Glico Sports Caramel has arrived in stock.
Each bag contains approximately 18 pieces, and the wholesale unit from our supplier
is a box of 7 bags, as shown in the image above.
I said "approximately 18 pieces" because they're managed by weight (standard 74g),
but to picture it: imagine a machine that drops pieces one by one into a container,
and when it exceeds 74g the bottom opens and the bag gets sealed.
With this system, I don't think it's really possible for 19 pieces to happen
if lighter pieces happened to cluster together, or 17 pieces if heavier ones clustered.
Or maybe at 18 pieces it's just under 74g so the bottom doesn't open,
and then one more piece makes it 19—that's probably possible.
When you order 100 of the same tire tubes and measure every single one's weight precisely,
if you separate out 19 of the particularly light ones
versus 18 of the particularly heavy ones,
the former would have more pieces but actually weigh less—
thinking about this (→this) makes that totally plausible.
Glico used to force their product names on the box labels into abbreviated 3-letter katakana abbreviations,
but lately they don't seem to do that as much
(in this case it would've been something like "スポキ").
For example, with CCD Drink, they abbreviated it to "シシテ" by shortening it.
Not exactly a name that inspires you to pick it up.
The price is open-ended, but the calculated suggested retail price
comes to 1,960 yen per box (tax excluded). Lucky it divides evenly by 7.
Per bag it's 280 yen (tax excluded), 302.4 yen (8% tax), but
at a shop I know they sell this for 302 yen (tax included),
and I'm genuinely impressed by their careful pricing
without rounding the amount down to 300 yen
(no, I'm not being sarcastic—I really am impressed).
On some sites like 楽○市場, they list it at 2,480 yen (tax included)
along with a typo saying it's 76g per bag,
but since it's open price, that "above-suggested-retail pricing" doesn't count as an issue.
I brought in 2 boxes and did some actual taste testing,
and the contents seemed to have the same taste and shape as the regular Glico Caramel
that comes as the famous "Glico bonus toy."
But if that were the case, there'd be no point in selling it as "Sports Caramel," so
I decided to buy regular Glico Caramel too to investigate.
The Sports Caramel has the same red inverted-triangle design packaging
as current supplement products,
but nowhere does it say "300 meters per piece."
I checked several supermarkets but couldn't find it anywhere,
so I ordered boxes online instead.
The current so-called (※) "Glico bonus" comes in 10 varieties,
and boxes marked as "set products"
seem to be shipped with a balanced assortment of the different types per box of 10.
※With "Glico bonus," it's actually not the official name, so
I made sure to say "so-called."
↑The abbreviation was "4-Piece Glico."
Looking at the ingredients:
What's listed only on Sports Caramel is soy protein,
and what's listed only on regular Glico Caramel is oyster extract and butter,
so the contents are actually quite different.
For the nutrition information,
Sports Caramel lists iron and Vitamin B1,
while regular Glico Caramel lists
calcium, Vitamin B2, and Vitamin D.
For this—for example, Sports Caramel probably contains some calcium too,
but maybe not enough to list on the label, so they omit it.
For the major nutrients listed on both,
I calculated the differences assuming the same quantity,
using regular Glico Caramel as 100 (%):
Sports Caramel came out to:
Energy 101.55
Protein 95.13
Fat 112.16
Carbohydrates 99.67
Sodium 131.42
The sodium stands out dramatically, so there's definitely a salted-caramel element.
Earlier I said the Sports Caramel tastes the same as regular Glico Caramel,
but once you know about the ingredient differences and do a careful "caramel tasting,"
you can definitely tell the Sports Caramel has a stronger salty flavor.
W-well, to be fair, my initial impression was from just eating the Sports Caramel alone,
not comparing it to regular Glico Caramel...←excuse
I unwrapped them both from their packaging.
↑Sports Caramel
↑Glico Caramel
Not just comparing individual pieces but looking at quite a few of them,
the Sports Caramel clearly has sloppier heart-shaped molding(you could say it's too caramelly).
By calculation, Sports Caramel comes out to about 4.111...g per piece,
while regular Glico Caramel is 4g per piece,
so the size difference isn't exactly dramatic.
↑Sample images of each
Both are manufactured by Neuron Confectionery, so
it doesn't seem to be a difference in production equipment.
The Sports Caramel package says
"Chew for quick absorption, suck for slow absorption,"
suggesting you can control the absorption speed to some degree,
but even without chewing it dissolves pretty quickly.
It'd be hard to use as race fuel, I think,
but for low-intensity long-duration training where you want to keep your mouth constantly sweet
while using water instead of sports drinks for hydration,
this might actually work well.
It could be good for mountain climbing too.
With no intention of recovering article research costs
For the initial shipment only, we're including one box of regular Glico Caramel
as a bonus with each bag of Sports Caramel!
Please try doing a "caramel tasting."
