The Perfect Drink with Apple Pie

Can Sokenbicha teach the world to sing?

The Coca-Cola Co.-produced tea, which has been sold for years in Japan, is now being introduced to U.S. palates.

Kohji Shinohara, an executive at Coke’s Tokyo-based subsidiary and one of the developers of Sokenbicha, told The Wall Street Journal that he recommended the herbal drink for the U.S. market while on a two-year assignment in Atlanta. “How do we globally leverage our local genius?” he asked.

While ethnic foods are hardly new to America, we’ve noticed that many of the newer arrivals come with an interesting twist: They’re not necessarily being marketed as ethnic. Such is the case with Sokenbicha (pronounced SO-can-BEE-cha), which is being touted by Coke for its health benefits, not for being an exotic import.

[EXPAND More]Perhaps this is what Peter Drucker meant when he called globalization a “psychological phenomenon.” He noted, for instance, that the automobile had become “a necessity and not a luxury” for people in China. Globalization really “means that all of the developed West’s values—its mindset and expectations and aspirations—are seen as the norm,” Drucker said.

But this is now working in reverse, as well. People in the U.S. and Europe are so accustomed to having non-Western products pour in from all over the world that items which once would have seemed curious now barely raise an eyebrow.

How has globalization affected how you view what you purchase?[/EXPAND]