March 30, 2025 • 29 mins
Episode 177. If we think about sake, usually an image of a glass bottle pops to mind. But if we scratch the surface and investigate a bit more the way that sake is packaged and shipped, there is a world of variety out there you may not have considered! This leads us to one of our series we are calling "Funky Packaging"... think of it as sake beyond the glass bottle. Cups, bags, paks, and today's packaging - the Joto One Cup - a special paper cup that makes sake accessible on the go. Listen in as we explore another variation of funky packaging with a graffiti twist. #SakeRevolution
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
John Puma (00:22):
Hello everybody and welcome to Sake Revolution.
This is America's First SakePodcast I'm your host John Puma
from the Sake Notes, also theadministrator over at the
Internet Sake Discord andReddit's r slash sake community.
Timothy Sullivan (00:37):
And I'm your host, Timothy, Sullivan.
I'm a sake samurai.
I'm the director of Education atthe Sake Studies Center, as well
as the founder of the urban Sakewebsite.
And every week, John and I willbe here tasting and chatting
about all things sake, and doingour best to make it fun and easy
to understand.
Hello, John.
I'm
John Puma (00:55):
Timothy, good to see you.
How are you today?
Timothy Sullivan (00:57):
doing good.
Excited to be back in the studiorecording again?
John Puma (01:03):
The studio, huh?
Yes, yes, the studio, thevirtual studio, the Zoom studio.
But we're here, we're here, andwe have in front of us today bit
of sake, that has a bit of afunky package.
Timothy Sullivan (01:19):
Yes, it's time to get funky again.
I can't believe it but it'sjust, It's just you and me in
the
John Puma (01:24):
can't believe your puns.
Timothy Sullivan (01:26):
It's just you and me in the studio today.
we're going to be looking atsome funky packaging and I think
with all humility, John, I thinkthis funkiest we've come across.
So I'm very excited.
John Puma (01:39):
Yeah, this one is, been around for a little bit and
I think people might be a littlefamiliar.
Uh, I know that I've certainlyhad it before.
Tim, have you had this one
Timothy Sullivan (01:47):
I have had it before, but I'm excited to try
it again.
it's, been, it's.
been a good, It's been a minute.
since I've tried this sake.
John Puma (01:53):
So, uh, we're gonna pull back veil here and tell
everybody what we're drinkingand talking about.
And that is the Joto one cupsake cup and and you might oh,
it's a one cup.
That's that is not funky but nowith this one cup is Unusual and
especially united States is isfunky and Tim.
(02:15):
Why is that?
Timothy Sullivan (02:16):
Well, it is a paper one cup, so it feels kind
of like a Dixie cup, doesn't it?
Like, it's like a wax, waxcoated paper cup
John Puma (02:31):
Yeah,
Timothy Sullivan (02:32):
the size, let's check.
The size is 200 milliliters,
John Puma (02:36):
mm hmm
Timothy Sullivan (02:37):
so a little
John Puma (02:37):
is a little unusual,
Timothy Sullivan (02:39):
bit more than one go.
John Puma (02:41):
Yeah, for people at home, the one cup is typically
either, like, glass or, um, isit like aluminum, Tim?
It's aluminum?
Metal?
So, yeah, so aluminum or glass,and so having something that is
literally paper, and it does,Tim, you nailed it with the
(03:02):
dixie cup, it does look likeit's a big Dixie
Timothy Sullivan (03:06):
Yeah.
so when you have a regularglass, one cup, like you said,
there's usually that foiltopping that you peel off like a
pringles can.
I remember talking about that onthe show.
uh, this has a plastic lid thatcomes off and then there's a
foil, very thin foil cover.
John Puma (03:27):
So the foil, the foil does make an appearance.
It just, uh, it's actually amuch thinner
Timothy Sullivan (03:31):
Very thin.
Yeah.
yeah.
John Puma (03:33):
It's, It's, almost like a Capri Sun kind of thing.
It's like, you could probablypoke a hole in this with a straw
if you wanted
Timothy Sullivan (03:38):
You could definitely poke a hole in that.
And, but you know, John, if itwas just a paper, one cup, that
would be funky, but Joto hasdone something to take this to
another level.
We got to talk about the designon this paper cup.
John Puma (03:55):
It is, it is one of the more interesting looking
sake labels, and it's, so it'sinteresting because, we've
talked about Joto before, we'vehad, we've had people on the
show from Joto before, and, youknow, we've talked about how
they do some white labeling, andthis fits into that, this is a
white labeled, uh, a whitelabeled sake, and Tim, can you
remind people at home what whitelabeling is exactly?
Timothy Sullivan (04:16):
Sure, that's when a company buys product from
a brewery, and then they rebrandit, relabel it, and sell it
under a different brand.
So in the, in the case of thisJoto one cup, Joto is very
transparent and they purchasesake from, uh, Marumoto Shuzo,
(04:38):
they're, the makers of the brandChikuren, which Joto has sold in
the States for a long time.
So they buy this sake fromMarumoto Shuzo out of Okayama
and they sell it as Joto brand.
So that's white labeling andit's, it's pretty common and
they got to design their ownlabel because of that.
(04:59):
And they've gone for somethingsuper funky.
John Puma (05:03):
Yeah.
And they, you know, again, they,they, they do this often with,
with white labeling and usuallythey're, bottled sake it's the
packaging is usually it's alittle bit more, uh, restrained
this one, they just went for itAnd it's, it's just, it's almost
like graffiti art.
Right, Tim?
Timothy Sullivan (05:18):
it's not like graffiti art, it is graffiti
art.
John Puma (05:21):
well then.
Timothy Sullivan (05:24):
This is a graffiti design.
it says Joto One Cup Sake.
And there are lots of motifs inhere.
Maybe we can describe a bit forour listeners.
Of course, you can visitsakerevolution.
com and you can look up thisfunky packaging episode and look
at a picture of this label,which we will put there for you
(05:46):
to see.
We have the great wave ofKamakura at the bottom, probably
one of the most famous symbolsof Japan.
We've got Mount Fuji in theclouds.
We've got rice.
Uh, there's a bird and there's afish.
John Puma (06:01):
is a bird and a fish, and in the background implies
the old, sun raised japaneseflag.
Timothy Sullivan (06:07):
And in the upper left corner is a, drawing
of a brewery worker with aheadband on straining to stir
the moromi.
So
John Puma (06:18):
he looks like he's, Hey, he's busy.
He's having a, a rough day.
He looks tired.
Timothy Sullivan (06:22):
Yeah, and he also makes an appearance on the
foil cover.
John Puma (06:27):
repeated appearances on the foil cover.
Timothy Sullivan (06:29):
Yeah.
John Puma (06:30):
with the Joto logo.
Timothy Sullivan (06:32):
Absolutely.
So, I researched a little bitwhere this label came from, and
Joto actually partnered with aNew York City based Japanese
graffiti artist named Shiro One,and she is a well established
graffiti artist who has a prettyinteresting history.
(06:54):
She's originally from japan andshe started her career out as a
nurse.
