There’s a Makoto Shinkai anime-inspired tea in Japan, and it’s beautiful like his films

We get a little emotional taste-testing the Weathering with You Ameiro Jelly Tea.

If you’re a fan of anime, there’s a lot to be excited about this week, since Makoto Shinkai, the director behind Your Name, has just released his latest film, titled Weathering with You. It’s definitely worth watching (we’ve got a complete review of the movie here), but a trip to the theater isn’t the only thing that’s in order following Weathering with You’s premier, but a trip to the convenience store as well.

Specifically, it’s Lawson that Shinkai fans will want to hit up, as the Japanese convenience store chain has created a new drink that salutes the director’s unmistakable and striking visual aesthetics. That might seem like a tall order for a mere beverage, but things become clearer when you feast your eyes on the Weathering with You Ameiro Jelly Tea.

There’s actually quite a bit of Japanese linguistic stuff to unpack in that name. Ame and iro are the Japanese words for “rain” and “color,” and the drink is meant to be evocative of the sky and rain that feature so prominently in Weathering with You, whose female lead is a young girl with the power to control the weather. The “jelly” part of the drink’s name, meanwhile, might be a little misleading for some native English-speakers, as it’s actually the term used in Japan to describe gelatin.

But enough about what it’s called. Let’s talk about how it looks!

The Ameiro Jelly Tea gets its striking color by virtue of being a kind of butterfly pea tea, the fancy term for a variety of herbal tea infused with blue flower petals (which also give it a pronounced floral aroma). Holding the cup up to the sky and letting light stream through it gives the drink’s color a beautiful and surprisingly wistful shade, just like the sky in a Shinkai movie.

But remember, Weathering with You is about a girl who can change the weather, and so there’s a way to change the Ameiro Jelly Tea too.

The tea comes with a packet of lemon syrup that you’re supposed to add after enjoying a few sips of the tea. Mixing in the citrus not only adds an invigorating tartness…

…it changes the color as well, to a vivid violet that once again brings to mind Shinkai’s expertly realized twilight scenes.

▼ There’s even some Weathering with You-related artwork on the cup, like teruteru bozu anti-rain charms, one wearing the cross-shoulder bag that male lead Hodaka does in the anime, and a stylized version of Weathering with You’s mascot cat, also named Ame.

The mid-drink transformation gives you two different ways to enjoy the Ameiro Jelly Tea, with both flavors being refreshing reliefs from the summer heat, and the sensation of the gelatin sliding along your tongue makes it entertaining in a tactile way too.

▼ Our taste-tester Masami, sipping on Shinkai tea.

The Weathering with You Ameiro Jelly Tea is priced at 260 yen (US$2.40) and is available for a limited time at Lawson branches across Japan.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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