The green mermaid’s green tea beverage undergoes a transformation.

It’s been a bumper year for Starbucks fans, with limited-edition drinks being released all year long, from opera cake-inspired Frappuccinos on Valentine’s Day, through to not one but two special beverages for the holidays.

Now, the chain has unveiled its final gift for the year — a special Matcha Classic Green Tea Latte. Released on 13 December, this tea-based beverage immediately catches the eye with its vivid green hues, making us curious to find out if this brightness in colour would deliver an equally bright flavour.

Our resident Starbucks expert K. Masami was on hand to try the new drink on release day, and after hearing whispers about an ideal customisation, she decided to request it.

▼ Masami’s request: Have the drink served in a glass, with less ice and a pump of mousse foam.

The foam cost an extra 50 yen (US$0.33) in addition to the 500-yen cost of the drink, bringing her total to 550 yen, plus tax. Other customisation recommendations include opting for less or no white mocha syrup, as that comes included in the drink and can sometimes make things overly sweet, but Masami feared that might change the makeup of the core ingredients too dramatically so she decided to skip it this time.

However, she did follow the barista’s advice to add chocolate powder to the mix at no extra cost, and when she received her drink, she was glad to have made that choice.

Not only did the chocolate topping add a delightful contrast to the mousse foam, it helped to create extra depth of flavour throughout the entire drink. As expected, the white mocha syrup was very sweet, so the dark chocolate helped to reign that sweetness in, allowing the grassy notes of matcha to shine through more boldly against the bitterness of the chocolate.

▼ The layers allowed her to enjoy the taste of each element before mixing it all together.

After mixing, the drink took on a harmonious flavour, with the non-fat milk in the mousse foam working to neutralise the sweetness even further, creating a sublime combination that helped to coax the matcha into the foreground, delivering satisfying green tea flavours with a refreshing aftertaste.

Holding back on the ice was a nice idea too, as it made for an easy drinking experience, especially in the chill of winter. It’s a great drink that green tea lovers will fall head-over-heels for, but it’ll only be on the menu for roughly a month, with sales ending on 14 January.

Photos © SoraNews24 
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