Some extra joy that we weren’t expecting, but definitely enjoyed.

Getting your Christmas presents early is one of those things that sounds great at first, but sometimes turns out to be less than 100-pecent fun. Case in point: back in November, Starbucks Japan brought out the Strawberry and Joyful Medley Tea Frappuccino, as well as the Strawberry Mousse and Joyful Medley Tea Latte. These two drinks, based on the chain’s wintertime-limited Joyful Medley tea blend, were both delicious and had our Japanese-language reporter K. Masami filled with Christmas cheer even before we got to December, but recently she found herself feeling a little bummed that she wouldn’t have a new Joyful Medley drink to enjoy now that we’re getting closer to Christmas itself.

But apparently Masami has been a good little girl, because it turns out that she, and all fellow fans, actually are getting a new source of Joyful Medley joy, as Starbucks Japan has, very quietly, just added a Joyful Medley Strawberry Milk Tea to its menu! Given Starbucks Japan’s extremely active marketing team, usually the chain puts out a ton of advance notice whenever it’s got something new on the way. This time, though, there was hardly a peep before the Joyful Medley Strawberry Milk Tea showed up in stores, like a little extra present dropped into your Christmas stocking.

Unlike the hot Joyful Medley Tea Latte, the Joyful Medley Strawberry Milk Tea is served cold, and, of course, there’s the addition of strawberry, Japan’s favorite Christmas dessert flavor. Before starting her taste test, Masami took a moment to admire how pretty the drink is, with a distinct division between the layers of creamy tea and crimson strawberry sauce. With a Starbucks-green straw popped into the glass, she had all the traditional Christmas colors.

Feeling just a little regretful about messing up the lovely aesthetics, Masami swirled her straw to blend everything together, then took a sip. Joyful Medley is a mixture of strong black, oolong, and jasmine teas with apricot and, as a special accent for this year’s version, Mirabelle plum. It has a rich yet relaxing flavor, with a cozy, comforting aroma, and Masami wondered for a moment if maybe that sophisticated complexity was going to get buried under all the cream and strawberry. As he taste buds fired up, though, she was relieved to learn that the Joyful Medley’s baseline taste is still instantly noticeable and enjoyable. The cream takes just a little bit of an edge off of the tea’s inherent bitterness, but this is still designed to please mature palates, and not a sugary kids’ drink.

That’s not to say that there’s no sweetness here, as the generous amount of strawberry sauce imparts an undeniable tart sweetness. With the base tea itself not being particularly sweet, however, the bold strawberry notes are present in perfect proportion to the other parts of the flavor profile. The Joyful Medley Strawberry Milk Tea is an expertly balanced, thoroughly delicious drink, and though the only customization Masami made was a no-cost switch to soy milk, she’s curious to try the staff’s recommended suggestions of almond milk or extra whipped cream, which add just 55 yen to the Joyful Medley Strawberry Milk Tea’s 620-yen (US$4) price. She won’t want to wait too long to try them, though, since the Joyful Medley Strawberry Milk Tea will only be around for a limited, currently unspecified time.

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