Just when we thought Japanese vending machines couldn’t get any more awesome, we’re happy to be proven wrong.

Japanese vending machines are awesome at any time of year, but especially so in the winter, when they sell a variety of hot drinks. We’ve spent most of the season fortifying ourselves against the chilly weather by gulping down bottles and cans of hot green tea and coffee, but we recently tried a new addition that we hope is here to stay.

Coca-Cola Japan has a line of hot canned soups it calls Go:Good, which comes in three varieties. The first, corn potage (basically corn chowder) has been a vending machine mainstay for years, and is something a lot of other companies offer too. Minestrone is a little rarer, but again, Coca-Cola isn’t the only canned drink maker with a tomato soup. What they, are, though, is the only one to offer hot shrimp bisque in a can!

With a major cold snap hitting the Tokyo area this week, the time was right for us to try it. Ordinarily, you’re supposed to sip it straight from the can, but for the sake of a visual inspection we hurried back to SoraNews24 HQ and poured it into a cup.

As soon as we popped the top, a delicious creamy shellfish scent wafted up to entice us. As we poured out the contents of the can, we could see that the broth was neither watery nor lumpy, but smooth and creamy, though not so thick that you need a spoon to enjoy it (remember, it’s meant to be drunk from the can).

Once again to make it easy to drink, the Go:Good shrimp bisque is broth-only, but it still has plenty of flavor, thanks to the shrimp and onion extract and garlic. As a pure liquid, you could easily drink it on the go as a beverage, but we also think it makes a great accompaniment to a pick-up lunch to eat at your desk (or in the park, if you need a break from the office), and since it’s priced at just 110 yen (US$1) and has just 59 calories, we see ourselves having this several more times before the vending machines switch back over to only cold items in the spring.

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Follow Casey on Twitter, where regardless of what time of year you’re reading this, he’s probably uncomfortably cold.