food

Is the world ready for Japan’s new Lemon & Mint Pepsi?

8 Comments
By Mike, RocketNews24

Mint is an extraordinarily versatile, exceedingly summer-appropriate ingredient. It can add a refreshing bite to savory dishes, is the essential main ingredient in basically all of the world’s best ice cream flavors and is the star of the show in that most refreshing of summer beverages, the mojito.

Mint is the miracle substance that makes Asia’s hellish, your-buddy-just-spontaneously-combusted-hot summers the slightest bit more tolerable; a fact that beverage and snack makers in Japan are finally catching onto, with each passing year seeing better and more diverse mint-infused offerings.

But lemon and mint? That’s the new flavor combo Pepsi is banking on to be the next big thing with its new Pepsi Special Lemon Mint drink offering — and we’re slightly wary.

It should be noted that mint and some type of citrus isn’t exactly a new concept. That’s the basic idea behind the aforementioned mojito, which we are (obviously) now currently imbibing and we’re pretty sure we saw a mint and orange-flavored candy bar somewhere once. But not all citrus is created equal and, in our humble opinion, if there were to be one citrus juice not compatible with mint, it would have to be lemon.

Still, Pepsi seems confident in their new product, sending a chirpy press release our way extolling the virtues of the new, Food for Specified Health Uses-qualified beverage.

As part of the beverage company’s “Special” lineup of FOSHU-endorsed beverages, Pepsi Special Lemon Mint claims to block the production of new fat cells when the drink is consumed together with a meal. We’re not going to get into how much truth there is to that, though…

FOSHU endorsement or no, the true question at hand is: does the drink taste good?

We figured we had a pretty good idea of what the beverage would taste like even before we took the plunge, anticipating that cloying, artificial citrus-y sweetness common in cola drinks of this ilk. But, popping open the PET bottle and taking a swig, we were surprised to find the initial, dominant flavor is just that of a standard Pepsi, with just the slightest hint of mint leaf and a very faint lemon flavor coming in on the tail, finished with the inevitable tang of artificial sweetener.

Despite initial expectations, we have to say the new Pepsi Special Lemon Mint is actually pretty good. Although we’re skeptical of the beverage’s health claims, the flavor alone is enough to make this a go-to summer drink choice when time of day or other circumstances rule out the boozy goodness of a mojito.

Pepsi Special Lemon Mint is available throughout Japan now, although we did have a heck of a time finding a convenience store location that sells it; after scouring most of Shibuya trying to find one of the things, we finally came across a Lawson that was stocking it. It’ll set you back something like ¥150 for a 490 millileter bottle.

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8 Comments
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As part of the beverage company’s “Special” lineup of FOSHU-endorsed beverages, Pepsi Special Lemon Mint claims to block the production of new fat cells when the drink is consumed together with a meal. We’re not going to get into how much truth there is to that, though…

Why not? That would be the responsible and thoughtful response instead of just writing a promo piece.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Pepsi Special Lemon Mint claims to block the production of new fat cells when the drink is consumed together with a meal

I thought Japanese law was recently changed to forbid making such statements without scientific evidence?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

If it's anything like the OTHER new Pepsi, it's already a bomb.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I'd like to know EXACTLY how much actual lemon and actual mint are in this drink and how much phosphoric acid, sugar and caffeine.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"It’ll set you back something like ¥150 for a 490 millileter bottle."

I bet it looks just like a 500ml bottle! Family Mart and 7-11 didn't have it, I'll check Lawson tomorrow.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sounds delicious! I'm not sure why the reporter was so sceptical - lemon and mint go together very well (though of course a mojito is mint and lime, not lemon). Probably better still with some alcohol in it, though ...

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

A typical 16-ounce bottle of soda has 44 grams sugar or about 11 teaspoons.

From a nutritional website

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Tried this one the other day... didn't like it... I don't really like the taste of artificially sweetened drinks... much prefer plain old sugar.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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