It’s a Thursday night after sports practice. It’s dinner time and I haven’t eaten since lunch. My stomach releases various rumbles and growls. My hand is directed towards the fridge, opening it. However, there is no food in the fridge.

I scramble to the pantry. Empty. Desperately hungry I decide to make a dash to Kroger where  I pick up some ham, eggs, and a ramen pack. Unfortunately, as someone who cannot understand Korean or Japanese I happened to grab a Korean  pack which translates to Samyang Foods 2x Spicy Hek Buldak Bokkeummyun.

The ability to translate these Japanese characters  would have saved me my taste buds that night. To my relief, the ramen mixed with the ham and eggs tasted excellent. Then after a few seconds, the spices kicked in and suddenly my tongue was on fire.

The spicy nature of the ramen contains such powerful chile that I began sweating as my eyes teared up, while I furiously searched for a yogurt in my house.

In effort to warn all of those hungry for dinner, I will give you a list of what I believe to be the spiciest ramen I have tasted, so you can safely enjoy your meal.

Spiciest Ramen Countdown:

1: Samyang Foods 2x Spicy Hek Buldak Bokkeummyun

South Korean based, this ramen is clearly the spiciest ramen and it took my taste buds away. It required many glasses of water to remove the pain from my mouth. In addition, it required a pint of yogurt to rid the burn. Caution: it burns!!

2: Emart Dare You! Habanero Ramyun

This one, also from South Korea, has caused me pain for a good 15 minutes. Watch out for it, and don’t purchase it!

3: Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkeummyeon

To me this ramen (another South Korean dish) is quite spicy as it turns your tongue to brisket. However, this ramen has been highly featured in the Internet trend #spicynoodlechallenge. Half as spicy as the first featured ramen.

4: JML Emperor Instant Noodles Spicy Chicken

This ramen (Chinese) is quite edible,  although it leaves you with a strong afterburn. The ramen is quite delicious as the spice does not eliminate the taste. I love mixing it with eggs and ham to create a delicious meal.

5: Nongshim Jinjja Jinjja

I believe this ramen (Korean) is quite delicious and spicy enough for any normal person to handle. It may possibly require a few cups of water to remove the afterburn. However, anyone can eat this ramen and it tastes great.

The Critics

This top 5 is supported by various ramen enthusiasts. Ramen enthusiast Kota Jason Ueshima ’19 agrees “it’s good.” Furthermore, Ramen Enthusiast Raul Lahud ’19 says “it’s so accurate I can feel the tasty burn.”