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Cup Noodle vs 7-Eleven! We test their new scorching instant ramen cups to see who beats at heat

Katy Kelly May 24, 2019
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Between Cup Noodle’s Mega Spicy Miso and 7-Eleven’s Mongolia Tanmen Nakamoto Hokkyoku BLACK, which one left our tongues more of a spicy, shriveled wasteland?

There are several ways to prove your mettle to your peers. Firstly, you can punch a bear in the face. If that sounds a bit too out of your league, you can beat up some hired thugs to impress lookers on. And if you want to prove your mighty power but don’t want to punch anyone, you can suffer through eating some seriously spicy food.

The final months of the Heisei era saw the birth of the Nissin and 7-Eleven collaboration ramen, the Mongolia Tanmen Nakamoto Hokkyoku BLACK. It hit the shelves in February of this year and made quite the name for itself, with many touting it as the “spiciest cup noodle around.”

But just three months later, along came a Reiwa-era challenger: Nissin’s own Cup Noodle line debuted a Mega Spicy Miso ramen that had us gasping and panting in anticipation, claiming to set the very spice scale itself alight.

Now it’s time to settle the score.

Which one is the king of heat?

▼ Mega Spicy Miso (left) vs. Mongolia Tanmen Nakamoto Hokkyoku BLACK (right)

The two both sport miso flavorwith a bang of spicy attitude, but differences become apparent as soon as you look at the composition of ingredients. The Mega Spicy Miso ramen uses a pork stock base for its broth with miso added in, while the the Mongolia Tanmen ramen broth is made with black miso and roasted garlic.

Once both cups were open, our reporter noticed that the color varies significantly between the two.

▼ The Mega Spicy Miso is a deep red, while the Mongolian Tanmen BLACK is – fittingly – a blackened red

But how would the spiciness differ? Our taste tester Mai added hot water to the noodles and allowed it to sit, with the plan being to taste both cups of noodles both before and after adding the packets of oil.

After taking a little sample of each cup…Whew! Even without that added punch from the oil, they were both serious contenders in the spice realm! Munching casually, Mai determined this alone was enough to sate spice-seekers who wanted to eat their fill, while not being SO grueling that you can’t taste the flavors.

Spicy Miso came through on its promise, filling her palate with an imperial miso mixture that felt dense and filling. The Mongolian Tanmen BLACK, on the other hand, balanced its black miso and roasted garlic flavors to perfection. Of the two, it definitely felt more like the classic ramen you’d order from the counter!

Now it was time for the real test: how does each ramen taste with the oil packet added?

▼ The Spicy Miso oil claims to offer “Spice to make you satisfied!”; Mongolian Tanmen BLACK oil is simply “Nakamoto’s special roasted garlic.”

Both ramen cups received an instantaneous heat upgrade from their oil packets, with the Spicy Miso in particular suddenly becoming a violent missile of mouth pain. The pork stock broth did serve to mellow out the heat somewhat, but that first blow of extreme heat was nothing to sniff at!

But the Mongolian Tanmen BLACK had a fun trick up its sleeve: a time delay. The spicy heat crept up on our reporter with a delay of several seconds, and once its violent spice took root there was no escaping it. She felt the sizzling agony wash over her in a powerful wave before she was remotely prepared – and then another wave of heat overtook even that! Our poor reporter was left with a numb mouth and an inability to even feel her tongue, leaving a clear winner.

▼ Mongolia Tanmen Nakamoto Hokkyoku BLACK!

▼ Nakamoto himself is emblazoned on the cup to give his approval

Either of these tasty ramen cups will make a delectable meal for you at the end of a hard day of work, so really they’re both winners – but if you want to sear your mouth out so badly you won’t be able to taste anything afterwards, the answer is clear!

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