Episode 189 Show Notes
Episode 189. After six years of audio-only podcasting, Sake Revolution is officially on video — and we’re celebrating by doing something dangerous… dangerously delicious, that is! John and Timothy are trying their hand at a 15-million-view viral sake challenge out of Japan: dipping castella cake into a can of Kikusui Funaguchi. A sake shop called Kurand started it. Kikusui’s own social media team escalated it. And now America’s first sake podcast is here to find out if castella cake is really and truly sponge worthy. Along the way, we dig into what castella cake actually is (it’s not pound cake, we promise), why Funaguchi’s 19% ABV is sneakier than it looks, and, critically, whether you should dunk or dribble. Spoiler alert: one of us learned the hard way. In any case, we are here to tell you that you can have your cake and drink it, too. If you’ve been with us since the beginning, welcome to our new video format. If you’re brand new — pull up a can and your favorite cake and join the party. Kanpai!
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Skip to: 00:19 Show Opening
Welcome to the show from John and Timothy
Skip to: 06:30 What is Castella Cake?
From Wikipedia:
“Castella (カステラ, kasutera; pronounced [kasɯ̥teɾa]; pronunciation) is a type of Japanese sponge cake and is known for its sweet, moist brioche-style flavour and texture. It is based on cakes introduced to Japan by Portuguese merchants in the 16th century. It was then popularized in the city of Nagasaki, where it is considered a specialty. Despite its foreign origins, it is considered a kind of wagashi, or traditional Japanese confectionery.
To suit the tastes of Japanese people, mizuame syrup was added to the sponge cake to make it more moist, and zarame (coarse sugar) was added to the bottom to give it a coarser texture. Castella is usually baked in square or rectangular molds, then cut and sold in long boxes, with the cake inside being approximately 27 cm (11 in) long.”
Skip to: 10:37 Sake Tasting: Kikusui Funaguchi Honjozo Nama Genshu
Kikusui Funaguchi Honjozo Nama Genshu
Brewery: Kikusui Shuzo – Niigata
Classification: Honjozo, Nama Genshu
Alcohol: 19.0%
Prefecture: Niigata
Seimaibuai: 70%
SMV: +2.0
RICE: 100% Niigata prefecture rice
Brand: Kikusui (菊水)
Importer/Distributor: Mutual Trading (USA)
Viral Challenge: Castella Cake Dipping
Skip to: 15:29 Viral Challenge: Castella Cake Dipping
Here is a view of the Viral Sake – Castella Dipping posts from Twitter:
10 Million and 15 Million views respectively!
Skip to: 34:41 Show Closing
This is it! Join us next time for another episode of Sake Revolution!
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Episode 189 Transcript
[00:00:22] John Puma: Hello, everybody, and welcome to Sake Revolution. This is America’s first sake podcast, and I’m pretty sure now we’re America’s first sake video podcast.
[00:00:31] John Puma: I’m your host, John Puma, from The Sake Notes. I’m also the administrator over at the Internet Sake Discord, and I also moderate Reddit’s r/sake community.
[00:00:40] Timothy Sullivan: And I’m your host, Timothy Sullivan. I’m a sake samurai. I’m the director of education over at the Sake Studies Center at Brooklyn Kura, and I’m the founder of the Urban Sake website. John and I will be here regularly tasting and chatting about all things sake and doing our best to make it fun and easy to understand.
[00:00:59] John Puma: [00:01:00] So Tim, how have you been?
[00:01:02] Timothy Sullivan: I’m doing good. How are you, John? It’s good
[00:01:06] John Puma: Yeah,
[00:01:06] Timothy Sullivan: you.
[00:01:07] John Puma: it’s good to see you too.
[00:01:08] Timothy Sullivan: color.
[00:01:09] John Puma: I know. Uh, so, so for people, uh, watching, oh my goodness, watching along at home, so we normally do this sort of thing, uh, on Zoom. It’s just me and Tim. We can see each other, but we’re not really thinking about the fact that we can see each other. Uh, but today, since this is our first video podcast, we are definitely thinking about seeing each other.
[00:01:30] John Puma: So hello, Tim. You’re looking good.
[00:01:32] Timothy Sullivan: looking good. I mean, normally when we’re recording, I have my hair in curlers and, you know, I’m in my, uh, uh, pajamas,
[00:01:39] John Puma: Full, full beard every time.
[00:01:41] Timothy Sullivan: had to, we had to dress up a little bit today.
[00:01:44] John Puma: Yeah, we w-
[00:01:45] Timothy Sullivan: This is really exciting to be venturing into video. So
[00:01:51] John Puma: It, it, yeah. Yeah. It’s, this is, uh, this is gonna be a lot of fun. And, and speaking of fun, I think every now and again, it’s really fun for us to have a [00:02:00] fun episode, one that’s, uh, you know, we kinda get a little bit outside of the sake education corner and into, you know, something just a little more Silly.
[00:02:12] John Puma: And, uh, while I was in Japan in February, I happened across something that I thought was pretty silly, and I shared it with you, the idea. And then when I was back in Japan, um, a couple weeks ago, I, uh, decided to, to, we’re gonna make it happen, and here we are, and we’ve got an episode that’s gonna be a little silly that originates in a brewery’s social media.
[00:02:39] John Puma: Now,
[00:02:40] Timothy Sullivan: yeah, so why don’t you tell the story about how you heard about this viral thing that happened in the world of sake?
[00:02:46] John Puma: yeah, so, um, I came across this again while I was over there. When… And your, your recommendations in, like, Instagram and stuff like that, it gets a little different when you’re traveling, uh, so it tries to give you more local stuff. And, uh, you know, [00:03:00] Instagram is aware that I like sake, and believe it or not.
