Designed to look and taste like a Japanese Christmas cake.

With Halloween yet to arrive, and the Night Masquerade Party drinks still on the menu, Starbucks is wasting no time in barrelling full-speed ahead towards Christmas. According to the global coffeehouse chain, the first Holiday Season drinks of the year are set to arrive on 1 November, and today they revealed the new beverages will look and taste like Japanese Christmas cakes.

▼ Say hello to the Merry Strawberry Cake Frappuccino and the Merry Strawberry Cake Milk

Unlike other countries, Christmas cakes in Japan are actually strawberry shortcakes layered with cream and topped with strawberries, showcasing the red-and-white colours of Christmas, which are also considered lucky for the New Year.

Image：Flickr/Nubobo

For the 2019 holiday season, Starbucks aims to create drinks that help customers enjoy special “moments”, like the toast at the start of a party, or the instant the lights are turned on at a light-up event or on a Christmas tree.

Starbucks’ first series of festive drinks will recreate the moment you bite into a slice of Christmas cake, as the Merry Strawberry Cake Frappuccino comes filled with beautiful red-and-white layers.

At the bottom is a “sponge cake crumb“, made with a mixture of shortbread and finely crushed sponge cake, and on top of that is a layer of rich strawberry sauce with fresh fruit pulp. A light and airy cake-flavoured milk layer makes up the rest of the drink, which is topped with a mound of cream and crunchy strawberry pieces, to create a decadent beverage that tastes just like a strawberry shortcake.

Accompanying the Frappuccino is the Merry Strawberry Cake Milk, a beverage that’s said to taste like “eating a Christmas cake with a glass of hot milk”. This one contains a sweetly tart strawberry sauce with fruit pulp, which partners perfectly with the steamed milk and rich whipped cream topping to create a mellow strawberry shortcake flavour.

The Merry Strawberry Cake Frappuccino will be available in a tall size only for 590 yen (US$5.43) plus tax, while the Merry Strawberry Cake Milk will be sold in Short through to Venti sizes from 450-570 yen, plus tax.

Both new beverages will be available at Starbucks stores around the country from 1 November — the day after the Halloween Red Night and Dark Night Frappuccino party ends — and will be on the menu until 21 November.

Source, images: Starbucks Japan (unless otherwise stated)
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