Life

Starbucks' Newest Frapp Lets YOU Decide How Much Of The Main Ingredient You Want

by Kaitlyn Wylde
Starbucks Japan

Sweet niblets! Spring is almost here, and Starbucks is certainly welcoming the new season by taking their A-game to a whole 'nother level. If you're a Starbucks aficionado (let's be real, who isn't?), you may have found yourself wondering what Starbucks' Earl Gray Tea Cream Frappuccino is after spotting it in a few gorgeous Instagram posts from Starbucks customers around the world.

First things first: The drink is exclusively available at Starbucks locations around Japan. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's true: this creamy tea Frappuccino is only available in Japan for the time being. If you've been following the news coming out of Starbucks stores around Asia this spring, you likely know that their drink menu has been pretty lit this spring: From the Butterfly Pea Flower Lemonade Cold Brew available at Starbucks around Asia, to the Strawberry Honey Blossom Créme Frappuccino available in Starbucks Hong Kong and Starbucks Thailand, there are tons of gorgeous drinks available to customers around the world. If you've gone as far as to look up airfare to Asia... yeah, same.

In Japan, spring is more than a season, it's an opportunity to take in the artful display of Cherry Blossoms, or sakura. The entire country blossoms into a pink wonderland, and when the flowers are shed from the trees, they line the streets to create a pink plush carpet of petals. A gray city becomes a cheery wonderland, and botanical gardens becomes even more picturesque. It's a magical time of year, so it makes sense that Starbucks would celebrate the season's arrival with new drinks exclusively on their Japanese menu that look positively mouth-watering.

While we might associate certain teas that are typically consumed while hot with winter, Starbucks is changing the tea game the by blending earl gray tea it with ice for their spring menu. This blended cream beverage is blitzed with ice, infused with earl grey tea, and combined with a sweet honey cream topping to make it the perfect combination of breakfast and dessert — and even better, customers can choose how much tea they actually want in their drink. It's low-key enough to enjoy on the way to work if you like a little bit of sweetness in the morning, but you can customize it to have in the late afternoon if you're looking for an afternoon dessert. And of course, you can add more whip, more honey, and more toppings if you like.

As you know, earl gray is served best with milk, because the black tea can have a strong taste. So when it's blended with a honey cream, its sweet notes are seriously elevated, and its complex and floral flavoring is accentuated in the most delightful way. It's got a completely different flavor vibe than the coffee-based Frappuccino. The honey whipped topping is dusted with some dried sweet tea leaves for a bit of texture and to pull the taste through the drink. This drink is perfectly Instagrammable, which is great for us, because that's the only place we'll be seeing it.

But that's not all. There are other spring-themed drinks in the Asian Starbucks' cafes that we can only dream about online! As part of the special cherry blossom-themed release, there are three beautiful pink drinks on the menu, too: the Sakura Strawberry Pink Mochi Frappuccino, the Sakura Strawberry Pink Milk Latté and Sakura Strawberry Pink Tea. Each drink is perfectly pink, a tad bit sweet, and has a starry life destined for Instagram. Of course, I'm hopeful that if we campaign enough for a drink to make its way to the American Starbucks menu, but I'm not so sure about these drinks. They're a localized treat in Japan, and while we would certainly appreciate them here, it seems more likely that we're going to have to travel over there to try them out ourselves. Which, hey, doesn't sound so bad — who's down to plan a trip?