[00:03:05] John Puma: And for whatever reason, when I was, um, in Japan, it was showing me a, a pretty old post from a brewery in, uh, Niigata called, uh, Kikusui. And I didn’t realize at the time this was an old post, by the way. I thought it was kinda like, “Oh, this is new.” But it was, it was not new. And what they were doing was they were taking a, a, a cake, and they were dipping it in their very famous Funaguchi, uh, gold can.
[00:03:33] John Puma: And I was like, “Hmm, that… I want to do that. That looks like fun.” And so I kinda, I translated the rest of the, um, the rest of the, the post, and it was very much like they were making it seem like one of those, like, social media challenges in a way. They were like, “Absolutely do not ever dip this kinda cake in a Funaguchi can.
[00:03:56] John Puma: We cannot be responsible for, for the dam- for how [00:04:00] damaging this could be.” , And I thought that was, like, really funny. And also, I kinda thought that the idea of dipping a little cake into the Funaguchi sake would be kind of delicious. ,
[00:04:13] Timothy Sullivan: Hmm.
[00:04:14] John Puma: they were onto something. I think they, the, the phrase they used was dangerously delicious.
[00:04:18] John Puma: Uh, and, and I don’t know if it’s dangerously delicious, but I thought it would be a fun thing for us to find out as a team.
[00:04:24] Timothy Sullivan: Yes, well, I, I– when, when you sent me that, I looked into it a little bit, and this is actually from October 2025. So as frequent listeners and viewers will know, we are not about late-breaking news in
[00:04:41] John Puma: Oh, no. No.
[00:04:43] Timothy Sullivan: we
[00:04:43] John Puma: we tried that once.
[00:04:46] Timothy Sullivan: Uh, but, uh, there was actually, the original post is from a sake shop called Kurand,
[00:04:55] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:04:55] Timothy Sullivan: K-U-R-A-N-D. And they posted on October 1st, 2025, [00:05:00] and their original post said, “Don’t soak
[00:05:02] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:05:03] Timothy Sullivan: cake in sake. You won’t be able to stop. It’s dangerous, so please don’t try this at home.”
[00:05:07] John Puma: Yeah.
[00:05:08] Timothy Sullivan: then Funaguchi, Kikusui Funaguchi, , picked up on that, they said, “We did it.”
[00:05:19] John Puma: I,
[00:05:19] Timothy Sullivan: dangerous.
[00:05:20] John Puma: yes. I think that’s kind of cool. And, and, and I saw an article on Sora News about it also, where they also did it. And I thought, I, I just thought it was, like, an interesting, fun thing to try. So I’m, I’m always here for, uh, for, for a good time, and I think this will be a good time.
[00:05:36] Timothy Sullivan: And to put this in context, the original post from Kurand got 10.4 million views, and the follow-up from
[00:05:47] John Puma: What?
[00:05:48] Timothy Sullivan: their, their answer to that,
[00:05:50] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:05:50] Timothy Sullivan: 15 million views.
[00:05:54] John Puma: So I was onto something.
[00:05:56] Timothy Sullivan: You’re onto something.
[00:05:58] John Puma: they’re onto something, [00:06:00] actually, I guess.
[00:06:01] Timothy Sullivan: yeah.
[00:06:02] John Puma: So yeah, so all right. So I feel a little bit better about this now.
[00:06:07] Timothy Sullivan: Yes.
[00:06:08] John Puma: Uh, so that should be fun. Yeah.
[00:06:10] Timothy Sullivan: are late to the game, but
[00:06:12] John Puma: We are.
[00:06:13] Timothy Sullivan: we are riding their viral coattails for sure.
[00:06:16] John Puma: Well,
[00:06:16] Timothy Sullivan: Um,
[00:06:17] John Puma: don’t, I don’t know if anybody in America has broken through on this yet, so we’re… That’s how it, you know, that’s how it is, Tim. You know, when the sake leaves Japan, it takes a few months to get here, right?
[00:06:26] Timothy Sullivan: Yes, same with the, the,
[00:06:28] John Puma: Same with, same with the social media.
[00:06:30] Timothy Sullivan: content, yes. Now, now the, the post from Kikusui mentioned castella cake. So what do we know about this? What is this cake that was featured in this viral sake moment?
[00:06:43] John Puma: Well, when I looked at the picture originally, I was like, “Oh, that looks like pound cake.” And, you know, when I translated the article, I was like, “Oh, this is not pound cake. It is castella cake. What is castella cake?” And so I,
[00:06:55] Timothy Sullivan: Hmm.
[00:06:55] John Puma: looked into it, and castella cake is a popular Japanese sponge [00:07:00] cake. It’s, it already sounds a lot like pound cake, right?
[00:07:02] John Puma: Except for the part about Japanese. Um, considered a type of, uh, wagashi. Uh, it’s a traditional, traditional sweet. It’s soft, it’s fluffy, it’s bouncy. S-stop me when this stops sounding like pound cake. Uh, but yeah. Um, apparently, uh, Portuguese missionaries brought this to Japan in the 16th century, and it’s become a very popular thing.
[00:07:25] John Puma: I was able to procure castella cake, um, from just about any convenience store that I wanted to, which is great because, um, there’s plenty, and I didn’t have to worry about buying one right away. It wasn’t, like, a situation where like, “Oh, I might not see this the rest of the trip.” No, I’m gonna see this plenty the rest of the trip.
[00:07:42] John Puma: Uh, yeah, so it, it seems to be, like, a very, a konbini staple.
[00:07:46] Timothy Sullivan: Yes.
[00:07:47] John Puma: and, and coincidentally, you can also get Furukuchi cans at many konbinis too, so hmm.
[00:07:55] Timothy Sullivan: Yes. So I think, you know, one of the differences [00:08:00] between cake and castella cake, castella cake usually has
[00:08:04] John Puma: Hmm.
[00:08:05] Timothy Sullivan: and some kind of starchy syrup for moisture. So, uh, it is a tea cake, so they are very, very similar.
[00:08:13] John Puma: Hmm.
