We’d love the Cooling Matcha Mousse Tea at any time of year, but debuting in the middle of an intense heat wave makes it all the more satisfying.

Starbucks Japan has a knack for rolling out new drinks right as seasonal cravings hit their peak, and while green tea itself is a year-round beverage in Japan, the chain’s timing is impeccable in releasing the brand-new Cooling Matcha Mousse Tea as Japan is looking for ways to cope with one of its hottest summers ever.

First, let’s pin down exactly what this new drink is. It’s not a green tea Frappuccino, as there’s no blended ice base. It’s also not a matcha latte, because there’s no milk used in the drink’s base either. Instead, the Cooling Matcha Mousse Tea’s base is made by taking matcha powder and mixing it with purified water only. There’s no sweetened syrup used in the drink base either, to ensure more pure matcha flavor with no sugary or milky distractions.

However, floating on top of the Cooling Matcha Mousse Tea’s base is a layer of white mocha-flavor mousse, and on top of that is a finishing dusting of even more matcha powder, making this drink a figurative matcha sandwich in terms of where the green tea flavors are positioned.

The Cooling Matcha Mousse Tea, priced at 580 yen (US$3.90), went on sale August 18, and as soon as she could our resident Starbucks expert K. Masami dashed to her local branch to try it for herself. Though you can ask for a larger or smaller amount of matcha powder for no additional charge, Masami opted for hers just as Starbucks makes the drink without any special requests, in order to establish a baseline for how it tastes.

The Cooling Matcha Mousse Tea is beautiful to look at, with an especially deep shade of green that we’re guessing is the result of not having any milk lightening the color of the drink base.

Masami began by taking a small sip without mixing any of the glass’ contents together. The white mocha mousse had an invitingly creamy consistency and smooth sweetness, and was so delicious Masami would like to try it as an iced coffee topping too.

Making her way down to the matcha body of the drink, Masami was happy to discover that it was everything she’d hoped it would be. Starbucks Japan has made many, many green tea-flavored drinks over the years, but Masami thinks this is the best ever in terms of both directly delivering a strong matcha flavor but also having a clean, refreshing finish. It has a “watery” feeling, but we mean that in the best possible way, in that it’s crisp and refreshing like a glass of ice water, yet with a taste matcha fans will love.

But the good times weren’t over yet. Mixing the mousse into the base adds in extra creamy flavor, but without significantly impacting just how refreshing the Cooling Matcha Mousse Tea is. Ordinarily we’d have expected those to be contradicting qualities, but this really is a drink that can be enjoyed in multiple ways all at once, Masami says.

With how immensely satisfying it is, Masami thinks the Cooling Matcha Mousse Tea would be a big seller at any time of year, and maybe it’ll earn permanent-menu status some day. For now, though, it’s a limited-time item, but with as hot as the weather has been recently, if we can only have this drink for a limited time, we’re very happy that time is now.

Photos ©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
[ Read in Japanese ]