The curious case of Japan’s viral cold water cup noodles

Imagine you’re travelling in Japan and while scouring for food you end up in a vending machine at a train station. You grab instant noodles, only to realise that there’s no hot water. So, you reluctantly pour the cold water you have in hand over it and, unexpectedly, the noodles are ready to eat. Cold-water noodles, as bizarre as they might sound, have become a growing trend in Japan. On a hot, sunny day, you might just find yourself craving exactly that and here’s how it works. 

All about the newest Japanese invention of cold water cup noodles

Japan has long been one of the world’s coolest innovators, with new inventions popping up every day to offer solutions to problems we didn’t even realise existed. Back in 1958, Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Foods invented instant noodles. Years later, the same man in the same company in 1971 invented instant cup noodles.

Today, decades later in 2026 the same company launched the cold-water instant noodles and it quickly went viral. Hiyashi Cup Noodle (hiyashi means chilled) offers the same taste with cold water often designed for the times when you might not have a hot water source. The company’s expected sell out time was two months but as the internet took charge, the shelves went empty within weeks.

How does it work?

The cold cup noodles come in two major flavours. One is Spicy Kimchi and the other one is Chicken Salt Lemon. 

The steps are exactly similar to how you make hot water noodles. You peel the lid open, add cold water straight from the tap or fridge and reseal the lid and wait for 5 minutes. The wait time is slightly longer than the regular hot water ones because cold water takes more time for the noodles to break soft. Reopen the lid and stir it properly and enjoy your chilling meal on a hot summer day. 

This special cold-water cup noodles soften through a patented “Cold Rehydrate” technology, which uses specially engineered noodles that are thinner and more porous. This allows them to absorb cold water over a slightly longer waiting period.

Is it good?

Most people usually prefer hot noodles as a meal, so this isn’t necessarily something you’d choose over a steaming cup of noodles. But the idea isn’t to have it on a regular Tuesday morning for breakfast. It’s more of an emergency option like when you’re out on a trek with no access to hot water, travelling for long hours, or simply find yourself in a situation where hot water isn’t available. 

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