[00:08:14] Timothy Sullivan: uh, really hard to, um, make much of an argument there. We’re really splitting hairs, in my opinion.
[00:08:20] Timothy Sullivan: But cake is something you can find all over Japan. If you’re not going to Japan, uh, you can either make your own castella cake at home, there’s recipes online, or you can just get your favorite pound cake and try this experiment for yourself, right?
[00:08:35] John Puma: Yeah, I think so. Um, I also think, I also think this would really go well with, like, panpukin.
[00:08:41] Timothy Sullivan: Oh, yeah, baumkuchen.
[00:08:43] John Puma: Which is another, like, you can get, you can get panpukin, in the United States, but you can get it everywhere in Japan.
[00:08:51] John Puma: It is wild to me how, uh, ubiquitous it is there.
[00:08:54] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah. A baumkuchen is that, um, it’s a type of [00:09:00] cake that is baked on a, a spinning,
[00:09:02] John Puma: Mm.
[00:09:03] Timothy Sullivan: uh, spit.
[00:09:04] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:09:05] Timothy Sullivan: it’s, like, layers of sponge cake that look like rings of a tree. So, um, it’s so delicious,
[00:09:11] John Puma: it’s so delicious. Yes, it is.
[00:09:14] Timothy Sullivan: but it’s, uh, the Japanese just kind of picked it up and ran with it, and it is everywhere in Japan.
[00:09:19] Timothy Sullivan: It’s
[00:09:19] John Puma: Yeah. Yeah, when, when the Japanese pick up on something and run with it, they run with it, is it’s everywhere. , So what I thought we would do today, now that we’ve kind of talked about wh- why we’re doing this, , is we’re gonna… First off, we’re gonna need to taste the sake. We’re gonna need to taste the cake.
[00:09:40] Timothy Sullivan: Mm-hmm.
[00:09:41] John Puma: And then we are going to need to taste the cake with the sake. I think that’s, that’s the move.
[00:09:48] Timothy Sullivan: But I’ve heard it’s extremely dangerous, John.
[00:09:51] John Puma: Uh,
[00:09:51] Timothy Sullivan: Is this a safe thing to do?
[00:09:54] John Puma: I’m willing to take that chance.
[00:09:56] Timothy Sullivan: Okay,
[00:09:56] John Puma: I will face the peril.
[00:09:59] Timothy Sullivan: we’re [00:10:00] gonna go out on a limb
[00:10:01] John Puma: Yes. Yes. I mean, we’ve, we’ve come this far, Tim.
[00:10:03] Timothy Sullivan: Okay. So the 15 million view Kikusui can. Uh, we, w- you know, we’ve had this sake on the podcast before,
[00:10:13] John Puma: We have.
[00:10:14] Timothy Sullivan: for, funky packaging, I remember that especially.
[00:10:18] John Puma: have the bag.
[00:10:19] Timothy Sullivan: yeah, the
[00:10:20] John Puma: That was so much fun.
[00:10:21] Timothy Sullivan: That was so much fun. Uh, but this is the same sake,
[00:10:24] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:10:25] Timothy Sullivan: the famous can, and maybe a moment for the can.
[00:10:29] John Puma: I love that I can just pick this up and show people at home what we’re talking about
[00:10:33] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah.
[00:10:34] John Puma: uh… Uh, there it is. Yeah.
[00:10:37] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah. So, uh, JP, do you wanna, let everyone know about the stats for
[00:10:42] John Puma: Yeah. Yeah. So, absolutely. This is the world-famous, uh, Kikusui Funaguchi Honjozo Nama Genshu. It’s got a lot of words, this one. And, uh, it’s from Kikusui Shuzo over in Niigata Prefecture. This is a [00:11:00] honjozo, of course, as I mentioned. It’s also a nama and a genshu. And when I say genshu, I mean genshu with a capital G.
[00:11:08] John Puma: This is a 19%
[00:11:09] Timothy Sullivan: Mm.
[00:11:10] John Puma: ABV beverage. Uh, the seimaibai is, uh… Wait a minute. Oh, that’s, that’s ordered weirdly. I’m gonna do that again. Uh, the rice is just listed as being Niigata Prefecture rice, so I’m g- guessing it’s some kind of local stuff. Uh, it’s milled down to 70% of its original size. Sake meter value, the old measure of dry to sweet, sits at a plus two, so relatively neutral.
[00:11:38] John Puma: And, uh, yeah, you can, you can get this pretty much all over the country, I want to say. I think in the United States it’s a very, a relatively easy can to get your hands on. You probably have a harder time finding the cake, and I don’t think that’s gonna be that much of a challenge either.
[00:11:54] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah. So, , this has a plastic cap
[00:11:59] John Puma: [00:12:00] Mm-hmm.
[00:12:00] Timothy Sullivan: and a pull tab, just like you see here. So, uh, should we open it up?
[00:12:06] John Puma: I think we do.
[00:12:08] Timothy Sullivan: All right.
[00:12:10] John Puma: Woo.
[00:12:18] John Puma: The effort there is to pull this off without splashing sake all over our desks, by the way. Mm-hmm. I think I
[00:12:25] Timothy Sullivan: can,
[00:12:26] John Puma: relatively successful.
[00:12:28] Timothy Sullivan: I can the aroma coming out of the can.
[00:12:32] John Puma: And Tim, what is that aroma?
[00:12:34] Timothy Sullivan: Mm. Well, I’ll say this, it doesn’t smell low alcohol.
[00:12:44] John Puma: I was just gonna go ahead and say it, it is, you know, it’s got, it’s got a, a, a, a bit of a sweet rice aroma and then booze. Like, it’s just, it’s got a boozy aroma to it.
[00:12:58] Timothy Sullivan: Hm. Yeah.
[00:12:59] John Puma: [00:13:00] But there is that rice presence as well.