So she, yes, so she worked in a,in a
John Puma (07:04):
that's quite the pivot.
Timothy Sullivan (07:05):
I know! Yeah, so she worked as a nurse for
many years and decided to changecareer paths and was really
interested in, I think it was indancing originally.
And then she became attracted tograffiti art and moved to New
(07:28):
York on her own without knowinganybody and began doing murals.
So, she's really well known forher outdoor murals and she's
created a character named Mimiwho appears in a lot of her
murals and it's kind of a symbolof female empowerment and a way
(07:48):
of expressing her desire forwhat she wants to achieve and,
uh, They're really, reallywonderful.
So if you would like to.
If you want to.
see the work of Shiro One, theJapanese graffiti artist who
made this label, please checkour show notes and we'll link to
all of her Instagram and websiteso you can check out her work.
(08:11):
And she's still active in NewYork and actually recently
launched a fashion collab.
So now she's doing graffiti art,but also fashion and she's a
super, super interesting personand just really really
inspiring.
John Puma (08:26):
That's great.
That's awesome.
So now, uh, one thing I'venoticed about this, before we go
too much more in depth, is thatthey don't they don't say
anything about, um, the grade ofthis sake.
It doesn't say anything aboutJunmai, or Junmai Ginjo, or
anything like that.
So, the thing that pops into myhead is, oh, wait a minute.
This just might be Futsushu.
Timothy Sullivan (08:48):
Yes, john, what is futsushu for our
listeners at home
John Puma (08:52):
It is Hmm, I guess a derogatory way to say it would
be it Is table sake.
Timothy Sullivan (08:58):
Well
John Puma (08:59):
It's, you know, in all curiosities, like, would you
consider somebody saying, like,table sake about Futsushu?
Would that be Do you think thatwould be derogatory?
Timothy Sullivan (09:06):
I do not think that's derogatory at all.
My way to define it, honestly,is not non premium sake.
So, you kind of draw thatdelineation between what
qualifies for the premiumclassifications, and if for any
reason you don't qualify, thenyou fall into the futsushu
category.
But your sake can be amazing.
(09:26):
It could be some other reason.
that you're not in a premiumcategory.
So, uh, I would say it'sbasically defined as non
premium, but it's a big catchall term and there's a lot of
amazing futsushu out there.
There's some stuff that's notthe, best, but another
colloquial way to describe itis, like you said, is table
(09:48):
sake.
John Puma (09:49):
Yeah, yeah, and that's the, uh When you asked
me, I was like, I wanted to say,I was thinking like, Oh, either
non premium or table sake, like,which does table sake, sound
bad?
And that's why, that's why Iasked.
And I thought it was a good, agood conversation to have.
Cause it was, I think people athome might wonder if like the
term table sake.
is, Uh, is, is acceptable.
Apparently it is
Timothy Sullivan (10:09):
I think I think so.
Everyone has to make thatdecision for themselves, but I
think I think it's veryacceptable now, Uh, let's um,
let's Let the people know whatthe stats are because we have
from the joto website We knowwhat the stats are for this
sake.
(10:29):
So john, why don't you tell themwhat we're dealing with here?
Well,
John Puma (10:32):
Uh, so Tim, as you mentioned earlier, this is, uh,
the Joto One cup.
Uh, it is from Marumoto Shuzoover in, in Okayama Prefecture
this brewery, is well known, formaking the rin brand of sake.
this particular one though,this, uh, futsushu, is using,
ake bono rice and Yamadanishiki.
(10:53):
So this isn't table rice intheir table sake.
They're using some, some heavyhitters here and, uh, they're
milling them down to, 70% oftheir original size.
the sake.
meter value, that measure of dryto sweet, is minus two, the
yeast, we actually have yeastinformation for this, uh, is,
uh, 1401.
(11:13):
the acidity is, uh, 1.
3, and Tim, would you consider1.
3?
That's like kind of right, rightin the, right in the average,
right?
Not, not too high, not too low?
Or am I off on
Timothy Sullivan (11:25):
I consider most acidity between 1.
5 is medium.
And so anything between 1.0-1.5,I consider on the lighter side
of acidity.
John Puma (11:37):
Okay, so it's a little bit lighter than, uh,
and, uh, the ABV is 15%, whichis sounds great for, for a cup
of sake, right?
Timothy Sullivan (11:47):
Yeah.
Now this is a futsushu.
So one thing We haven't talkedabout is.
If this is alcohol added or purerice, Junmai style, and because
they are omitting any referenceto the word Junmai here, I think
It's safe to assume that this isan Aruten or alcohol added
style.
John Puma (12:07):
Probably.
Timothy Sullivan (12:08):
Yes, probably.
Probably yes.
John Puma (12:12):
We have no way of knowing for sure, but the, the
good money is on, is on, aruten,right?
Timothy Sullivan (12:17):
For sure.
Yeah.
And just one note before wecrack this puppy open and drink
it.
This cup is also sold in Japanas addition to being sold here,
and this actually is the bestselling one cup in Okayama
prefecture.
John Puma (12:34):
Really.
That's awesome.
Timothy Sullivan (12:36):
So the prefecture where Chiku and the,
makers of this cup are located,this is the best selling one cup
in the whole prefecture.
So, uh, it, it has captured thelocal market for sure.
John Puma (12:49):
That's great.
That's really cool.
Uh, I, yeah, it's, I, I don't,I, I wouldn't know what it would
look like in Japan, you know, Idon't know what the, what the
cup would, uh, would appear tobe.
So, i, I'm gonna to keep my eyesopen next time over there and,
uh, if I ever go to pre fixture,definitely something I'm gonna
be looking for because I thinkit would be fun to, I think it'd
be fun to snag the the originalversion
Timothy Sullivan (13:09):
Mm.
All right.
Well, you ready to get tasting?
John Puma (13:15):
am ready to get tasting.
The fun part about this is thatwe don't need to pour anything
into any glasses.
We can just drink this straightout of the cup
Timothy Sullivan (13:22):
All the time I'm going to save washing my
wine glasses after this.
All right.
John Puma (13:28):
Yes, but unfortunately, you're also not
going to get the ASMR pourmoment that we usually get.
But,
Timothy Sullivan (13:35):
we will get the
John Puma (13:37):
the pull test.
Timothy Sullivan (13:39):
pull tab.
So let's see if we can capturethis without spilling.
Okay.
I've got mine open.
Ooh.
John Puma (13:46):
Yeah.
Timothy Sullivan (13:47):
Oh, wow.
is that an optical illusion oris it It's shiny on the inside.
John Puma (13:54):
It is shiny on the inside, tim, I think.
So what I think is going on isprobably a coating similar to
the wax on the outside toprotect the paper from, you
know, falling apart.
I assume.
Timothy Sullivan (14:06):
it, looks like there's a firm inner plastic
lining inside the cup, and itkind of gives it a silvery
shimmer.
it's, really, really nice,actually.
I like it.
Hmm.
John Puma (14:18):
you know, it does make it look like you're
drinking something a littlespecial.
Timothy Sullivan (14:21):
All right.
let's give it a smell.
