shape and the point) and a Hokkaido Milk Gummy shaped like dairy-cow patches. Meiji Honey Lemon Soda Up is the newest flavour in the Up Gummy line — the series that began with Cola Up, Japan's first gummy, more than forty years ago.
On the chewy side, Hi-Chew Premium Mango arrives in the softer Premium format (a resealable pouch, not a stick), and Mentos Cola is the Japanese-market roll. Two hard candies from Asahi round it out: Calpis Assorted, built on the cultured milk drink that's been a household name since 1919, and Saku Koi Ichigo, a shell that shatters rather than dissolves over a concentrated strawberry centre. All of them live in Candy & Gummy.
Two Sanrio mint tins
Kitami Hakka Tsusho works with mint from Kitami in Hokkaido, a town that once supplied a serious share of the world's crop. Their Mentab tablets come in slim slide-open packs of about seventy: Peppermint in a Hello Kitty edition, and Chocolate Mint with Cinnamoroll, where the cocoa rounds the mint off into something closer to an after-dinner mint.
Okinawa-only pretzel sticks
Two regional lines you won't see in an Aussie supermarket. Island Chili Mayo leads with mayonnaise and finishes with shima togarashi (island chilli), a dry heat that hangs about; Beniimo uses Okinawa's beniimo (purple sweet potato), mellow rather than sugary, against a salty stick. Both sit in Japan Exclusive.
Pantry and tea
Wadakan Kombu Tsuyu Shiro Dashi is a shiro dashi (pale Japanese soup base) built on kombu seaweed. Unlike dark soy-based tsuyu it seasons without staining, which is why it's the default for clear soups, chawanmushi, simmered vegetables and dashimaki tamago. Verde Sugar Butter Toast Spread comes in a squeeze tube — spread it before the toaster and the sugar crisps on top.
And OSK Quick-Brew Barley Tea: forty bags of mugicha (roasted barley tea) that release in cold water, so a jug in the fridge overnight is the whole method. More in Japanese tea and the pantry shelf.
Where to buy these Japanese snacks in Australia
Everything above is in stock at CRUNCH STASH and shipped Australia-wide from our Melbourne warehouse. Start with New Arrivals to see this week's lot together, or browse everything in store.