[00:13:01] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah. And there’s something candied here. I
[00:13:04] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:04] Timothy Sullivan: have joked for years about, uh, circus peanuts, but think about it. You know, like that, a little, like candied marshmallow, crystallized marshmallow smell is
[00:13:15] John Puma: Hmm. That’s nice.
[00:13:19] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah. All right.
[00:13:21] John Puma: Cheers.
[00:13:23] Timothy Sullivan: In living color, here we go Mm.
[00:13:29] John Puma: Hmm.
[00:13:30] Timothy Sullivan: Okay.
[00:13:31] John Puma: There’s a reason why they sell millions of these cans. They’re quite good.
[00:13:37] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah. It is rich,
[00:13:41] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:42] Timothy Sullivan: very bold. Ooh, and then there’s the after effect,
[00:13:46] John Puma: Yeah.
[00:13:47] Timothy Sullivan: a little warm, a little boozy, but this really packs a punch. It’s very rich. It has a, uh, finish to it. You definitely [00:14:00] feel the alcohol on this one,
[00:14:02] John Puma: You do. You do. And I think we’ve talked about this in the past, but, uh, for me, this is such a food-friendly sake, and, uh, I just, I love, uh, having American dishes with it. When I say food-friendly, I’m talking like, you know, American food-friendly. This is not something I’m going to have with a delicate sushi meal.
[00:14:22] John Puma: Um, I think it would overshadow the sushi substantially. But,
[00:14:25] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah.
[00:14:26] John Puma: I’ve, I’ve had this at like, uh, cookouts before, like with a burger. Really good. Like I… That… This is the, this is where I feel like this fits in with American cuisine. Also, apparently cake, but we’ll find that out in a little bit.
[00:14:39] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah.
[00:14:40] John Puma: Yeah.
[00:14:40] Timothy Sullivan: I- one of my favorite ways to enjoy this, I’m sure I said this the last time we had it on
[00:14:45] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:14:46] Timothy Sullivan: but m- one of my favorite ways to enjoy this is actually on the rocks.
[00:14:50] John Puma: Yes. Yes, you have talked about that.
[00:14:53] Timothy Sullivan: ice.
[00:14:53] John Puma: Yes.
[00:14:54] Timothy Sullivan: ice keeps it cold and crisp, and it will water down the [00:15:00] 19% pretty easily,
[00:15:02] John Puma: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
[00:15:03] Timothy Sullivan: it, keep it really enjoyable.
[00:15:05] Timothy Sullivan: I, I remember years ago when I first started drinking these cans, it, it’s, it’s super easy to keep sipping on, and I remember I was, like, halfway through my second can and I stood up to do something and I was like, “Whoa.” Uh,
[00:15:21] John Puma: It’s dangerous.
[00:15:22] Timothy Sullivan: It is,
[00:15:23] John Puma: Yeah.
[00:15:24] Timothy Sullivan: So proceed with caution with the cans,
[00:15:27] John Puma: I think so. Um, so now, part two,
[00:15:30] Timothy Sullivan: Mm.
[00:15:31] John Puma: we taste the cake.
[00:15:33] Timothy Sullivan: All
[00:15:33] John Puma: No, no, no sake yet. We just, we’re just gonna experience castella cake. Ooh, that’s lovely. I did not do something so nice. Mine’s in a container. I need to pull it out.
[00:15:42] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah. So I put, I put mine on a plate, John,
[00:15:45] John Puma: Yes, it’s very nice. It’s a lovely plate.
[00:15:50] Timothy Sullivan: uh…
[00:15:54] John Puma: Ooh, this is, this is… When they said springy, they weren’t, they weren’t messing around. This is [00:16:00] a very like bouncy little guy right here.
[00:16:02] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah.
[00:16:04] John Puma: Ooh, yeah. And there, that goes right on the keyboard. Good for me. Uh.
[00:16:09] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah, so this is- it is basically a sponge cake.
[00:16:13] John Puma: Yeah. Got mine right here.
[00:16:16] Timothy Sullivan: Okay, should
[00:16:16] John Puma: we’re gonna, we’re gonna… Yeah. All right, well, let’s eat it raw, Tim.
[00:16:21] Timothy Sullivan: Hmm.
[00:16:22] John Puma: Mm. Cakey.
[00:16:24] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah, let’s see how this tastes.
[00:16:25] John Puma: Mm.
[00:16:27] Timothy Sullivan: Hmm.
[00:16:29] John Puma: Mm.
[00:16:33] John Puma: Okay This is different from a pound cake.
[00:16:39] Timothy Sullivan: It is, the
[00:16:39] John Puma: Yeah.
[00:16:40] Timothy Sullivan: different from a pound cake. First of all, the first thing that jumps to my mind is that it’s not as sweet.
[00:16:46] John Puma: No,
[00:16:47] Timothy Sullivan: It’s like
[00:16:47] John Puma: it’s not. It is sweet. It is sweet, but it is not as sweet. Yeah. It’s, it’s subtle.
[00:16:54] Timothy Sullivan: sweet.
[00:16:57] John Puma: That… Do [00:17:00] you wanna explain that? ‘Cause I understand what you’re saying.
[00:17:04] Timothy Sullivan: it, uh, I think it’s fair to say that the Japanese palate is not as attuned to extremely sweet desserts as a Western or American
[00:17:14] John Puma: Right.
[00:17:16] Timothy Sullivan: the first time I celebrated someone’s birthday when I was in Japan, they brought out like this strawberry shortcake, and I
[00:17:23] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:17:23] Timothy Sullivan: ” Okay.” And you try it, and it is, has just the, a whisper of sweetness to
[00:17:28] John Puma: Yeah.
[00:17:29] Timothy Sullivan: And I was like, “Oh, my gosh.” I think about like all the birthday cakes I ate as a child that were like covered in buttercream icing and super sweet, and for a Japanese palate, those are overpowering. But for our palate, uh, the subtle sweetness in like tea cakes and, uh, things to pair with tea are, are very, very subtly sweet. And this, this castella cake is right in that ballpark, don’t you think?
