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Japanese convenience store challenge is only for those with extreme tastes

Oona McGee Jun 5, 2026
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Super Happy! Challenge gives us two unforgettable products that deserve a place in convenience store history.

If you’re hungry and in the mood to try convenience store food, Lawson is the place to go right now as the chain is currently upsizing some of its most popular products for free.

▼ Popular items in the “Super Happy! Challenge” lineup include oversized versions of onigiri, sandwiches, and the Premium Roll Cake.

In amongst the offerings are two surprises we weren’t expecting, and rather than being happy to see them, we had a hunch they might be too extreme for anyone’s liking.

▼ The “Too Sour” Salted Lemonade (228 yen [US$1.43]) and the “Too Sweet” Drinkable Chilled Zenzai (298 yen).

According to Lawson’s official website, the Too Sour version of the chain’s Salted Lemonade contains twice as much lemon juice as the previous version, while the Too Sweet version of the Drinkable Chilled Zenzai is made with twice as much red bean paste as the original product.

▼ Zenzai is is a traditional Japanese sweet made from sweetened red beans and usually served with mochi (rice cakes).

Reading the descriptions alone, it’s hard to tell just how extreme these drinks really are, so our reporter P.K. Sanjun bought both the regular and upsized versions of each for a taste test back in the office.

▼ Starting with the regular Salted Lemonade, it wasn’t especially sour – in fact, it tasted more like a lightly salted lemonade than anything intensely citrusy.

Then he took a sip of the Too Sour Salted Lemonade…

▼ Waaaaa!

P.K. could hardly get his words out, but when he finally unpuckered his lips he managed to say, “Wow. This stuff is unbelievable.“

It wasn’t just that it was more sour – the entire flavor profile felt completely different. To try and describe it, P.K. says it’s like tasting the difference between water and tea and then tasting the difference between water and cola, which is where the Too Sour Lemonade sits. The taste, texture and intensity is on a whole other scale compared to the regular version.

▼ It was so intense he couldn’t even finish the drink, so he moved on to the regular Drinkable Chilled Zenzai.

It had a pleasantly balanced sweetness that was fairly refined and P.K. had absolutely no complaints about the flavour. Then he took a sip of the Too Sweet Drinkable Chilled Zenzai…

▼ Tooooooo sweeeeeet!!!!!!!!

The sweetness was absolutely relentless. It was the kind of sweetness that burns its way down your throat in an aggressive manner and it was so strong that P.K. dare not take another sip.

After trying the drinks, P.K. was surprised to find that in both cases, he actually preferred the original versions. They felt more balanced and, frankly, more enjoyable to drink.

▼ P.K. gives both of these two thumbs down.

Although the drinks themselves were too extreme for P.K.’s palate, he was impressed by Lawson’s marketing. In choosing to go overboard with the sourness and sweetness levels, this campaign serves to highlight just how good the original versions are. It also proves that you really can have too much of a good thing, and so sometimes, just sometimes, upsizing your favourite products or flavours may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Everyone’s palate is different, though, so if you’d like to test yours against the extreme ends of the spectrum, the drinks will be on shelves for a limited four-week period from 2 June.

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[ Read in Japanese ]