Pepsi Energy Cola - How does it taste? Where to buy?

Pepsi Energy Cola (ペプシ エナジーコーラ) is back, and it's bigger than last year, with a big bad sith lord endorsement.

This is year two of the Pepsi Energy Cola drink and the second time it has made a debut in Japanese convenience stores. The Endorsement of the most famous sith lord in the Star Wars universe, Darth Vader, is a dark and nerdy touch. Last year (2011) it started it's debut in 7/11 stores, and then migrated to SaveOn stores. While 7/11 sold their last stock, SaveOn had it for a few months after.  Then it disappeared from all stores until October of 2012. This year, again, it has debuted at 7/11 stores, but can also be found at Lawson and possibly many other convenience stores (conbini). You won't, however, find this drink in the supermarkets.

Can art; top 2012 - bottom 2011

The can is 250 ML this year (2012) where it was only 200 ML [apparently, my memory is bad and last year it was also 250 ML (2011). So this year the price has gone up from 150 yen to 200 yen for the same amount.] A unique part of the drink this year is the can's art design featuring Darth Vader and the caption "Give yourself to the dark side." I downed this drink with pleasure as it is one of my favorites, and couldn't feel any actual "dark side" taking over me, but I did have a good feeling of drinking something I truly enjoy. 

How does it taste?
The flavor inducing Ingredients include; Royal Jelly, Panax Ginseng, Guarana, Arginine. and a Cola Base.  

The flavor is cola with a bit of smarties/guarana flavor to it. Half the people that I have seen drink it say it tastes wonderful! The other half say it tastes like (insert something you don't like here that might have a similar flavor i.e. Dr. Pepper.)

KEY POINT on flavor. If you have congestion and can't breath through your nose well, this drink will have a more medicine-like flavor. The smell that you get from the mouth up the back of the throat to your nose really adds to this drink and makes it wonderful. So I suggest avoiding the drink when you have a cold or allergies.

Overall, it is quite nice and priced better than a cup of Jo. It is the size of a large Red Bull (250) ML but costs 200 yen instead of 275 yen. This drink is currently, (October 2012,) only available in Japan.

Where to buy it?
Pepsi Energy Cola can be found at 7/11 and some other Convenience stores in Japan.  You can also buy it online, but only in Japanese.  Here are some links.

Rakuten: ペプシエナジーコーラ
Amazon: ペプシエナジーコーラ

Apita Super Markets also had Pepsi Energy Cola on their shelves, but after one week they went on sale for half off.  That's right 100 yen per can.  They may have sold out by now.

This image was taken on November 10th 2012.

This may be a telling sign that Pepsi Energy Cola is not as popular as they had hoped, and may be going away again as a seasonal item, or that it will no longer be sold in the supermarkets. Either way, catch your chance to snatch them up for cheap.