[00:17:55] John Puma: I, I agree wholeheartedly. But number one, I wanna say, you’re like, “Oh, [00:18:00] when I was a child and I was having sweet cakes,” I’m like, “Sir, you probably have very decadent birthday cakes every year.” That’s one I think. Number two, yeah, I, I agree wholeheartedly. Whenever I have sweets in Japan, I always feel like it’s, like, weirdly muted for, for my palate, ’cause I’m accustomed to when I have, um, when I have sweets, it’s like something…
[00:18:22] John Puma: it’s like trying– somebody’s trying to kill me with chocolate, and I, I welcome this, by the way, but no one has succeeded.
[00:18:27] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah.
[00:18:28] John Puma: you know, that– but that’s, like, the goal with me in a lot of cases. Like, you get accustomed to just, like, having these things, like, just really lacking subtlety, just bombarding you with flavor, and then you go there, and everything is very subtle.
[00:18:41] John Puma: And this is quite subtle.
[00:18:42] Timothy Sullivan: I remember the first time I went somewhere for a restaurant, and they’re like, “Next is our dessert course.” And it came out, and it was like red bean on this like wafer. And I’m eating this red bean, and it’s like,
[00:18:55] John Puma: Just, just one?
[00:18:57] Timothy Sullivan: is dessert? Like, I thought it was, like, [00:19:00] maybe chocolate pudding, but no, it’s not chocolate pudding. so things like red bean or this super very, uh, lightly s- sweet type of pound cake
[00:19:11] John Puma: Mm.
[00:19:12] Timothy Sullivan: or something like tea cakes are very, very common. So the texture is spongy, though. It
[00:19:18] John Puma: Oh, yeah.
[00:19:19] Timothy Sullivan: it’s not, it’s not crumbly like a, a pound cake would be. moist, but it, it has a little bit of a gummy texture to it, for me.
[00:19:27] John Puma: Yeah. It’s, um… There’s something else to it. There’s a, there’s a… Mm. It’s very nice. It’s just, it’s just, it’s just so much lighter than I was expecting flavor-wise. I thought it was just gonna be a, a bit more, dare I say, pound cake-ish.
[00:19:41] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah,
[00:19:42] John Puma: I’m regretting all those pound cake jokes I made at the front of the show.
[00:19:46] Timothy Sullivan: d- Do, do you also, like, kind of smell or taste something eggy in this?
[00:19:50] John Puma: Yes. I, I…
[00:19:51] Timothy Sullivan: eggy,
[00:19:52] John Puma: you. I’ve been… I, I couldn’t place… I’m like, “What is this?” And yeah, it’s, it’s a bit more… Yeah. It, [00:20:00] it reminds me a little bit of Japanese rolled omelet.
[00:20:02] Timothy Sullivan: Yes.
[00:20:03] John Puma: The, the sweet, the sweet rolled omelet. That’s, that’s what it is.
[00:20:06] Timothy Sullivan: Yes.
[00:20:07] John Puma: I couldn’t… I’m like, “This is so familiar, but I can’t… my, cannot put my finger on it.”
[00:20:11] John Puma: That’s what it was. Well done, Tim.
[00:20:13] Timothy Sullivan: Yes. That’s right. So when you get, when you get sushi, sometimes they serve you the sweet
[00:20:19] John Puma: Hmm. Mm-hmm.
[00:20:19] Timothy Sullivan: omelet as, like, a last piece,
[00:20:21] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:20:21] Timothy Sullivan: or close to the end, and this is, like, if that grew up and really became a cake, it would be like this.
[00:20:28] John Puma: Yes.
[00:20:30] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah,
[00:20:31] John Puma: if, by the w- by the way, if you ever watch, like, Japanese morning TV, uh, when you’re, like, in Japan, you’re in the hotel room, you’re kind of up a little bit early, you turn on the TV, there is an 85% chance at any time that you will flip to a channel that somebody is either, A, showing you how to make the rolled omelet or, B, selling you the pan to make the rolled omelet.
[00:20:51] Timothy Sullivan: on.
[00:20:56] John Puma: uh, pan that they, that’s like kind of specialized for it, and you [00:21:00] kind of… ‘Cause you, you have the egg in there and you, you, you turn it forward so that it falls to the end, then you flip it back in and that’s the roll, , in the rolled omelet.
[00:21:08] John Puma: And that, and yeah, it’s very, very common there. But yeah, that’s, that’s exactly what I was tasting. Thank you.
[00:21:13] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah, so it’s a little eggy. I, I don’t know if we have ever done a f- have we done a food tasting before?
[00:21:19] John Puma: we had ice cream.
[00:21:21] Timothy Sullivan: Oh, we had ice cream, that’s true.
[00:21:23] John Puma: Yeah.
[00:21:24] Timothy Sullivan: But I don’t think we tasted the ice cream on its own like this. I think this
[00:21:27] John Puma: We should have.
[00:21:28] Timothy Sullivan: full,
[00:21:29] John Puma: That
[00:21:29] Timothy Sullivan: full
[00:21:30] John Puma: was a missed opportunity, Tim.
[00:21:32] Timothy Sullivan: food review. All right.
[00:21:33] John Puma: Hmm.
[00:21:33] Timothy Sullivan: Fabulous. So
[00:21:34] John Puma: great.
[00:21:34] Timothy Sullivan: the sake, we’ve
[00:21:35] John Puma: sake. We… Yeah. So what I’m gonna do here, I’m gonna slice my other one in half a little bit, and I’m gonna dip it, but then after I dip and we taste, I’m gonna put the other one in and just leave it there for a bit, then we can talk, and then I’ll have it after that.
[00:21:52] John Puma: That’ll be fun. All right. So I’m dipping. So here we are. Ooh. [00:22:00] Boop. Oh, God, it fell off the fork. Okay. I hope you’re having better luck, Tim.