Oh.
Hmm.
John Puma (14:27):
You got that, uh, Steamed rice is where I'm at.
Steamed, a little sweet rice,steamed and a little sweet.
It's kind of like, I'm beginningto realize that when we have
like futsushus on the show or,or you're kind of, um, you're,
you're lesser milled, um, Junmaior Honjozo, you often get that.
And It's like kind of likeclassic um, for that style.
(14:52):
It's like a classic aroma forthat style.
Timothy Sullivan (14:55):
That's a hundred percent correct.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's a little bit of thatsteamed rice as you correctly
identified.
There's also a hint of ethanoltoo.
There's a little hint of alcoholaroma, which you can expect with
Futsushu, just a touch, um,which is totally on, on
John Puma (15:17):
On brand
Timothy Sullivan (15:18):
for Futsushu.
John Puma (15:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Timothy Sullivan (15:21):
but this is,, really convenient.
Now the little plastic cover canbe put back on if you don't
finish it all and it can bestored in the fridge.
So, uh, because you have thefeel peel off foil, it doesn't
mean you're stuck drinking thewhole thing in one go if you
don't want to.
So there is that outer plasticlid.
(15:41):
It looks like a mini iced coffeelid.
It's like a clear plastic.
John Puma (15:46):
Yeah.
I wouldn't necessarily, um,travel with this after you've
opened it and put the lid.
on.
It's not quite ready.
Timothy Sullivan (15:55):
yeah, it's, it would definitely leak if you
shook it around.
John Puma (15:59):
Oh Yeah.
absolutely.
Timothy Sullivan (16:00):
All right.
Well, I'm ready to give this ataste.
Here we go.
John Puma (16:05):
Sounds like a plan to me.
Let's do it.
Hmm.
Timothy Sullivan (16:10):
Hmm.
John Puma (16:12):
That's nice.
Timothy Sullivan (16:13):
Those rice notes definitely carry over.
Now there's a tasting note onthe, side of this cup.
I don't know if you
John Puma (16:23):
There is,
Timothy Sullivan (16:24):
It says, bursting with hints of green
grape and juicy watermelon.
John Puma (16:32):
far be it from me to debate the, distributor, but I I
don't I don't know if I'mgetting a whole lot of that from
this.
I'm enjoying it, but I don'tknow.
It's a, to me, I just feel it'sso very, um, rice forward.
And to me, that's like theprevailing.
flavor when I sip on this.
(16:53):
Now that you're looking for thegreen grape, perhaps, and the
watermelon.
are you finding it?
Timothy Sullivan (17:00):
I will say I've had other sakes that are
more green grape watermelon.
to my palate than this.
John Puma (17:07):
don't know.
Timothy Sullivan (17:08):
But, uh, yeah, I agree with you.
For me, there's that classicrice forward taste.
It's a little bit heavier.
This isn't super light.
It's, it's a little bit richerand full and, um, it does have
that rice forward and a littlebit richer taste.
(17:31):
Now, this doesn't have, youknow, we've tasted some sakes
we've called ricey, and it waskind of like a rice pudding
lactic character, but thisdoesn't have that.
John Puma (17:43):
I just, uh, experimented with putting the
lid on.
I would definitely not shakethis up with the lid on.
It's very, uh, The lid is alittle precarious.
I'm glad it's there! Um, butit's a little, you know.
That's a little precarious.
Timothy Sullivan (17:59):
Yeah, so this, this has some boldness, and I
just had a thought that, likemany futsu shus, I think this
would be really interesting ifwe warmed it up.
John Puma (18:11):
Maybe you'll get some green grape watermelon when you
do.
I feel like rice comes out morewhen you warm it up.
I do think so.
Mine is cold.
been recording for about 20minutes, so it's probably been
out of the fridge for about halfan hour.
Uh, so it's, it's chilled, butnot, not super cold.
(18:31):
And I think it's a greattemperature for this.
It's like, it's really doing agreat job.
It's very sippable, veryrelaxing.
I'm sure that it probably would,would do well with food as well.
but I think you probably areabsolutely right though, and
that we should, um, consider inthe future, warming this up a
little bit and seeing whathappens because, you know, I
(18:54):
think you have a good point.
this sort of thing tends to lenditself to, to being warmed hot!
Mmm.
Timothy Sullivan (18:59):
Yeah.
When you warm up a futsushu,often when you sip on it, you
get that, I often describe it aslike that hot toddy sensation
where it just kind of warms you.
the, the the alcohol notes comeforward a little bit and it just
kind of warms you from theinside out.
Uh, that sensation, that isreally nice in the winter time.
(19:20):
and, I also think that, warmingit brings out more umami when,
now this rice is polished to 70percent remaining, And when you
don't polish down to reallysmall sizes, you have more of
the proteins on the rice grainthat make it into the sake, and
that gives you more umami andsavoriness.
(19:40):
When you warm up the sake, Ifeel it brings out those savory
notes even more.
The lighter fruity floral notestend to dissipate more quickly
when you warm a sake and thosemore rice-y earthy umami notes
remain and get highlighted whenyou warm a sake.
So I find that if, if, I'm, Iwould imagine if we warmed this
up, we would probably get alittle more umami and that
(20:04):
warming hot toddy feeling fromthe sake, which can be very nice
in the winter
John Puma (20:11):
Mm hmm.
I have to say like whenever wedo this funky packaging I think
at least this is at least oursecond Futsushu And i'm always
surprised because I think thatlike futsu shu gets a bad rap
and uh, cause it's all the worldis not premium.
And so people, I think includemyself included, get ideas in
their head about non premiumsake.
And, uh, yeah, I'm like, I'mlike, no, this is like, non
(20:34):
premium sake is not a, not adirty word.
Table sake is not a pejorativeterm, apparently,
Timothy Sullivan (20:41):
according to some.
John Puma (20:42):
according to some yes.
But Yeah, I'm, I'm reallyenjoying this.
Timothy Sullivan (20:47):
yeah, it's really, really interesting.
we should also talk about thesustainability of this cup too.
John Puma (20:54):
Hmm.
Timothy Sullivan (20:55):
Now the, when you
John Puma (20:57):
What do we know about the sustainability of
Timothy Sullivan (20:59):
well, glass, glass, and.
Aluminum are also recyclable andsustainable in their own way.
But one thing that comes acrosswith this is how portable and
how light it is.
Like, this is incredibly light.
It would be, uh, easy torecycle, I imagine, and
(21:21):
transportation costs are a bigpart of the ecological burden of
any goods that have to beshipped.
And if you've ever carried acase of sake through Haneda
Airport, you know how heavythose bottles can be,
John Puma (21:35):
I can't say I have Tim.
Timothy Sullivan (21:40):
Yeah, so
John Puma (21:41):
I'm guessing you have
Timothy Sullivan (21:42):
I have glass, glass bottles are heavy.
So when I picked this up, I waslike, Oh, this is, you know,
they put just enoughreinforcement inside the paper
to like make it, uh, solid andit doesn't feel like it's going
to collapse if you give it alittle squeeze, but it, it seems
like this would be easy torecycle light to transport and.
