Raise a glass to one of Pokémon’s favorite in-game snacks, which you can now try for yourself!

When it first opened, the star of the menu at Tokyo’s Pikachu Sweets by Pokémon Cafe shop was its Pikachu-shaped cupcakes. Since then, the cafe has added other desserts like Pikachu tail cookies and Eevee pudding.

For their latest offering, though, they’re not turning a Pokémon into a snack, but instead bringing an in-world food from the Pokémon franchise into real life. Fans of the games and anime will be familiar with the Pinap Berry, a treat for Pocket Monsters, and now you can order Pinap Berry Juice at Pikach Sweets.

▼ A Pinap Berry in Pokémon GO

As soon as it went on sale, we hopped over to Pikachu Sweets by Pokémon Café in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro neighborhood. Despite the similar name, this is a separate establishment from the Pokémon Cafe on the other side of town in the Nihonbashi district, and a big advantage of Pikachu Sweets by Pokémon Café is that you don’t need to make a reservation – you can just roll on up and, as long as you’re willing to wait in line, order whatever you want to-go.

▼ There are standing counters inside where customers can ordinarily enjoy their food and drinks, but they’re currently unavailable due to coronavirus health precautions.

With Pikachu basically being a national hero in Japan, the line can get pretty long on weekends. On a weekday afternoon, though, the crowds are a lot smaller, and after placing our order, it only took about a minute for the staff to prepare our Pinap Berry Juice.

▼ A minute we spent admiring the cafe’s Garbodor trash can

When our drink was ready, we were happy to see if had the same enticing golden-orange color as the in-game/anime fruit!

Even better, tilting the cup to get an overhead view…

…revealed a slushie Pikachu silhouette!

But as cute as it looks, what makes this drink really special is how it sounds.

The full name for the drink is Pikachu’s Cracking Pinap Berry Juice, and just as advertised, it has the sizzling sound of a bunch of Pop Rocks going off (or Popping Shower ice cream, if Japanese branches of Baskin-Robbins are your preferred frame of sweets reference).

According to the Pinap Berry’s in-game description, it has a sour outer layer and spicy core. For the real-life version, though, Pikachu Sweets by Pokémon Cafe has decided for a less intimidatingly complex flavor profile, and this is a sweet and pleasantly tangy beverage that’s pretty much all pineapple in the flavor profile, with plenty of pulp from the tropical fruit blended in for a drink that’s refreshing and slightly filling too.

The Pinap Berry Juice is priced at 629 yen (US$6.10) and is on sale for a limited yet unspecified time, and with Pikachu Sweets by Pokémon Cafe being the Sunshine City entertainment complex, it’s just the sort of thing to recharge yourself with after a long shopping session at the building’s Pokémon Center superstore.

Shop information
Pikachu Sweets by Pokémon Cafe / ピカチュウスイーツ by ポケモンカフェ
Address: Tokyo-to, Toshima-ku, Higashi Ikebukuro 3-1-2, Sunshine City Alpa area 2nd floor
東京都豊島区東池袋3-1-2 サンシャインシティ 専門店街アルパ 2F
Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Website

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[ Read in Japanese ]