SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

RocketNews24 Japanese

Featured

Häagen-Dazs awesome hojicha latte is a whole new way to love Japanese tea ice cream

Green tea has a permanent spot in the Japanese ice cream lineup, but Häagen-Dazs shows us there’s room for roasted hojicha too!

Some people have calendars where they list their upcoming social engagements. Here at SoraNews24, however, we have to keep track of upcoming ice cream events, and premium brand Häagen-Dazs occupied two slots this month.

First, there was the opening of Tokyo’s Häagen-Dazs Bakery, which happened last week. Then came this week’s joyous occasion: the launch of a new Japanese tea ice cream flavor, called hojicha latte.

What sets hojicha apart from other types of Japanese tea is that the leaves are roasted, which replaces some of the herbal flavor notes with toasted ones and imparts an appealing brown color to the beverage. So when we popped the lid off of our cup of hojicha latte (picked up at the convenience store for 294 yen [US$2.65]), the contents’ hue was less vibrant than that of the company’s standard green tea ice cream.

▼ Sadly, there was no heart, but happily, there was ice cream!

As the “latte” part of the name implies, plenty of milky cream goes into the making of this treat, which lends it a bit of a marbled appearance. That milk is also the first thing that hits your taste buds, delivering an elegantly rich and creamy, but not at all cloying, sweetness.

The tea notes come afterwards, gently spreading through the mouth like a sip of relaxing tea. Though hojicha isn’t a sweet beverage, Häagen-Dazs’ decision to use tea leaves taken at the earliest part of the harvesting season, called hatsutsumami in Japanese, keep the bitterness down, with the resulting mellow flavor able to harmoniously blend with the milkiness while still keeping an enticing hojicha aroma.

Like Häagen-Dazs’ sesame walnut mochi and kinako kuromitsu flavors, the hojicha latte ice cream will only be available for a limited time, so you’ll want to pick some up soon before we buy up the country’s entire supply for ourselves.

Photos ©SoraNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]

Follow Casey on Twitter, where’s he’s loved hojicha ever since his host family taught him what it’s called.

Like this:

Like Loading…

Related Stories

Trackbacks

  1. There are no trackbacks yet.
  2. Trackback URL

Trending Today

  1. Pachinko parlor operator arrested for not obscuring the act of gambling well enough
  2. Starbucks Japan unveils new winter drinkware collection with limited-edition Stanley cups
  3. Pokémon doughnuts pop up at Mister Donut, with a new gathering that’s bigger than ever
  4. Get the taste of the U.K. in Tokyo with 99 Flakes, meat pies, and Jaffa Cakes
  5. First-ever cafe on Tokyo Imperial Palace Garden grounds is now open
  6. Discount retailers known for massive bargains releases massive Japanese egg sandwich
  7. Japan ends tax-free shopping system for foreign tourists, new refund request system now in effect
  8. Japanese government hires leading comedy agency to explain national defense spending
  9. Liquid croissant coffee is coming to Japanese stores this month
  10. Family Mart releases 47 convenience store socks and stickers, one for every prefecture in Japan

© SoraNews24 —Japan News— / SOCIO CORPORATION

Powered by WordPress VIP

%d