If you do it right, the flavor difference is pretty obvious.
Each bag contains approximately 18 pieces, and the wholesale unit from our supplier
is a box of 7 bags, as shown in the image above.
I said "approximately 18 pieces" because they're managed by weight (standard 74g),
but to picture it: imagine a machine that drops pieces one by one into a container,
and when it exceeds 74g the bottom opens and the bag gets sealed.
With this system, I don't think it's really possible for 19 pieces to happen
if lighter pieces happened to cluster together, or 17 pieces if heavier ones clustered.
Or maybe at 18 pieces it's just under 74g so the bottom doesn't open,
and then one more piece makes it 19—that's probably possible.
When you order 100 of the same tire tubes and measure every single one's weight precisely,
if you separate out 19 of the particularly light ones
versus 18 of the particularly heavy ones,
the former would have more pieces but actually weigh less—
thinking about this (→this) makes that totally plausible.
Glico used to force their product names on the box labels into abbreviated 3-letter katakana abbreviations,
but lately they don't seem to do that as much
(in this case it would've been something like "スポキ").
For example, with CCD Drink, they abbreviated it to "シシテ" by shortening it.
Not exactly a name that inspires you to pick it up.
The price is open-ended, but the calculated suggested retail price
comes to 1,960 yen per box (tax excluded). Lucky it divides evenly by 7.
Per bag it's 280 yen (tax excluded), 302.4 yen (8% tax), but
at a shop I know they sell this for 302 yen (tax included),
and I'm genuinely impressed by their careful pricing
without rounding the amount down to 300 yen
(no, I'm not being sarcastic—I really am impressed).
On some sites like 楽○市場, they list it at 2,480 yen (tax included)
along with a typo saying it's 76g per bag,
but since it's open price, that "above-suggested-retail pricing" doesn't count as an issue.
I brought in 2 boxes and did some actual taste testing,
and the contents seemed to have the same taste and shape as the regular Glico Caramel
that comes as the famous "Glico bonus toy."
But if that were the case, there'd be no point in selling it as "Sports Caramel," so
I decided to buy regular Glico Caramel too to investigate.
The Sports Caramel has the same red inverted-triangle design packaging
as current supplement products,
but nowhere does it say "300 meters per piece."
I checked several supermarkets but couldn't find it anywhere,
so I ordered boxes online instead.
The current so-called (※) "Glico bonus" comes in 10 varieties,
and boxes marked as "set products"
seem to be shipped with a balanced assortment of the different types per box of 10.
※With "Glico bonus," it's actually not the official name, so
I made sure to say "so-called."
↑The abbreviation was "4-Piece Glico."
Looking at the ingredients:
What's listed only on Sports Caramel is soy protein,
and what's listed only on regular Glico Caramel is oyster extract and butter,
so the contents are actually quite different.
For the nutrition information,
Sports Caramel lists iron and Vitamin B1,
while regular Glico Caramel lists
calcium, Vitamin B2, and Vitamin D.
For this—for example, Sports Caramel probably contains some calcium too,
but maybe not enough to list on the label, so they omit it.
For the major nutrients listed on both,
I calculated the differences assuming the same quantity,
using regular Glico Caramel as 100 (%):
Sports Caramel came out to:
Energy 101.55
Protein 95.13
Fat 112.16
Carbohydrates 99.67
Sodium 131.42
The sodium stands out dramatically, so there's definitely a salted-caramel element.
Earlier I said the Sports Caramel tastes the same as regular Glico Caramel,
but once you know about the ingredient differences and do a careful "caramel tasting,"
you can definitely tell the Sports Caramel has a stronger salty flavor.
W-well, to be fair, my initial impression was from just eating the Sports Caramel alone,
not comparing it to regular Glico Caramel...←excuse
I unwrapped them both from their packaging.
↑Sports Caramel
↑Glico Caramel
Not just comparing individual pieces but looking at quite a few of them,
the Sports Caramel clearly has sloppier heart-shaped molding
By calculation, Sports Caramel comes out to about 4.111...g per piece,
while regular Glico Caramel is 4g per piece,
so the size difference isn't exactly dramatic.
↑Sample images of each
Both are manufactured by Neuron Confectionery, so
it doesn't seem to be a difference in production equipment.
The Sports Caramel package says
"Chew for quick absorption, suck for slow absorption,"
suggesting you can control the absorption speed to some degree,
but even without chewing it dissolves pretty quickly.
It'd be hard to use as race fuel, I think,
but for low-intensity long-duration training where you want to keep your mouth constantly sweet
while using water instead of sports drinks for hydration,
this might actually work well.
It could be good for mountain climbing too.
For the initial shipment only, we're including one box of regular Glico Caramel
as a bonus with each bag of Sports Caramel!
Please try doing a "caramel tasting."
If you do it right, the flavor difference is pretty obvious.