[00:22:06] Timothy Sullivan: All right, I’m gonna dip mine.
[00:22:08] John Puma: Uh, I got it. I was able to harpoon it out.
[00:22:11] Timothy Sullivan: do we soak it? Oh,
[00:22:12] John Puma: Oh, yeah. It absorbs quickly. It is, it is… This bread has no chill.
[00:22:18] Timothy Sullivan: Oh my God.
[00:22:19] John Puma: Yeah? Oh, shit. It fell off again.
[00:22:21] Timothy Sullivan: my God. Oh my God.
[00:22:26] John Puma: God.
[00:22:26] Timothy Sullivan: so much.
[00:22:28] John Puma: Okay, here we go.
[00:22:32] John Puma: Oh. Oh.
[00:22:36] Timothy Sullivan: It absorbs
[00:22:39] John Puma: There’s a lot of booze in that cake now.
[00:22:44] John Puma: Oh, my goodness.
[00:22:45] Timothy Sullivan: That is not what I expected.
[00:22:47] John Puma: Yeah. Well, they put the sponge in sponge cake. I’m
[00:22:52] Timothy Sullivan: Oh my
[00:22:52] John Puma: gonna get the rest of this.
[00:22:56] Timothy Sullivan: Woo.
[00:22:57] John Puma: Whoa. [00:23:00] All right, so, whenever time I bite, the sake, like, sprays through to my mouth. Mm.
[00:23:12] Timothy Sullivan: was not what I expected.
[00:23:17] John Puma: It’s really tasty, though. I really like it. I don’t know if it’s how I’m routinely going to experience Funaguchi, but, um… By the way, we’re also gonna do a little time, time experiment, so I’m gonna drop this in, and we’re gonna see how it is in a few minutes. I have a feeling it’s gonna be very similar to how it is now, ’cause it just absorbed all of the sake.
[00:23:44] Timothy Sullivan: I, I mean, I, I dipped it in for a second, and it sucked up the Funaguchi like a literal sponge,
[00:23:58] Timothy Sullivan: I’m gonna do an, an, [00:24:00] a version two as well.
[00:24:01] John Puma: Okay.
[00:24:02] Timothy Sullivan: I’m gonna take Funaguchi and just drop a couple drops
[00:24:07] John Puma: Ooh. All right, so we’re going in opposite directions. I went, I just dunked it in the tank, and I’m gonna leave it here, um, for at least five minutes. We’ll talk.
[00:24:17] Timothy Sullivan: Uh, I’m letting– I, I just put a couple drops
[00:24:21] John Puma: Okay.
[00:24:22] Timothy Sullivan: and letting it kind of soak through. Let’s see. Oh, that’s much better
[00:24:28] John Puma: Okay. So, so are you saying that when you dunked it in, it lost all of its subtlety?
[00:24:36] Timothy Sullivan: When I
[00:24:37] John Puma: All that subtlety we talked about.
[00:24:39] Timothy Sullivan: soaked up so much alcohol that
[00:24:43] John Puma: Yeah.
[00:24:43] Timothy Sullivan: it overpowered the cake.
[00:24:45] John Puma: Mm. Yeah, it was just like Funaguchi flavored cake, pretty much. Uh, I didn’t taste a lot of the castella, a r- you know, the original castella flavoring
[00:24:56] Timothy Sullivan: I don’t know if soaking for five minutes is gonna solve the [00:25:00] issue.
[00:25:01] John Puma: This is for science, Tim.
[00:25:03] John Puma: when I was looking over the, um, the materials that we had, that, that… You actually had done some research and gotten the, gotten those articles, which I really appreciate.
[00:25:12] John Puma: Um, I saw the, Sora News article on this didn’t come out until January, so it took a little while. And so my finding it in February isn’t as weird as it would have otherwise been. I guess it was probably popping up again in a bit of a resurgence.
[00:25:31] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah. So I think vi- don’t viral things kind of do that? Like, they can come in waves and circle back and
[00:25:38] John Puma: Sometimes if, if there’s a reason, uh, but maybe, you know, maybe something happened with… Maybe, maybe February is like castella cake month in Japan or something like that. I don’t know. I’m st- I’ve, I’ve never seen cake absorb a liquid as ridiculously fast as that [00:26:00] did.
[00:26:00] Timothy Sullivan: It is
[00:26:02] John Puma: Oh.
[00:26:02] Timothy Sullivan: absolutely not what I expected.
[00:26:04] John Puma: So I will tell you this.
[00:26:05] John Puma: When I in- when I accidentally, um, dropped my cake in earlier, it sunk to the bottom, and I was able to, uh, skewer it with the fork and bring it out. But now, I can’t really show you this ’cause I will spill sake all over my desk, it is floating.
[00:26:23] Timothy Sullivan: Oh.
[00:26:23] John Puma: So something did happen after I waited. I don’t know what the result’s gonna be, but something did occur.
[00:26:32] Timothy Sullivan: all the air in the cake was replaced with sake.
[00:26:34] John Puma: just, it’s just more sake than cake now.
[00:26:39] Timothy Sullivan: Yes.
[00:26:41] John Puma: Tim, I’m, I’m really glad you humor me with these episodes. Just letting me, letting me have a little fun. All right, let’s get this guy out of here. It hasn’t been five minutes. I, I realize that. Oh, God. It is just, it is, um, losing its composure a little bit, is this cake.
[00:26:57] John Puma: It is dripping sake, [00:27:00] and we’re gonna see what happens when I have this. Oh.
[00:27:14] John Puma: Well, Tim, mm, I wanna ask you what you think it might’ve been like.
[00:27:22] Timothy Sullivan: I think it, it might be similar to mainlining Getting like an IV drip of Funaguchi, is that what it’s like?
