“Drinkable pistachios”: A nutty matcha lover’s dream beverage

Pistachio and matcha are a match made in green tea heaven! 

In Tokyo’s swanky Omotesando district, just a stone’s throw away from Harajuku, there are plenty of trendy cafes for people to hang out and be seen in. These days, Chavaty is the name on everyone’s lips, as it’s a particularly cool spot for trendy types, drawing crowds of customers who queue up to eat and drink inside, even during the daytime on weekdays.

Now there’s more reason for people to line up at this tea latte specialty store, because from 25 May the new Pistachio Tea Latte (638 yen including tax) was released. Chavaty has the new drink on the menu at both its Omotesando and Kyoto branches, where it’s become incredibly popular for its rich flavour of pistachio, which it combines with the freshness of matcha. Our reporter, Idate Ayaka, who loves pistachios so much that she eats a small bag of them every day, immediately knew this was a bandwagon she had to jump on, so she recently made her way down to Chavaty in Omotesando to try it.

Even on the day she went, Chavaty had a queue of people outside waiting to get in. Luckily, though, the cafe has a takeout window, and Ayaka made a beeline for it as there were only a couple of people waiting to be served there.

After placing her order Ayaka waited around 10 minutes for the drink to be made, and when her Pistachio Tea Latte arrived, she could see straight away the reason why this drink was so popular.

▼ The gorgeous green drink created a dark green pattern on the cup which looked like a dainty leaf or feather.

Looking at the drink, Ayaka found that the pistachio latte appeared to have very few matcha elements. Although it’s advertised as a drink that allows you to fully enjoy the combination of matcha and pistachios, at first glance, the only matcha she could see was in the topping, next to the dried raspberry pieces.

Enquiring with the staff, Ayaka discovered that the dark green pattern on the sides of the drink was made with matcha sauce, and it was recommended that she scrape the sides bit by bit while drinking the latte to gradually dissolve the matcha sauce into the beverage.

For starters, Ayaka took a sip of the drink as it was, without mixing any of the matcha powder or sauce into the liquid. Her eyes opened with delight as her taste buds were flooded with the fantastic flavour of pistachios. The latte tasted as if it had been made purely with cream and pistachios, and it was insanely delicious!

Ayaka has tried other drinks that bill themselves as “drinkable pistachios”, but none come as close to replicating the flavour as perfectly as this one. It was mercilessly pistachio, and worthy of the “drinkable pistachio” moniker.

Ayaka was happy enough to drink the latte as it was, but hoping to see a new side to her favourite nut, she mixed the matcha sauce into the liquid bit by bit, as recommended. This didn’t create a drastic change, but it did mellow out the pistachio flavour a little, and worked to help balance out the overwhelming nuttiness.

The matcha sauce idea is a great one, as some people might find the rich flavour of pistachios to be a bit cloying. Having the sauce on the sides allows you to control the flavour of the latte and adjust it to suit your preference, like an in-built D.I.Y customisation.

The raspberries provided a tart accent to the drink, and after enjoying a few sips, she decided to go all the way and mix everything into the drink, topping and all. Ayaka feared this might make her beloved pistachio flavour disappear, but when she took a sip, she found a refreshing drink without bitterness was born. Both the pistachio and matcha flavours were strong — evenly matched and utterly delicious!

Ayaka was incredibly impressed with the Pistachio Tea Latte, which allowed her to enjoy different intensities of flavour throughout the drink. Her only regret is that they don’t sell these in larger sizes as she could’ve happily sipped on this beverage for the rest of the day!

Ayaka highly recommends this drink to pistachio fans, and matcha fans looking for a new twist on green tea flavour. It’s only on sale until 27 June and will end as soon as stock runs out, though, so if you love pistachios and want to know what it’s like to drink them, you’ll want to head out to Chavaty soon.

Cafe Information

Chavaty Omotesando Store / チャバティ 表参道店
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Jingumae 4-6-9
東京都渋谷区神宮前4-6-9
Hours: 10:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. (last order 7:30 p.m.)
Website

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