Sweet, light, and refreshing – this frappe is the perfect way to enjoy the warmer weather.
If you’re not already familiar with annin tofu from your own culinary experience or perhaps with Krispy Kreme’s spin on things, here’s a quick rundown: this light and sweet dessert is a jellied version of apricot kernel flour, milk agar, and sugar. It’s normally served with citrus fruits like orange, kiwi, or sometimes mango.
Japanese convenience store chain Family Mart recently unveiled the newest addition to their line of frappes with an annin tofu-flavor drink with mango sauce mixed in (as you may already know, Family Mart has some pretty bomb frozen drinks). We got around to trying this refreshing dessert drink just in time for the weather to start warming up, but before we tell you how it tasted, we’ll give you a refresher course on how to make it!
First, grab a frappe out of the frozen drinks section in Family Mart. No, it’s not already made for you. Pay for it at the register before you start making it (that’s probably the most important part, honestly). It’s priced at 320 yen (US$2.94) – not bad for a frozen drink.
▼ Here’s what you should be looking for.
Once you’ve paid at the register, head over to the drink machine (usually at the end of the register counter). This is where you’ll make the frappe nice and frappe-y by adding milk.
▼ The drink machine
Open the frappe cup and stare into the abyss of frozen annin tofu and mango syrup swirl.
▼ It kind of looks like a star, actually!
You’re probably itching to add the milk and get that annin tofu in your mouth, but then you’d be skipping a vital step in making the texture of the frappe delicious: massaging it before you add the milk. Squeezing the frappe cup loosens the frozen mixture and smooths it out. Our recommendation is to squeeze it at least 30 times to get a smooth, creamy finish.
▼ And in case you forget, the instructions are on the cup: massage first, then push the “frappe” button, and finally stir it up.
Before digging into your treat, don’t forget to admire the adorable packaging. Since annin tofu is traditionally a Beijing and Cantonese dessert, Family Mart found it fitting to add a couple of cute pandas on a red background.
▼ This is a plastic cup you could definitely reuse.
Finally, press the frappe button (it’s marked with a blue arrow on the machine, and we’ve circled it in red in the photo below) to add milk, stir it up with a straw, and enjoy!
Now to the actual taste test: after preparing our own annin tofu frappe, we took a big sip and were rewarded with the refreshing taste of annin tofu (duh) and a light sweetness. The added milk didn’t overpower the taste of the traditional dessert, thankfully. We also appreciated the bits of annin tofu jelly that added a bit of slickness to the texture.
The only unfortunate part is that the flavor of the mango syrup hardly came through. We wouldn’t have even known it was there if it wasn’t written on the package. Still, it’s pretty delicious – it has a lightness that’s not too sweet for a flavor we never got tired of, even down to the last slurp. Whether you’re a pre-existing annin tofu fan or not, it’s worth a try!
Photos ©SoraNews24
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