[00:27:36] John Puma: Oh, well,
[00:27:40] John Puma: remember how earlier I said that, like, when you bite into it, it kind of like, the Funaguchi squeezes out and is now in your mou– Crank that up to 11 or so and like, you know, like Super Soaker levels, and that’s… It’s– At that point it just becomes a Funaguchi delivery tool.
[00:27:58] Timothy Sullivan: Yes.[00:28:00]
[00:28:00] John Puma: yeah. Ooh! All right, woke me up.
[00:28:03] Timothy Sullivan: Well, I can confidently say that using a little spoon
[00:28:09] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:28:10] Timothy Sullivan: a few drops on
[00:28:11] John Puma: Yeah.
[00:28:11] Timothy Sullivan: that, that’s the way to do
[00:28:13] John Puma: that, it was that, that was the move,
[00:28:15] Timothy Sullivan: Mm-hmm.
[00:28:16] John Puma: I, I messed up by going too extreme.
[00:28:20] John Puma: Now, now, how much of a dribble are we talking here?
[00:28:24] Timothy Sullivan: Um, like half a teaspoon.
[00:28:28] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:28:29] Timothy Sullivan: much.
[00:28:29] John Puma: Mm-hmm. Okay. So it’s interesting, I think I had, like, one or two sips before we did this whole thing,
[00:28:36] Timothy Sullivan: Mm-hmm.
[00:28:37] John Puma: then we did this whole thing, and I wanna s- I, I… It’s not, half of my can isn’t gone, but, but it’s kind of close. Also, my Funaguchi is a little more yellow now than it was before. I wonder if there was some dye on the cake or something.
[00:28:51] John Puma: I kind of want to taste the Funaguchi now and see what happened to it. All right, let’s do that.
[00:29:01] Timothy Sullivan: Mm.
[00:29:02] John Puma: It might be a touch lighter, or I’ve become accustomed to Funaguchi because the saliva in my mouth has been saturated with it.
[00:29:11] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah, I have a few crumbs in my
[00:29:16] John Puma: Mm. Mine, mine as well.
[00:29:18] Timothy Sullivan: is a, this is a side effect I did not know would happen, but, uh
[00:29:22] John Puma: I mean, we should have assumed it would happen. I don’t know why we didn’t. But, I mean, this is fun, though.
[00:29:29] Timothy Sullivan: it was a lot of fun,
[00:29:30] John Puma: Yeah.
[00:29:31] Timothy Sullivan: know, there’s, uh, there’s a tradition of soaking cakes in booze, right? There’s,
[00:29:36] John Puma: There is, but normally you cook the cake afterward. Isn’t that the case? Isn’t, like, rum cakes are…
[00:29:43] Timothy Sullivan: No, I think
[00:29:44] John Puma: Don’t you cook out the alcohol? Oh, on the finished product. Oh, okay.
[00:29:47] Timothy Sullivan: pour- You pour, um, liquid on
[00:29:51] John Puma: Hmm.
[00:29:53] Timothy Sullivan: and kind of soak it through.
[00:29:55] John Puma: So that’s a little bit more akin to what you did.
[00:29:58] Timothy Sullivan: Yes,
[00:29:59] John Puma: [00:30:00] Yes.
[00:30:00] Timothy Sullivan: You know, I, I, when I do pairing dinners for different events and things like that, I have to say,
[00:30:05] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:30:07] Timothy Sullivan: pairing is always the most challenging. I’ve,
[00:30:10] John Puma: it is.
[00:30:11] Timothy Sullivan: I, I’ve developed some ideas around, like, appetizers and, you know, uh, uh, salads and meat courses and red meat and, uh, all the different t- types of…
[00:30:22] Timothy Sullivan: I always have, like, pairing ideas coming a little more easily. But dessert is always the biggest challenge, and there can be amazing dessert pairings. Um, but it is a challenge, and this is an interesting new approach,
[00:30:36] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:30:37] Timothy Sullivan: excited to try this today.
[00:30:38] John Puma: Hmm. Maybe you can, uh, do a little, a dribble on some cake.
[00:30:42] Timothy Sullivan: Hmm.
[00:30:43] John Puma: Or,
[00:30:43] Timothy Sullivan: love that.
[00:30:44] John Puma: or maybe pound cake was the right answer all along, and we need to do this again with pound cake.
[00:30:50] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah. What do you think about other, trying it with other kinds of sake?
[00:30:56] John Puma: Ooh, that’s tricky. Um, so what I found from [00:31:00] this, like really, it, it absorbed it and just kinda splished it in your mouth, right? Splashed it across your mouth. Uh, so, you know, it, it’s gonna be s- it needs to be something that’s not gonna be put off by the sweetness of the cake.
[00:31:17] Timothy Sullivan: Hmm.
[00:31:17] John Puma: Um, so nothing too sweet, nothing too fruity.
[00:31:22] Timothy Sullivan: Hmm.
[00:31:26] John Puma: a, a cheap, a cheap answer, but you can probably have a really good time with Tamagawa and this solution. Um, ’cause I think that, that, that, you know, it’s another high alcohol sake that’s got a l- a lot more, like a, a heavier vibe to it, and I think that you mix that up with something sweet and you got a fun place to be.
[00:31:46] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah, aged,
[00:31:46] John Puma: And we, we did the ice cream with…
[00:31:50] Timothy Sullivan: yeah.
[00:31:51] John Puma: ice cream with a, a kijoshu, right? Yes.
[00:31:55] Timothy Sullivan: Hmm.
[00:31:55] John Puma: a ice cream with a, with an aged kijoshu. But, [00:32:00] you know, maybe like, you know, maybe specifically Tamagawa Time Machine would be fun to do this with,
[00:32:04] Timothy Sullivan: Hmm.
[00:32:05] John Puma: cake. I would have Time Machine with some cake.
[00:32:09] Timothy Sullivan: I’m also thinking, like, uh, a nigori might be fun, too,
[00:32:13] John Puma: Hmm.
