A holiday dessert drink worth celebrating.

Now that Halloween has been and gone, taking its limited-edition Starbucks beverage with it, it’s time for the coffeehouse chain to take down their orange pumpkin decorations and ease us all into the Christmas spirit with their first festive drink for the holidays, the Berry x Berry Rare Cheesecake Frappuccino.

Inspired by the classic Cranberry Bliss Bar, a seasonal cake sold at Starbucks at this time of year, the new Frappuccino promises to deliver all the festive hues and flavours we’ve come to associate with a Japanese Christmas, and it didn’t take long for our resident Frappuccino expert K. Masami to get in line on opening day to try it out.

▼ The new Frappuccino is available in a Tall size for 590 yen (US$5.63)

As soon as Masami purchased one of the new Frappuccinos, she whipped off the lid to view its whipped cream topping. It was sprinkled with the colours of Christmas, in the form of bright red raspberry-flavoured meringue pieces and white chocolate shavings.

▼ The red pieces looked a bit like Christmas hollies.

The marble-like pattern created by the white frappe base and bright red berry sauce mix was really beautiful, and the cup itself was also gorgeous, decorated in glittering stars for the holiday season.

Not only did it look beautiful, it tasted great too. The “Berry x Berry” portion of the drink hits the tongue first, thanks to the mixed berry sauce, which contains strawberries, cranberries and raspberries for a refreshing sweet and sour tang. Then the rare cheesecake flavoured base comes through, with its creamy cheese undertones adding a rich depth to the fruity top notes, creating the familiar taste of a…berry cheesecake!

Every mouthful made Masami feel as if she was drinking a cheesecake smothered in berry sauce, yet it was surprisingly refreshing and the crunchy textures in the topping added a fun accent to the beverage, which she ended up finishing in no time.

The staff at the store also recommended customising the drink by adding chocolate sauce and chocolate chips for an extra layer of flavour, which Masami vowed to try next time.

Alongside the new Frappuccino is a series of new hot drinks: the Berry x Berry White Mocha (450-570 yen); the Macadamia Toffee Latte (440-560 yen); Gingerbread Latte (420-540 yen); Winter White Chocolate (400-520 yen).

Masami tried the Macadamia Toffee Latte, topped with macadamia toffee sauce, whipped cream, and candied macadamias. She was pleasantly surprised at how well the flavours worked together, and its warming, nutty, toffee aromas made her feel like winter had come already.

The new berry-based drinks are only available for a very limited time until 24 November, while the Christmas lattes and hot chocolate will be on the menus until 25 December. And from 6 November, Starbucks will be releasing their first range of holiday drinkware for 2020, which comes with cute festive items ranging from notebooks through to plush toys and even a kettle, so you can match your stationery and kitchen goods with your favourite mugs and tumblers.

Photos © SoraNews24
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