(22:07):
I just had a little spill
John Puma (22:10):
Oh, no.
Timothy Sullivan (22:11):
with my lid on.
John Puma (22:12):
I was about to say, were you testing the boundaries
of the lid?
Do we now know what, what youcan and cannot do?
Timothy Sullivan (22:18):
you cannot tilt it to the side.
John Puma (22:21):
Oh, no.
Timothy Sullivan (22:22):
Yeah.
So I, I picked this up and Ithink it's, it's got a nice
light feel to it, but would notbe that heavy to transport.
Um,
John Puma (22:34):
We did our funky packaging with the, the Lucky
Dog sake, which was also a paperthat had a coating on it.
Um, and as you pointed out aboutthis, this feels more sturdy
than that to me.
Like, this is like, you know,has more, definitely has more
structural integrity to it.
And I don't know if it's becauseof the shape of it being, you
(22:56):
know, a Almost a cone.
And or if it's just that theyjust made it, you know, they
gave it extra layers because ifI recall correctly from lucky
Dog, they were they layered itup to to get there and here it's
a little bit more a little bitmore I mean, it's definitely
(23:16):
definitely feels more sturdy.
Timothy Sullivan (23:19):
I think the inner lining, the plastic that
is on the inside of the cup ispretty thick, and I think that
gives it the stability.
When we're done enjoying oursake, we'll have to rip this cup
apart and find out what's on the
John Puma (23:33):
And do a deep dive.
Mm hmm.
Mm
Timothy Sullivan (23:36):
No, I think, I think the plastic inner lining
of the cup, uh, keeps it rigid,and probably, You know, protects
the sake from, uh, exposure tolight.
Cause it's solid.
The design is solid on theoutside.
The plastic is clear on theinside and then you got the foil
(23:57):
on the top.
So, um, that definitely helpskeep it protected, but yeah, I'm
pretty sure it's that plasticlining on the inside.
John Puma (24:09):
Yeah, probably, you're probably right about
that.
It's interesting though, if you,if you hold up the, uh, if you
hold up the cup, like, with alight source, um, on the outside
and you look on the, inside, youcan see through it.
Uh, and you will see the, thegraffiti art right there.
Which is really, uh, surprisingand interesting, because we
talked about how, how sturdy itfeels because of that lining on
(24:32):
the inside.
That lining on the inside isalmost transparent.
Timothy Sullivan (24:34):
hmm.
John Puma (24:35):
Really cool.
Like this is a, this is a wellmade cup.
I'm a fan.
And, um, and I think The pointyou were trying to make earlier
is that, you know, paper islight, paper is recyclable.
So it's nice.
It's easy to deal with.
Timothy Sullivan (24:50):
and, when the, when the foil top is still
intact, you can just throw thesein your bag And go on a picnic
or something like that, which isthe same thing we said for the,
the lucky dog cup.
It's like a very mobile way ofgetting around.
When you throw your sake bottlesin your bag, you have to like be
really careful with them, butthese paper cups are pretty good
(25:16):
for on the go sake sipping.
I
John Puma (25:20):
Yeah.
To me, it's like, this is sortof a little bit of a classic.
do you remember when you firsthad this?
Timothy Sullivan (25:25):
think, it's been around since like 2016 or
so.
John Puma (25:29):
Yeah.
I think, I think at least, forme, I was in, like a bar arcade
in Lexington, Kentucky.
And they had, like they, theyhad like on the, chalkboard,
like we were all at the beers,they had sake.
I was like, Oh, they have sake.
And it was like Joto cup.
I was like, Oh, I know joto.
I don't know the, joto cup.
(25:50):
What is that all about?
And so I got it.
And I was like, this is lovely!I'm able to just, like, walk
around this arcade with this cupof sake.
This is so, uh, convenient.
yeah, it was a good time.
it's really nice to see sake inplaces you don't expect to see
sake.
Like, that's like a, always putsa smile on my face when I'm able
to, to get some sake.
In a, in a place that's not arestaurant or, you know,
(26:12):
specifically not a japaneserestaurant.
Like, it's really nice to seesake in, in places like that.
We should maybe, maybe, we needto do an episode one day about,
you know, we call out placesthat do sake that are not
stereotypical.
That would be fun.
I think that's like somethingthat should be celebrated and I
think that's like an awesomething for, it's a win for sake.
Timothy Sullivan (26:31):
You know, this, I think designs like the
label that this has and theformat this has makes that more
possible.
I think if You walked into thearcade with like a traditional
seven 20 ML of sake with
John Puma (26:45):
like walking around the
Timothy Sullivan (26:46):
With a kanji label, it's just not the format
that's going to fly there.
So this is the, this funkypackaging is thinking outside of
the box and it makes a placementin a place like an arcade or
something like that morepossible.
So that's really a success in mybook.
John Puma (27:03):
Yeah, totally, totally.
Timothy Sullivan (27:04):
Well, I think we've successfully funkified
another episode with our funky
John Puma (27:11):
Funkified.
Yes, we did.
Timothy Sullivan (27:14):
John, we, keep, we keep saying we're going
to run out of funky packaging,but it hasn't happened yet.
John Puma (27:20):
I don't know.
I just keep coming up with more.
I'm not complaining.
I'm very pleased that we, uh,that we're, we're finding an
endless stream of, uh, of funk.
Timothy Sullivan (27:30):
well, They keep, popping up.
So as long as the funkypackaging keeps showing up,
we'll keep reporting on it.
Right, John?
John Puma (27:38):
Oh yes.
We, when, when, funky packagingdrops, look to sake.
Revolution.
We're here for it.
Timothy Sullivan (27:45):
Alright, well John, it was great to taste with
you and it was fun to tastesomething in such unique and
stylish packaging.
Really fun.
Um, and, uh, I want to
John Puma (27:57):
And again, really damn tasty.
This is really nice sake.
Timothy Sullivan (28:01):
Absolutely.
I'm still looking for thatwatermelon, but,
John Puma (28:06):
The search for watermelon.
Timothy Sullivan (28:09):
but it is really enjoyable and, Uh, uh,
something that we do have toplay around with the temperature
next time.
Really fun.
All right.
Well, uh, great to taste withyou, John, and Thanks to all our
listeners.
for tuning in today.
We hope you enjoyed our show anda special hello and thank you to
all of our supporters.
(28:30):
If you, would like to join insupport of Sake Revolution, the
best way to do that is to joinour community on Patreon.
We're a listener supported showand the support we receive from
our patrons Allows us to host,edit, and produce this podcast
if you'd like to join, visitPatreon.com/SakeRevolution.
John Puma (28:51):
always, always, but especially today, you need to
visit the, uh, website,SakeRevolution.Com, so you can
check out the show notes becauseagain, we can, we can tell you
about this sake cup all day, butyou got take a look at this
graffiti.
It's really nice.
the art is, it is art.
It is really good.
Graffiti is art, by the way.
and also when you, have time,take a moment and review our
(29:12):
show.
On your podcast platform ofchoice.
