I played golf in Ibaraki-ken last week and stopped at a Sankus convenience store in the parking area at Ishioka. It was a hot day and most people were either crowding around the ice creams or the cold drinks.
Here are some of the offerings from the cold drink section, mostly sodas, or should I say ciders. As you can see this summer looks like a hot contest between Pepsi, Coke, Calpis, Mitsuya and Asahi Coke?
First up we have Dr Pepper. This drink has not gone mainstream yet in Japan and I was surprised to see it competing for shelf space with the other ‘usual suspects’. The package design looks new as well.
There has been a lot of talk about the new Green Tea flavored Coca Cola drink. The bottle promotes the catechin infused drink which is supposed to be good for you?
Where there is Coca Cola, there is Pepsi. This is no doubt in reply to the green tea brainstorming at coke. Someone at pepsi decided to add the flavor of a Shiso leaf to their drink to spice it up.
While we are on the coke theme, here is Asahi and Sankus’s own PB label for coke. Not sure how many of these they are going to sell against the Green Tea Coke and Shiso Pepsi. Maybe they are hoping that people still want the original taste but made someone else.
All of the photos this week were taking with my iphone rather than the normal Canon Powershot G10. I wasn’t planning to take photos in this conbini but their range was so great I decided to take shots and the iphone was all I had available. As you can the quality of some pictures is not so great, including this next one.
Changing tastes a bit now, here is some Grape Fanta
Calpis aren’t being left behind. They have Calpis Soda on hand for a hot thirsty summer day.
If plain water is more your thing, here is some Fm yokohama / Circle K joint collaboration, Shonan Water.
and last but not least, some Kurozu-ryoku from Suntory under the same brand that makes DAKARA, Life Partners. This drink is made from black vinegar, honey and lemon. This one could be just the find for summer to revive your energy !
That’s the round up for the drinks. In case some of you are left a bit hungry after seeing all the liquids, here are some new finds to eat.
I introduced the BIZ cookie range previously from Morinaga. This week I found their latest edition to the range, Azuki puff Biz. Red bean mized with macha chocolate and cornflakes. That’s a lot to put in a small cookie.
Thanks to Sunkus convenience store at Chiyoda Parking Area for this weeks Conbini Monday.
Dr. Pepper! I miss Dr. Pepper…and Fanta too! <3
Great post! I had a friend over from the states and he loved Pepsi Shiso.
This is a great guide for tourists.
Thanks for dropping by. Glad you liked it 🙂
Didn't i just mention something about Dr. Pepper the other day?lol:) Low and behold you found it coincedience? What is that picture on the label? sure looks interesting. Wouldn't mind trying 1 of each of those drinks there in that case so jealous darn, even those cookies yum cookie monster.lol Also i wouldn't have noticed your reflection in that bottle without you mentioning it. I could keep going on and on.
Till next time
see ya
When I saw the Dr Pepper in this conbini i immediately thought about your comment. good hint. thanks 🙂
your face is in the bottles reflection bro
yes, it sure is. me and my golfing buddy 🙂
I wanna try Mitsuya Cider, I'm always up for something new.
Mitsuya Cider is worth a try. Not a gimmick drink. Its the real deal. been around since 1884.
I recently tried out the Pepsi Shiso and it's pretty terrible. The green tea Coke was shoulder-shruggingly unimpressive, but the Pepsi was awful. I'm not sure if it's better to be so-so or memorably bad. 😉
There are many different opinions of these drinks. My favorite is still the basic Mitsuya Cider chilled cold.
If you ask me, thre is nothing more refreshing than green ice tea. No bubbles!
Indeed, why mess with perfection. 🙂
What about Ramune?
I bought a bottle from the Japan Center in London, because the bottle intruiged me. I managed to leave it in my bag all day, so when I drank it, it was pretty warm. Didn't taste great, probably due to the warmth.
Got another bottle though, in the fridge ready to be drunk on a warm day.
Ramune is a great drink cold, but I don't think I could drink it warm. 🙂
sankus a nice convenient store how i miss it
Got excited there for a minute..thought the fanta grape drink was their jelly shake drink!!! (love that stuff….wish I could get it here!)