Starbucks Japan unveils new Christmas Cake Frappuccinos and gingerbread lattes for 2018

Four limited-edition beverages are coming our way this holiday season.

Just over a week ago, Starbucks thrilled us with the announcement of their Halloween Witch and Halloween Princess Frappuccinos. But things move quickly in the world of limited-time beverages at Starbucks, as they’ve now revealed their first lineup of drinks for the holiday season, featuring the taste of gingerbread and Christmas cakes.

Based around the theme of “Starbucks The Blend Is The Magic”, the first set of drinks includes a Christmas Strawberry Cake Milk and a Christmas Strawberry Cake Frappuccino.

When most of us think of Christmas cakes, images of rich fruit puddings come to mind, but in Japan, a Christmas cake contains the red-and-white colours of the holiday season, in the form of a strawberry and cream sponge cake.

▼ In Japan, Christmas cakes look like this:

The new beverages from Starbucks take the colours and flavours of a berry-topped Japanese Christmas Cake and blend them up into two new limited-time offerings, with the Christmas Strawberry Cake Frappuccino served cold and the Christmas Strawberry Cake Milk served piping hot.

Both drinks are designed to help recreate the same sense of happiness and excitement as a holiday gathering around a Christmas cake with loved ones, and both contain the same sweet and tart strawberry sauce in the base drink and on the topping. The fresh strawberry pieces in the sauce give the drinks a fresh hit of fruit flavour, while the creamy milk base contains crunchy baked biscuit pieces to create the sensation of biting into cake sponge.

The Christmas Strawberry Cake Frappuccino (left in the image below) is available in a tall size only for 590 yen (US$5.27), while the Christmas Strawberry Cake Milk (right) comes in Short, Tall, Grande and Venti sizes, ranging in price from 450-570 yen (plus tax).

Joining the cake-themed Christmas beverages is the Gingerbread Latte, in hot and cold versions, which has become a Starbucks Holiday staple in recent years. Available in Short through to Venti sizes, the latte is priced at 420-540 yen.

Another beverage making its Holiday Season return is the Joyful Medley Tea Latte, which was a hit last year with its blend of black, oolong, Jasmine, peach, and apricot teas. Served hot, this beverage is available in Short through to Venti sizes, priced at 380-500 yen.

And on the limited-time Holiday Season food menu, Starbucks will be offering a Woodfired Firone Holiday Chicken Roll for 480 yen and a Cranberry Bliss Bar for 460 yen.

▼ And there’ll be an adorable little Bûche de Noël yule log cake available for 460 yen.

The limited-time Holiday Season items will be available at Starbucks stores around the country from 1 November to 25 December, with the exception of the Christmas Strawberry Cake Frappuccino and milk, which will only be available from 1 November to 4 December.

Those drinks will soon be followed by the second installment of Frappuccino beverages for the Starbucks Holiday Season, so for more news about the upcoming release, watch this space!

Source, image: Starbucks Japan 

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