So if you're listening to us onApple podcast that's where
you're going to do it.
Spotify, Charitable, all ofthose fun things.
We really do appreciate theshout out.
It does help the show.
Without any further ado, pleaseraise your wonderfully graffiti
paper cups.
Remember to keep drinking sakeand Kampai!
Hello everybody and welcome to Sake Revolution.
This is America's First SakePodcast I'm your host John Puma
from the Sake Notes, also theadministrator over at the
Internet Sake Discord andReddit's r slash sake community.
Timothy Sullivan (00:37):
And I'm your host, Timothy, Sullivan.
I'm a sake samurai.
I'm the director of Education atthe Sake Studies Center, as well
as the founder of the urban Sakewebsite.
And every week, John and I willbe here tasting and chatting
about all things sake, and doingour best to make it fun and easy
to understand.
Hello, John.
I'm
John Puma (00:55):
Timothy, good to see you.
How are you today?
Timothy Sullivan (00:57):
doing good.
Excited to be back in the studiorecording again?
John Puma (01:03):
The studio, huh?
Yes, yes, the studio, thevirtual studio, the Zoom studio.
But we're here, we're here, andwe have in front of us today bit
of sake, that has a bit of afunky package.
Timothy Sullivan (01:19):
Yes, it's time to get funky again.
I can't believe it but it'sjust, It's just you and me in
the
John Puma (01:24):
can't believe your puns.
Timothy Sullivan (01:26):
It's just you and me in the studio today.
we're going to be looking atsome funky packaging and I think
with all humility, John, I thinkthis funkiest we've come across.
So I'm very excited.
John Puma (01:39):
Yeah, this one is, been around for a little bit and
I think people might be a littlefamiliar.
Uh, I know that I've certainlyhad it before.
Tim, have you had this one
Timothy Sullivan (01:47):
I have had it before, but I'm excited to try
it again.
it's, been, it's.
been a good, It's been a minute.
since I've tried this sake.
John Puma (01:53):
So, uh, we're gonna pull back veil here and tell
everybody what we're drinkingand talking about.
And that is the Joto one cupsake cup and and you might oh,
it's a one cup.
That's that is not funky but nowith this one cup is Unusual and
especially united States is isfunky and Tim.
(02:15):
Why is that?
Timothy Sullivan (02:16):
Well, it is a paper one cup, so it feels kind
of like a Dixie cup, doesn't it?
Like, it's like a wax, waxcoated paper cup
John Puma (02:31):
Yeah,
Timothy Sullivan (02:32):
the size, let's check.
The size is 200 milliliters,
John Puma (02:36):
mm hmm
Timothy Sullivan (02:37):
so a little
John Puma (02:37):
is a little unusual,
Timothy Sullivan (02:39):
bit more than one go.
John Puma (02:41):
Yeah, for people at home, the one cup is typically
either, like, glass or, um, isit like aluminum, Tim?
It's aluminum?
Metal?
So, yeah, so aluminum or glass,and so having something that is
literally paper, and it does,Tim, you nailed it with the
(03:02):
dixie cup, it does look likeit's a big Dixie
Timothy Sullivan (03:06):
Yeah.
so when you have a regularglass, one cup, like you said,
there's usually that foiltopping that you peel off like a
pringles can.
I remember talking about that onthe show.
uh, this has a plastic lid thatcomes off and then there's a
foil, very thin foil cover.
John Puma (03:27):
So the foil, the foil does make an appearance.
It just, uh, it's actually amuch thinner
Timothy Sullivan (03:31):
Very thin.
Yeah.
yeah.
John Puma (03:33):
It's, It's, almost like a Capri Sun kind of thing.
It's like, you could probablypoke a hole in this with a straw
if you wanted
Timothy Sullivan (03:38):
You could definitely poke a hole in that.
And, but you know, John, if itwas just a paper, one cup, that
would be funky, but Joto hasdone something to take this to
another level.
We got to talk about the designon this paper cup.
John Puma (03:55):
It is, it is one of the more interesting looking
sake labels, and it's, so it'sinteresting because, we've
talked about Joto before, we'vehad, we've had people on the
show from Joto before, and, youknow, we've talked about how
they do some white labeling, andthis fits into that, this is a
white labeled, uh, a whitelabeled sake, and Tim, can you
remind people at home what whitelabeling is exactly?
Timothy Sullivan (04:16):
Sure, that's when a company buys product from
a brewery, and then they rebrandit, relabel it, and sell it
under a different brand.
So in the, in the case of thisJoto one cup, Joto is very
transparent and they purchasesake from, uh, Marumoto Shuzo,
(04:38):
they're, the makers of the brandChikuren, which Joto has sold in
the States for a long time.
So they buy this sake fromMarumoto Shuzo out of Okayama
and they sell it as Joto brand.
So that's white labeling andit's, it's pretty common and
they got to design their ownlabel because of that.
(04:59):
And they've gone for somethingsuper funky.
John Puma (05:03):
Yeah.
And they, you know, again, they,they, they do this often with,
with white labeling and usuallythey're, bottled sake it's the
packaging is usually it's alittle bit more, uh, restrained
this one, they just went for itAnd it's, it's just, it's almost
like graffiti art.
Right, Tim?
Timothy Sullivan (05:18):
it's not like graffiti art, it is graffiti
art.
John Puma (05:21):
well then.
Timothy Sullivan (05:24):
This is a graffiti design.
it says Joto One Cup Sake.
And there are lots of motifs inhere.
Maybe we can describe a bit forour listeners.
Of course, you can visitsakerevolution.
com and you can look up thisfunky packaging episode and look
at a picture of this label,which we will put there for you
(05:46):
to see.
We have the great wave ofKamakura at the bottom, probably
one of the most famous symbolsof Japan.
We've got Mount Fuji in theclouds.
We've got rice.
Uh, there's a bird and there's afish.
John Puma (06:01):
is a bird and a fish, and in the background implies
the old, sun raised japaneseflag.
Timothy Sullivan (06:07):
And in the upper left corner is a, drawing
of a brewery worker with aheadband on straining to stir
the moromi.
So
John Puma (06:18):
he looks like he's, Hey, he's busy.
He's having a, a rough day.
He looks tired.
Timothy Sullivan (06:22):
Yeah, and he also makes an appearance on the
foil cover.
John Puma (06:27):
repeated appearances on the foil cover.
Timothy Sullivan (06:29):
Yeah.
John Puma (06:30):
with the Joto logo.
Timothy Sullivan (06:32):
Absolutely.
So, I researched a little bitwhere this label came from, and
Joto actually partnered with aNew York City based Japanese
graffiti artist named Shiro One,and she is a well established
graffiti artist who has a prettyinteresting history.
(06:54):
She's originally from japan andshe started her career out as a
nurse.
So she, yes, so she worked in a,in a
John Puma (07:04):
that's quite the pivot.
Timothy Sullivan (07:05):
I know! Yeah, so she worked as a nurse for
many years and decided to changecareer paths and was really
interested in, I think it was indancing originally.
