Limited-edition drinks are like nothing the chain has ever produced before.

Starbucks is always ahead of the curve when it comes to creative new beverages, and it likes to get a jump on the seasons too, which is what it’s doing in Japan right now with its “Summer Season Part 2” release.

Exclusively available at 19 “Starbucks Tea & Café” specialty tea stores nationwide, the star ingredient for this release is matcha, appearing in two new drinks — the “Matcha Green Tea Sparkling” and “Matcha Pistachio Mousse Tea Latte”.

Designed to deliver a “summer matcha experience”, these new beverages are rich in flavour, yet so refreshing they can be enjoyed even in the warmer months.

▼ The new drinks are said to have a unique, smooth texture that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before.

The Matcha Green Tea Sparkling combines the slight bitterness of matcha with tonic water to create a brand new type of green tea beverage. Starbucks’ original green citrus-flavoured syrup, which contains aromatic notes of lemon, lime, grapefruit, pear and herbs, provides an additional contrast in flavour, bringing extra refreshment to the first tea-based carbonated drink to ever be offered at the specialty stores.

▼ The green matcha is poured over the top at the end, to create a visually striking moment.

The Matcha Pistachio Mousse Tea Latte is an iced tea latte with three layers that provide a superb balance of flavours. At the bottom is a sweet and creamy blend of fresh cream and white chocolate-flavoured syrup, topped with rich umami-filled matcha that displays a subtle bitterness, and finished with a fluffy pistachio foam that has a mellow mouthfeel and a sweet, creamy richness.

▼ The vivid green-and-white appearance, along with three distinct textures, creates a beverages that’s both delicious and exciting to drink.

Diehard green tea lovers will want to head to the Teavana branch at Ginza Marronier Dori in Tokyo, as this newly opened store specialises in stone-milled matcha. Only here will you be able to taste the drinks with fresh stone-milled matcha, for an even more intense matcha experience.

▼ The  “Stone-milled Matcha Green Tea Sparkling”

▼ The “Stone-Milled Matcha Pistachio Mousse Tea Latte”

All the new drinks will be sold in Tall sizes only, with the regular Matcha Green Tea Sparkling on the menu at 678 yen (US$4.72) for takeout and 690 yen for dine-in, and the regular Matcha Pistachio Mousse Tea Latte at 707 yen for takeout and 720 yen for dine-in. The stone-milled matcha versions are slightly more expensive, with the sparkling version priced at 1,080 yen for takeout and 1,100 for dine-in, and the tea latte priced at 1,178 for takeout and 1,200 yen for dine-in.

That’s a whole lot of matcha to get you in the mood for summer, but as always these drinks will only be available for a limited time. The availability is thankfully quite long, though, running from 11 June to 2 September, so we have all summer to enjoy them.

Related: Starbucks Tea & Cafe store locations
Source, images: Press release
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