Special Report: Pepsi Shiso.

[sechan19]

Every summer I make an effort to try the summertime Pepsi flavor. My first year here, I had the Pepsi Cucumber; my second year, it was the Blue Hawaii (pineapple flavored) Pepsi. This year, the flavor on offer was Pepsi Shiso, and I had to have it.

A type of perilla, shiso is more commonly known by the name "beefsteak plant" in North America. It has properties similar to mint (although it is much, much lighter), and is eaten in a variety of ways. Since I just had tempura shiso for dinner the other night (which was really good, btw), I was well positioned to know whether or not this Pepsi cola happened to taste anything like real shiso. It does, and it is very weird and very delicious.

Wonder what next summer will bring...
...whatever it is, you can be sure that I'll try it.

（＾＿－）


PS: Only in Japan, yo.

Comments

[lordameth.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reportage. I was quite curious about the Pepsi Shiso.

1) Mmmm shiso tempura.

2) How's the Pepsi Cucumber? They must have stopped selling it just a week or two before I arrived in Japan almost two years ago.

3) Is it just me, or is that the only Pepsi to be found in Japan? Not that I mind; I'm a Coke drinker. But it seems strange to me that a company that doesn't have its products - Pepsi, 7Up, etc - normally available would still have enough "in" in the market to release special summer flavors.

[reteva.livejournal.com]

The shiso tempura was extremely good. Although, I'm of the option that you could cover almost anything with tempura and have it rock your socks off. Just me. ;> The Pepsi Cucumber was good, too, I guess. It tasted like both Pepsi and cucumber. I think for a lot of people, these flavors just don't seem right because they manage to make the flavors come through honestly - and its odd to have Pepsi cola tasting like some kind of vegetable (or pineapple in the case of Blue Hawaii, which I found too sweet for my taste).

Pepsi has some products in Japan. I know they have a kind of zero calorie cola that I see advertised a lot. Pepsi Next, or something like that? I'm always so keen to get my hands on mugicha and oolong when I'm over here, that I almost never venture into the soda aisles. So I guess I'm not a good person to ask about that. Heh.