And then she became attracted tograffiti art and moved to New
(07:28):
York on her own without knowinganybody and began doing murals.
So, she's really well known forher outdoor murals and she's
created a character named Mimiwho appears in a lot of her
murals and it's kind of a symbolof female empowerment and a way
(07:48):
of expressing her desire forwhat she wants to achieve and,
uh, They're really, reallywonderful.
So if you would like to.
If you want to.
see the work of Shiro One, theJapanese graffiti artist who
made this label, please checkour show notes and we'll link to
all of her Instagram and websiteso you can check out her work.
(08:11):
And she's still active in NewYork and actually recently
launched a fashion collab.
So now she's doing graffiti art,but also fashion and she's a
super, super interesting personand just really really
inspiring.
John Puma (08:26):
That's great.
That's awesome.
So now, uh, one thing I'venoticed about this, before we go
too much more in depth, is thatthey don't they don't say
anything about, um, the grade ofthis sake.
It doesn't say anything aboutJunmai, or Junmai Ginjo, or
anything like that.
So, the thing that pops into myhead is, oh, wait a minute.
This just might be Futsushu.
Timothy Sullivan (08:48):
Yes, john, what is futsushu for our
listeners at home
John Puma (08:52):
It is Hmm, I guess a derogatory way to say it would
be it Is table sake.
Timothy Sullivan (08:58):
Well
John Puma (08:59):
It's, you know, in all curiosities, like, would you
consider somebody saying, like,table sake about Futsushu?
Would that be Do you think thatwould be derogatory?
Timothy Sullivan (09:06):
I do not think that's derogatory at all.
My way to define it, honestly,is not non premium sake.
So, you kind of draw thatdelineation between what
qualifies for the premiumclassifications, and if for any
reason you don't qualify, thenyou fall into the futsushu
category.
But your sake can be amazing.
(09:26):
It could be some other reason.
that you're not in a premiumcategory.
So, uh, I would say it'sbasically defined as non
premium, but it's a big catchall term and there's a lot of
amazing futsushu out there.
There's some stuff that's notthe, best, but another
colloquial way to describe itis, like you said, is table
(09:48):
sake.
John Puma (09:49):
Yeah, yeah, and that's the, uh When you asked
me, I was like, I wanted to say,I was thinking like, Oh, either
non premium or table sake, like,which does table sake, sound
bad?
And that's why, that's why Iasked.
And I thought it was a good, agood conversation to have.
Cause it was, I think people athome might wonder if like the
term table sake.
is, Uh, is, is acceptable.
Apparently it is
Timothy Sullivan (10:09):
I think I think so.
Everyone has to make thatdecision for themselves, but I
think I think it's veryacceptable now, Uh, let's um,
let's Let the people know whatthe stats are because we have
from the joto website We knowwhat the stats are for this
sake.
(10:29):
So john, why don't you tell themwhat we're dealing with here?
Well,
John Puma (10:32):
Uh, so Tim, as you mentioned earlier, this is, uh,
the Joto One cup.
Uh, it is from Marumoto Shuzoover in, in Okayama Prefecture
this brewery, is well known, formaking the rin brand of sake.
this particular one though,this, uh, futsushu, is using,
ake bono rice and Yamadanishiki.
(10:53):
So this isn't table rice intheir table sake.
They're using some, some heavyhitters here and, uh, they're
milling them down to, 70% oftheir original size.
the sake.
meter value, that measure of dryto sweet, is minus two, the
yeast, we actually have yeastinformation for this, uh, is,
uh, 1401.
(11:13):
the acidity is, uh, 1.
3, and Tim, would you consider1.
3?
That's like kind of right, rightin the, right in the average,
right?
Not, not too high, not too low?
Or am I off on
Timothy Sullivan (11:25):
I consider most acidity between 1.
5 is medium.
And so anything between 1.0-1.5,I consider on the lighter side
of acidity.
John Puma (11:37):
Okay, so it's a little bit lighter than, uh,
and, uh, the ABV is 15%, whichis sounds great for, for a cup
of sake, right?
Timothy Sullivan (11:47):
Yeah.
Now this is a futsushu.
So one thing We haven't talkedabout is.
If this is alcohol added or purerice, Junmai style, and because
they are omitting any referenceto the word Junmai here, I think
It's safe to assume that this isan Aruten or alcohol added
style.
John Puma (12:07):
Probably.
Timothy Sullivan (12:08):
Yes, probably.
Probably yes.
John Puma (12:12):
We have no way of knowing for sure, but the, the
good money is on, is on, aruten,right?
Timothy Sullivan (12:17):
For sure.
Yeah.
And just one note before wecrack this puppy open and drink
it.
This cup is also sold in Japanas addition to being sold here,
and this actually is the bestselling one cup in Okayama
prefecture.
John Puma (12:34):
Really.
That's awesome.
Timothy Sullivan (12:36):
So the prefecture where Chiku and the,
makers of this cup are located,this is the best selling one cup
in the whole prefecture.
So, uh, it, it has captured thelocal market for sure.
John Puma (12:49):
That's great.
That's really cool.
Uh, I, yeah, it's, I, I don't,I, I wouldn't know what it would
look like in Japan, you know, Idon't know what the, what the
cup would, uh, would appear tobe.
So, i, I'm gonna to keep my eyesopen next time over there and,
uh, if I ever go to pre fixture,definitely something I'm gonna
be looking for because I thinkit would be fun to, I think it'd
be fun to snag the the originalversion
Timothy Sullivan (13:09):
Mm.
All right.
Well, you ready to get tasting?
John Puma (13:15):
am ready to get tasting.
The fun part about this is thatwe don't need to pour anything
into any glasses.
We can just drink this straightout of the cup
Timothy Sullivan (13:22):
All the time I'm going to save washing my
wine glasses after this.
All right.
John Puma (13:28):
Yes, but unfortunately, you're also not
going to get the ASMR pourmoment that we usually get.
But,
Timothy Sullivan (13:35):
we will get the
John Puma (13:37):
the pull test.
Timothy Sullivan (13:39):
pull tab.
So let's see if we can capturethis without spilling.
Okay.
I've got mine open.
Ooh.
John Puma (13:46):
Yeah.
Timothy Sullivan (13:47):
Oh, wow.
is that an optical illusion oris it It's shiny on the inside.
John Puma (13:54):
It is shiny on the inside, tim, I think.
So what I think is going on isprobably a coating similar to
the wax on the outside toprotect the paper from, you
know, falling apart.
I assume.
Timothy Sullivan (14:06):
it, looks like there's a firm inner plastic
lining inside the cup, and itkind of gives it a silvery
shimmer.
it's, really, really nice,actually.
I like it.
Hmm.
John Puma (14:18):
you know, it does make it look like you're
drinking something a littlespecial.
Timothy Sullivan (14:21):
All right.
let's give it a smell.
Oh.
Hmm.
John Puma (14:27):
You got that, uh, Steamed rice is where I'm at.
Steamed, a little sweet rice,steamed and a little sweet.
It's kind of like, I'm beginningto realize that when we have
like futsushus on the show or,or you're kind of, um, you're,
you're lesser milled, um, Junmaior Honjozo, you often get that.