[00:32:14] Timothy Sullivan: like… ‘Cause that’s kind of has a creamy texture to
[00:32:18] John Puma: Okay.
[00:32:18] Timothy Sullivan: that might be fun to dribble a little
[00:32:20] John Puma: Hmm.
[00:32:21] Timothy Sullivan: on some pound cake. That might be interesting,
[00:32:23] John Puma: you’re saying dribble, but w- would you ever do the dunk again?
[00:32:27] Timothy Sullivan: I’ve been dissuaded from dunking by this experience. Yeah. I, I don’t know if I- I think a pound cake would ab- it’s r- richer in moisture. I think it would absorb less.
[00:32:39] John Puma: I think anything would absorb less. Like I said earlier, I’ve never seen a bre- a, like, I’ve never seen a bread-adjacent product
[00:32:51] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah.
[00:32:52] John Puma: liquid like this before. It was really impressive, actually. Uh, but
[00:32:56] Timothy Sullivan: Yeah.
[00:32:57] John Puma: it was, it was fun. Like this was a, this was a good [00:33:00] time. It was just a little surprising.
[00:33:03] Timothy Sullivan: well, we couldn’t have done the real thing if it wasn’t for you. Thank you for bringing back the castella cake from Japan, fresh from
[00:33:09] John Puma: Fresh from Japan.
[00:33:10] Timothy Sullivan: that’s awesome.
[00:33:11] John Puma: Yes. And, and thank you for grabbing the Kikusui cans, which I didn’t, I did not bring back. I try not to bring back sake that’s available in the US.
[00:33:19] Timothy Sullivan: I think that’s a very smart idea. Please see our episode on suitcase imports.
[00:33:27] John Puma: Yes, exactly.
[00:33:29] Timothy Sullivan: All right. Well, John, this was so much fun.
[00:33:31] John Puma: Yeah.
[00:33:32] Timothy Sullivan: feel like we’re connected to a viral sensation, and we learned so much, and my mind is just reeling with ideas for sake and dessert.
[00:33:41] John Puma: Yeah.
[00:33:42] Timothy Sullivan: was so great to taste with you, and great to be camera in living color, as
[00:33:47] John Puma: My goodness. And,
[00:33:49] Timothy Sullivan: I love it.
[00:33:50] John Puma: yeah. I gotta say, uh, as, as time goes on with this, I’m kinda like, I kinda wanna have a little more cake and put some more cake in the sake. I’m, I’m, like, kind of… [00:34:00] I don’t know what happened to me, but I’m kinda like, as time goes on, I’m like, “You know, I kinda would like a little bit more of that.”
[00:34:06] John Puma: Maybe it, the sake talking, maybe it’s the cake talking, maybe they’re a chorus. I don’t know. Uh, but no, Tim, it was a really great time, and . I really had a lot of fun doing this. This was, uh, this was something that I was like, I, I s- saw the post, I was like, “This could be a really interesting, silly thing for us to do.
[00:34:21] John Puma: Let’s do something interesting and silly.” And it was just as interesting and silly as I thought it was gonna be.
[00:34:26] Timothy Sullivan: Well, you and I are so serious all the time. It is, it is nice to have a change of pace
[00:34:31] John Puma: Yes.
[00:34:32] Timothy Sullivan: um, uh, z- so really excited for, uh, all our upcoming videos that we’ll be doing
[00:34:39] John Puma: Oh, my goodness.
[00:34:41] Timothy Sullivan: yeah.
[00:34:41] John Puma: But yeah, this gets to be the first ever video pod- video sake, podcast sake. So, yay. The very first time we’re doing video, and it’s Kikusui Funaguchi can. I think. Is it, pose for your, for your close-up. There you are. And, uh, yeah. Um, I’m happy that we, uh, got to do this, and I’m happy that we’re doing some videos.
[00:34:59] John Puma: [00:35:00] It’s gonna be fun. It’s a whole new chapter of editing complexity and stress for us.
[00:35:07] Timothy Sullivan: Oh.
[00:35:08] John Puma: No, it’s gonna be fine. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.
[00:35:10] Timothy Sullivan: great. Yeah,
[00:35:11] John Puma: Mm-hmm.
[00:35:11] Timothy Sullivan: and I want to send a special thank you to all of our listeners, and now I can say viewers, too.
[00:35:18] John Puma: You’ve been waiting for ages to do that.
[00:35:21] Timothy Sullivan: I’ve been waiting. And in addition to all our viewers out there, a special thank you to our Patreon members. If you’ve been enjoying Sake Revolution and now you enjoy our video podcast as well, please be sure to check out our Patreon if you’d like to support our show.
[00:35:40] John Puma: well, if you’d like to learn more about our Patreon, you can visit patreon.com/sakerevolution to find out more. Uh, you can also support us by going out there and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or where are the kids watching video podcasts these days, Tim?
[00:35:56] Timothy Sullivan: Who knows?
[00:35:58] John Puma: knows? But wherever it is, [00:36:00] tell them you like the show and you’d like to have some cake and some sake.
[00:36:05] John Puma: You know, maybe drizzle it. I don’t know. Anyway, thank you very much.
[00:36:08] Timothy Sullivan: Yes.
[00:36:09] John Puma: and family about the show. We really appreciate it.
[00:36:11] Timothy Sullivan: my final word, you really can have your cake and eat it, too, and drink it, too.
[00:36:16] John Puma: you can have your cake and drink it too. Okay, I like that. I like that. Oh, my goodness. Uh, and also, uh, while we’re, while we’re talking about, uh, little closeout items, if you have feedback for us, this is our first time doing this format, uh, reach out to us at [email protected]. You can also get at us on Instagram, sakerevolutionpod.
[00:36:34] John Puma: So, on that note, oh, my goodness, we get to do this with video now. Tim, please raise your glass. Ra- raise your can. Remember to keep drinking sake and kanpai!