Is butter popcorn really that special a flavour?
The answer to that hinges on whether you think of 'butter-flavoured crisps'-flavoured popcorn as butter popcorn or crisps popcorn. A collab between popcorn and crisps was only ever going to cause problems. And I'm now taking bets on how many times I can fit the word 'popcorn' into this post.
That's right, I started tucking in popcorn before I remembered to take a picture of the bag. Terrible of me. But it's okay, because I bought 5 of these things.
I found them in the 'last chance, heavily discounted, take it away!' corner of a Seven-Eleven convenience store. I'd had no idea this flavour existed (it went on sale at the end of September). There were 5 bags left, and the conbini clearly wanted rid, so I nabbed the whole lot.
It's a collab between Mike popcorn and Calbee crisps, using Calbee's 'happy butter' flavour. I like Mike popcorn, and most flavours. A few years ago, they brought out a limited-edition miso version that I got seriously addicted to. Right now, there's a 'shark fin soup' popcorn out, which I'm not touching with a bargepole. You win some, you lose some.
I don't know why Mike shoves the 'this popcorn has as much fibre as a whole lettuce!' line onto the pack. Apparently 100g of their plain salted popcorn is equivalent to 4 lettuces. Do I need that much fibre in my diet? We'll find out whenever I finish the 5th bag.
Happy Butter flavour involves a lot more than just butter: there's honey, parsley, and mascarpone cheese in the mix as well. Those 4 are the 'shi' (し/四) in 'shiawase' (しあわせ), which means 'happy'. I see what you did there, Calbee.
But you can't see any of that in this photo I took:
Under normal light, this popcorn is yellow-tinted and has speckles of green (go parsley). I somehow managed not to capture any of it. You'll have to believe me. Just note that most of it looks popped and not burnt - that's important to remember for later.
Like I say, I'd just started eating these without thinking about it. If you keep your eyes shut, it feels like eating a bag of crisps. The popcorn has the same crunch to it, and either they've somehow gotten 'potato' into the Happy Butter flavouring or my brain is a liar. The only thing off about that is how I don't usually eat buttery crisps.
(If this was a British invention, they would've called it 'Jacket Potato' for sure.)
Mascarpone cheese is a genius addition to butter popcorn, it adds to the flavour without overpowering. It's more-ish, in that resolute 'I bought the L-size popcorn bucket at the cinema, and I'm going to finish it before the credits roll no matter what' kind of way.
My one complaint isn't about the flavour - it's about the amount of rock solid bits and unpopped kernels in the bottom of the bag. Underneath that layer of perfectly-popped bits I took a picture of was the leftover gravel of disappointment. I expect that from popcorn I made in my own microwave, but not from a bag I got at the conbini. Drop the lettuces and fix your quality control, Mike.
Verdict: 8/10. I liked the bits that were edible, and I don't have any parsley stuck in my teeth.