And It's like kind of likeclassic um, for that style.
(14:52):
It's like a classic aroma forthat style.
Timothy Sullivan (14:55):
That's a hundred percent correct.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's a little bit of thatsteamed rice as you correctly
identified.
There's also a hint of ethanoltoo.
There's a little hint of alcoholaroma, which you can expect with
Futsushu, just a touch, um,which is totally on, on
John Puma (15:17):
On brand
Timothy Sullivan (15:18):
for Futsushu.
John Puma (15:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Timothy Sullivan (15:21):
but this is,, really convenient.
Now the little plastic cover canbe put back on if you don't
finish it all and it can bestored in the fridge.
So, uh, because you have thefeel peel off foil, it doesn't
mean you're stuck drinking thewhole thing in one go if you
don't want to.
So there is that outer plasticlid.
(15:41):
It looks like a mini iced coffeelid.
It's like a clear plastic.
John Puma (15:46):
Yeah.
I wouldn't necessarily, um,travel with this after you've
opened it and put the lid.
on.
It's not quite ready.
Timothy Sullivan (15:55):
yeah, it's, it would definitely leak if you
shook it around.
John Puma (15:59):
Oh Yeah.
absolutely.
Timothy Sullivan (16:00):
All right.
Well, I'm ready to give this ataste.
Here we go.
John Puma (16:05):
Sounds like a plan to me.
Let's do it.
Hmm.
Timothy Sullivan (16:10):
Hmm.
John Puma (16:12):
That's nice.
Timothy Sullivan (16:13):
Those rice notes definitely carry over.
Now there's a tasting note onthe, side of this cup.
I don't know if you
John Puma (16:23):
There is,
Timothy Sullivan (16:24):
It says, bursting with hints of green
grape and juicy watermelon.
John Puma (16:32):
far be it from me to debate the, distributor, but I I
don't I don't know if I'mgetting a whole lot of that from
this.
I'm enjoying it, but I don'tknow.
It's a, to me, I just feel it'sso very, um, rice forward.
And to me, that's like theprevailing.
flavor when I sip on this.
(16:53):
Now that you're looking for thegreen grape, perhaps, and the
watermelon.
are you finding it?
Timothy Sullivan (17:00):
I will say I've had other sakes that are
more green grape watermelon.
to my palate than this.
John Puma (17:07):
don't know.
Timothy Sullivan (17:08):
But, uh, yeah, I agree with you.
For me, there's that classicrice forward taste.
It's a little bit heavier.
This isn't super light.
It's, it's a little bit richerand full and, um, it does have
that rice forward and a littlebit richer taste.
(17:31):
Now, this doesn't have, youknow, we've tasted some sakes
we've called ricey, and it waskind of like a rice pudding
lactic character, but thisdoesn't have that.
John Puma (17:43):
I just, uh, experimented with putting the
lid on.
I would definitely not shakethis up with the lid on.
It's very, uh, The lid is alittle precarious.
I'm glad it's there! Um, butit's a little, you know.
That's a little precarious.
Timothy Sullivan (17:59):
Yeah, so this, this has some boldness, and I
just had a thought that, likemany futsu shus, I think this
would be really interesting ifwe warmed it up.
John Puma (18:11):
Maybe you'll get some green grape watermelon when you
do.
I feel like rice comes out morewhen you warm it up.
I do think so.
Mine is cold.
been recording for about 20minutes, so it's probably been
out of the fridge for about halfan hour.
Uh, so it's, it's chilled, butnot, not super cold.
(18:31):
And I think it's a greattemperature for this.
It's like, it's really doing agreat job.
It's very sippable, veryrelaxing.
I'm sure that it probably would,would do well with food as well.
but I think you probably areabsolutely right though, and
that we should, um, consider inthe future, warming this up a
little bit and seeing whathappens because, you know, I
(18:54):
think you have a good point.
this sort of thing tends to lenditself to, to being warmed hot!
Mmm.
Timothy Sullivan (18:59):
Yeah.
When you warm up a futsushu,often when you sip on it, you
get that, I often describe it aslike that hot toddy sensation
where it just kind of warms you.
the, the the alcohol notes comeforward a little bit and it just
kind of warms you from theinside out.
Uh, that sensation, that isreally nice in the winter time.
(19:20):
and, I also think that, warmingit brings out more umami when,
now this rice is polished to 70percent remaining, And when you
don't polish down to reallysmall sizes, you have more of
the proteins on the rice grainthat make it into the sake, and
that gives you more umami andsavoriness.
(19:40):
When you warm up the sake, Ifeel it brings out those savory
notes even more.
The lighter fruity floral notestend to dissipate more quickly
when you warm a sake and thosemore rice-y earthy umami notes
remain and get highlighted whenyou warm a sake.
So I find that if, if, I'm, Iwould imagine if we warmed this
up, we would probably get alittle more umami and that
(20:04):
warming hot toddy feeling fromthe sake, which can be very nice
in the winter
John Puma (20:11):
Mm hmm.
I have to say like whenever wedo this funky packaging I think
at least this is at least oursecond Futsushu And i'm always
surprised because I think thatlike futsu shu gets a bad rap
and uh, cause it's all the worldis not premium.
And so people, I think includemyself included, get ideas in
their head about non premiumsake.
And, uh, yeah, I'm like, I'mlike, no, this is like, non
(20:34):
premium sake is not a, not adirty word.
Table sake is not a pejorativeterm, apparently,
Timothy Sullivan (20:41):
according to some.
John Puma (20:42):
according to some yes.
But Yeah, I'm, I'm reallyenjoying this.
Timothy Sullivan (20:47):
yeah, it's really, really interesting.
we should also talk about thesustainability of this cup too.
John Puma (20:54):
Hmm.
Timothy Sullivan (20:55):
Now the, when you
John Puma (20:57):
What do we know about the sustainability of
Timothy Sullivan (20:59):
well, glass, glass, and.
Aluminum are also recyclable andsustainable in their own way.
But one thing that comes acrosswith this is how portable and
how light it is.
Like, this is incredibly light.
It would be, uh, easy torecycle, I imagine, and
(21:21):
transportation costs are a bigpart of the ecological burden of
any goods that have to beshipped.
And if you've ever carried acase of sake through Haneda
Airport, you know how heavythose bottles can be,
John Puma (21:35):
I can't say I have Tim.
Timothy Sullivan (21:40):
Yeah, so
John Puma (21:41):
I'm guessing you have
Timothy Sullivan (21:42):
I have glass, glass bottles are heavy.
So when I picked this up, I waslike, Oh, this is, you know,
they put just enoughreinforcement inside the paper
to like make it, uh, solid andit doesn't feel like it's going
to collapse if you give it alittle squeeze, but it, it seems
like this would be easy torecycle light to transport and.
(22:07):
I just had a little spill
John Puma (22:10):
Oh, no.
Timothy Sullivan (22:11):
with my lid on.
John Puma (22:12):
I was about to say, were you testing the boundaries
of the lid?
