Starbucks adds new chewy matcha cake to its menu in Japan for New Year

Plus, there’s a matcha sandwich coming our way, but it won’t be that easy to find.

Just as some flavours are reminiscent of the holidays, so too are the textures, and in Japan, the New Year’s period is all about mochi.

Mochi is a pounded rice cake that forms part of the traditional kagami mochi New Year’s decoration, and its chewy texture is so distinct that the word for “chewy” is actually “mochi mochi”.

So when the creatives at Starbucks put their heads together to create a special lineup of New Year’s sweets, they wanted mochi to be a part of the celebrations. However, with mochi being a dangerous food that kills people every year, they settled on a safer alternative, creating a cake with rice flour for a similar chewiness, and adding matcha to the mix for an extra dash of traditional flavour.

▼ Behold, the Rice Flour Matcha Roll Cake (445 yen [US$3.13])

As the above image shows, the roll cake is plant based, so even those with an aversion to dairy can enjoy it. As for the other two cakes in the matcha collection, we have the Matcha Cream Doughnut (295 yen), which is being re-released this year due to popular demand.

▼ Rounding off the collection is the Matcha Butter Sandwich (335 yen).

This sandwich combines a chunk of salty butter with a matcha-flavoured red bean paste for a sweet and salty taste sensation. Unfortunately, this item is only available at the chain’s drive-thru branches, listed here.

All three items in the new winter collection are designed to deliver moreish, bittersweet flavours, and are said to pair well with the drinks on the menu, including the soon-to-be-released sticky rice and roasted green tea Frappuccino, which also features mochi mochi textures.

The new matcha sweets will be on the menu at Starbucks branches for a limited time from 26 December.

Source, images: Press release
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