As the temperature rises and the weather gets warmer, McDonald's Japan begins to sell its season-limited Teritama* burger, a springtime staple.

* Teritama is a portmanteau of teriyaki sauce and tamago, meaning "egg."

This time, their "Thick-Cut Spicy Bacon Teritama" is the newest addition to the teritama lineup.

The "Teritama" burgers are characterized by their sweet teriyaki sauce, but this latest version adds a spicy kick with habanero mayo sauce in addition to the spicy bacon.

A writer at our sister site Grape was curious to find out how this combination of flavors would work, so he headed to McDonald's to try the "Thick-Cut Spicy Bacon Teritama" for himself.

First sweet, then spicy

The Thick-Cut Spicy Bacon Teritama burger was wrapped in paper with a cherry blossom design that evoked the feeling of spring.

The words "thick-cut spicy bacon" were written in large letters, raising our writer's expectations. He also noticed the warning: "Please be careful if you don't like spicy tastes." Fortunately, he can handle spicy food, so it wasn't a problem!

When he opened it up, he was happy to see a thick slab of bacon sticking out. It obviously wasn't intended to fit the width of the bun, but that made it look even more appetizing.

Opening up the burger reveals the full extent of the huge strip of bacon.

And the yellow sauce on top of the lettuce is habanero mayo sauce.

The burger's ingredients include, from the bottom, beef patty, fried egg, bacon, and lettuce.

When our writer took a bite into the burger, he was first hit with the aroma of the rich teriyaki sauce, followed by the spice of the habanero.

Indeed, he found it rather spicy.

However, thanks to the mayo, it matched the teriyaki sauce and other ingredients perfectly, creating a very harmonious blend of flavors.

In fact, our writer wasn't a fan of teriyaki sauce because of its sweetness, but the addition of the habanero mayo sauce gave it just the right balance, and he rather liked the taste of this burger.

The "Thick-Cut Spicy Bacon Teritama" (『厚切りスパイシーベーコンてりたま』 in Japanese) offers new possibilities in the world of Teritama, and it's only available in spring, so if you're living in Japan and interested, be sure to give it a try.