Pun becomes a pizza, in true Japanese style.

This year, Pizza Hut Japan has been launching assaults on our taste buds, first with the Too Much Coriander Pizza, which delivered exactly what it suggests, and now with the “Wiener Coffee Pizza?”

The reason for the question mark at the end of this menu item is due to the Japanese wordplay in the name. You see, as it is in German, the Japanese word for “Viennese” is “Wiener“, and it’s often heard in relation to “Wiener Sausage” (“Viennese sausage”), a food so popular in Japan it’s simply known as “Wiener”. However, due to Wieners being so synonymous with sausages in Japan, when it comes to Viennese coffee (“Wiener coffee“), a lot of people confuse it to mean “sausage coffee“.

Image: PR Times

After conducting a questionnaire into the matter, Pizza Hut confirmed that a lot of young people don’t know what a Viennese Coffee really is, so they decided to play on the confusion by channelling the chaos into a new pizza.

▼ The promo image reads: “‘Shock’ Maybe it’s different to that hahaha Wiener Coffee Pizza?”

Image: PR Times

The official site reveals more information behind the concept:

“Wiener coffee. A shocking combination that everyone has imagined from the name. Everyone’s misunderstanding turned into a pizza.”

All this talk about coffee and pizza had us salivating to try it when it was released on 26 May, so we picked one up and were surprised to see it came with the fresh cream served in a separate box.

▼ The whipped cream topping is one of the main things that defines a Viennese coffee.

As soon as we lifted the lid on the pizza, we could smell the faint aroma of coffee, and looking down at it, the round shape and deep brown hue kind of resembled a cup of Joe.

This was no regular cup of Joe, though — heck, it was no regular type of pizza, especially after we’d piped the whipped cream on it.

It looked like some sort of weird dessert pizza, but we’d never eaten a dessert with wieners before. It wasn’t just the wieners we were wary of — it was the combination of coffee, cream and cream cheese as well.

Taking a tentative bite, our taste buds stood up in defence at the unexpected assault. They fought valiantly in an attempt to make sense of it all, but this was a crazy, amazing pizza that would never make sense, no matter how hard anybody tried.

Eating the sausage and whipped cream together wasn’t great, but when we kept them separate, enjoying the bittersweet coffee and cream combo before biting into the sausage, the saltiness of the meat worked like a reset for the taste buds.

The salty and sweet profiles were equally strong in every slice, creating some sense of balance amidst the chaotic flavours. Each ingredient stood its ground, fighting against the other flavours without any attempt at harmony, but somehow, weirdly, it didn’t taste bad.

It was sweet, salty, bitter, and kind of like eating dinner and dessert in one mouthful. It was flavourful but weird, which, when you think about it, is kind of how you might imagine a sausage in coffee would taste.

We’re not sure if we’d try it again, but still we’re glad to have tried it, while getting an education in puns and Viennese coffee at the same time. If you’d like to try a Wiener coffee in the guise of a pizza — or vice versa — you’ll want to be quick, as it’s only available for a limited time until 14 June, priced at 2,500 yen (US$18) for takeout and 2,800 yen for delivery.

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Top image: PR Times
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