Do we now know what, what youcan and cannot do?
Timothy Sullivan (22:18):
you cannot tilt it to the side.
John Puma (22:21):
Oh, no.
Timothy Sullivan (22:22):
Yeah.
So I, I picked this up and Ithink it's, it's got a nice
light feel to it, but would notbe that heavy to transport.
Um,
John Puma (22:34):
We did our funky packaging with the, the Lucky
Dog sake, which was also a paperthat had a coating on it.
Um, and as you pointed out aboutthis, this feels more sturdy
than that to me.
Like, this is like, you know,has more, definitely has more
structural integrity to it.
And I don't know if it's becauseof the shape of it being, you
(22:56):
know, a Almost a cone.
And or if it's just that theyjust made it, you know, they
gave it extra layers because ifI recall correctly from lucky
Dog, they were they layered itup to to get there and here it's
a little bit more a little bitmore I mean, it's definitely
(23:16):
definitely feels more sturdy.
Timothy Sullivan (23:19):
I think the inner lining, the plastic that
is on the inside of the cup ispretty thick, and I think that
gives it the stability.
When we're done enjoying oursake, we'll have to rip this cup
apart and find out what's on the
John Puma (23:33):
And do a deep dive.
Mm hmm.
Mm
Timothy Sullivan (23:36):
No, I think, I think the plastic inner lining
of the cup, uh, keeps it rigid,and probably, You know, protects
the sake from, uh, exposure tolight.
Cause it's solid.
The design is solid on theoutside.
The plastic is clear on theinside and then you got the foil
(23:57):
on the top.
So, um, that definitely helpskeep it protected, but yeah, I'm
pretty sure it's that plasticlining on the inside.
John Puma (24:09):
Yeah, probably, you're probably right about
that.
It's interesting though, if you,if you hold up the, uh, if you
hold up the cup, like, with alight source, um, on the outside
and you look on the, inside, youcan see through it.
Uh, and you will see the, thegraffiti art right there.
Which is really, uh, surprisingand interesting, because we
talked about how, how sturdy itfeels because of that lining on
(24:32):
the inside.
That lining on the inside isalmost transparent.
Timothy Sullivan (24:34):
hmm.
John Puma (24:35):
Really cool.
Like this is a, this is a wellmade cup.
I'm a fan.
And, um, and I think The pointyou were trying to make earlier
is that, you know, paper islight, paper is recyclable.
So it's nice.
It's easy to deal with.
Timothy Sullivan (24:50):
and, when the, when the foil top is still
intact, you can just throw thesein your bag And go on a picnic
or something like that, which isthe same thing we said for the,
the lucky dog cup.
It's like a very mobile way ofgetting around.
When you throw your sake bottlesin your bag, you have to like be
really careful with them, butthese paper cups are pretty good
(25:16):
for on the go sake sipping.
I
John Puma (25:20):
Yeah.
To me, it's like, this is sortof a little bit of a classic.
do you remember when you firsthad this?
Timothy Sullivan (25:25):
think, it's been around since like 2016 or
so.
John Puma (25:29):
Yeah.
I think, I think at least, forme, I was in, like a bar arcade
in Lexington, Kentucky.
And they had, like they, theyhad like on the, chalkboard,
like we were all at the beers,they had sake.
I was like, Oh, they have sake.
And it was like Joto cup.
I was like, Oh, I know joto.
I don't know the, joto cup.
(25:50):
What is that all about?
And so I got it.
And I was like, this is lovely!I'm able to just, like, walk
around this arcade with this cupof sake.
This is so, uh, convenient.
yeah, it was a good time.
it's really nice to see sake inplaces you don't expect to see
sake.
Like, that's like a, always putsa smile on my face when I'm able
to, to get some sake.
In a, in a place that's not arestaurant or, you know,
(26:12):
specifically not a japaneserestaurant.
Like, it's really nice to seesake in, in places like that.
We should maybe, maybe, we needto do an episode one day about,
you know, we call out placesthat do sake that are not
stereotypical.
That would be fun.
I think that's like somethingthat should be celebrated and I
think that's like an awesomething for, it's a win for sake.
Timothy Sullivan (26:31):
You know, this, I think designs like the
label that this has and theformat this has makes that more
possible.
I think if You walked into thearcade with like a traditional
seven 20 ML of sake with
John Puma (26:45):
like walking around the
Timothy Sullivan (26:46):
With a kanji label, it's just not the format
that's going to fly there.
So this is the, this funkypackaging is thinking outside of
the box and it makes a placementin a place like an arcade or
something like that morepossible.
So that's really a success in mybook.
John Puma (27:03):
Yeah, totally, totally.
Timothy Sullivan (27:04):
Well, I think we've successfully funkified
another episode with our funky
John Puma (27:11):
Funkified.
Yes, we did.
Timothy Sullivan (27:14):
John, we, keep, we keep saying we're going
to run out of funky packaging,but it hasn't happened yet.
John Puma (27:20):
I don't know.
I just keep coming up with more.
I'm not complaining.
I'm very pleased that we, uh,that we're, we're finding an
endless stream of, uh, of funk.
Timothy Sullivan (27:30):
well, They keep, popping up.
So as long as the funkypackaging keeps showing up,
we'll keep reporting on it.
Right, John?
John Puma (27:38):
Oh yes.
We, when, when, funky packagingdrops, look to sake.
Revolution.
We're here for it.
Timothy Sullivan (27:45):
Alright, well John, it was great to taste with
you and it was fun to tastesomething in such unique and
stylish packaging.
Really fun.
Um, and, uh, I want to
John Puma (27:57):
And again, really damn tasty.
This is really nice sake.
Timothy Sullivan (28:01):
Absolutely.
I'm still looking for thatwatermelon, but,
John Puma (28:06):
The search for watermelon.
Timothy Sullivan (28:09):
but it is really enjoyable and, Uh, uh,
something that we do have toplay around with the temperature
next time.
Really fun.
All right.
Well, uh, great to taste withyou, John, and Thanks to all our
listeners.
for tuning in today.
We hope you enjoyed our show anda special hello and thank you to
all of our supporters.
(28:30):
If you, would like to join insupport of Sake Revolution, the
best way to do that is to joinour community on Patreon.
We're a listener supported showand the support we receive from
our patrons Allows us to host,edit, and produce this podcast
if you'd like to join, visitPatreon.com/SakeRevolution.
John Puma (28:51):
always, always, but especially today, you need to
visit the, uh, website,SakeRevolution.Com, so you can
check out the show notes becauseagain, we can, we can tell you
about this sake cup all day, butyou got take a look at this
graffiti.
It's really nice.
the art is, it is art.
It is really good.
Graffiti is art, by the way.
and also when you, have time,take a moment and review our
(29:12):
show.
On your podcast platform ofchoice.
So if you're listening to us onApple podcast that's where
you're going to do it.
Spotify, Charitable, all ofthose fun things.
We really do appreciate theshout out.
It does help the show.
Without any further ado, pleaseraise your wonderfully graffiti
paper cups.
Remember to keep drinking sakeand Kampai!
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