In 1904, Kaiun Mishima, the founder of our company, visited Inner Mongolia on his business trip, and encountered this cultured milk made by fermenting cow or horse milk with lactobacilli. He noticed that his mind and body felt better after constantly drinking it, and was convinced that milk and lactobacilli, which are precious gifts from nature, were the keys to the tastiness and better health. Upon returning to Japan, he began the development of ‘a tasty and healthy drink’ with cultured milk as a reference.
CALPIS, the first lactic acid drink in Japan, was then born in 1919. Since its foundation, our company continues to pursue our simple but essential goal of making ‘tasty and healthy drinks’ that also meet the changing needs of society.

CALPIS, the Oldest and Best-Loved Lactic Acid Drink in Japan

CALPIS is made by removing fat from fresh milk, and fermenting it with CALPIS Star ter (aggregation of microorganisms such as lactobacilli and yeast) for sufficient time. The CALPIS Star ter has been inherited and used for over 90 years. The unique flavor and taste of CALPIS is generated by the natural process of lactobacilli and yeast during the course of fermentation in two stages. We have been following this natural production method and maintaining the CALPIS Star ter carefully since the product was launched in 1919 as the first lactic acid drink in Japan.
CALPIS has been enjoyed down through the generations since it first went on sale. The enduring popularity of CALPIS with people of all ages must be the testament to its attributes of good taste, healthfulness, safety, affordability, freedom to make it suitable for anyone’s taste, and versatility that can be used for general cooking and making confectionaries.
Wishing CALPIS to be always loved by and be close to customers, we constantly suggest various ways to drink CALPIS such as mixing with milk or carbonated water, and new recipe ideas using CALPIS through store promotions and our website.

CALPIS brand that keeps on expanding in line with the ages

Ready-to-drink CALPIS beverage offers convenience to drink it anytime and anywhere along with the trend at all times while maintaining the original attraction of CALPIS, symbolized by image of health and reliability.

Keep Pursuing ‘New Tastiness’

We are striving to produce milk-based beverages that have ‘new tastiness’ by utilizing our many years of studies and fermentation technologies in relation to lactobacilli.
For instance, a milk-based beverage, ‘THE PREMIUM CALPIS’ was developed targeting adult consumers, and has attracted many people as it has rich and mellow taste produced by our unique lactobacilli.This drink has exploited new market of a “value-added milk-based beverage”.
Making full use of a wide variety of lactobacilli and fermentation technologies we have acquired, wecontinue offering drinks that serve the needs of different generations and occasions.

Drinks that boost up your body and mind

In addition to CALPIS branded and other milk-based beverages, we offer many other long-selling products
such as a high quality fruit juice, ‘Welch’s’, and a top selling hot fruit drink, ‘HOT LEMON’*.
Our basic stance towards producing the merchandise is to deliver “Karada ni Peace” to the customers
by offering drinks that are good for both body and mind at various scenes of their lives, from the
morning when you want to start the day full of energy to a relaxing night time to relieve the day's fatigue.

* Based on the shipping volumes of bottled hot fruit drinks from September 2009 to March 2010. (Source: Calpis)

Low alcohol beverage
‘CALPIS’ only for grown-ups, ‘CALPIS SOUR’ and ‘CALPIS BARTIME’

CALPIS also goes especially well with liquor. We are utilizing its tastiness in the field of low alcohol beverage. We provide low-alcohol drinks that are made from our unique ingredients and technologies to be of assistance at customers’ relaxing times. ‘Milk Spirits’ (distilled spirit) made of CALPIS is one of such examples.

Healthy and Functional Drink
Support to build health on everyday basis mainly by offering FOSHU*

We suppor t our customers´ health by offering scientifically proven healthy products made using our unique technologies developed through many years of research. We will fur ther pursue our research to solve ever-evolving problems of modern people such as metabolic syndrome and anti-aging from the field of “food”.

* FOSHU: FOSHU (Foods for Specified Health Uses) approval is granted by the Japanese Consumer Affairs Agency to food products which are scientifically proven to have specific health benefits.