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Blue Bottle Coffee now offering traditional sweet bean gelatin cake at stores across Japan

Kay Jul 21, 2020
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Want something sweet to go with your coffee? Blue Bottle Coffee Japan now has a uniquely Japanese option!

If you’re a frequenter of coffee shops, you may be interested to know that you can now try a popular traditional confection at Blue Bottle shops across Japan. That’s right, the well-known coffee chain that has been operating in Japan since 2015 is now serving yokan, a gelatin cake typically made with red sweet bean paste and agar.

▼ Blue Bottle Coffee’s rendition of the Japanese yokan gelatin cake:

Initially, Blue Bottle’s Coffee’s yokan was only available at their Kyoto Rokkaku Cafe branch, which opened last year and interestingly is located in a traditional machiya-style house, part of which is also in use as a historic bicycle shop.

▼ The Blue Bottle Coffe Kyoto Rokkaku Cafe Branch in a beautiful machiya building

As can be expected, their yokan is created specifically to pair well with coffee and is made in collaboration with 60-year-old Kyoto based sweet bean paste manufacturer Toshoan.

The yokan is available in two flavors. The regular “Blue Bottle Yokan“, which is made with sweet red bean paste and contains bits of fig and walnuts, as well as a dash of cinnamon and coriander for a bit of spicy flavor. They recommend pairing the yokan with a rich coffee like their Bella Donovan blend.

The other flavor, the “Blue Bottle Yokan Matcha“, features sweet white bean paste in a matcha flavor with lemon and lemongrass added to give it a fresh taste, as well as fig pieces for some texture and fruity zest. The cool translucent green color makes it visually perfect for summer, and they recommend a fruity coffee like Ethiopia Single Origin to go with this treat.

And while we’re certainly delighted the yokan have become available at all Blue Bottle locations in Japan, what’s even better is that you can also order them online through the Rakuten Market shopping site.

You can purchase the yokan as a set of four pieces, priced at 1,620 yen (US$15.15) for the regular flavor and 1,720 yen for the matcha flavor.

▼ We think the packaging looks pretty cool! It should also make for a lovely gift.

Well, we’re certainly all for matching new and different sweets with coffee, and we’d love to see more unique yokan creations, or any other treats for that matter from Blue Bottle Coffee, because in our books, you can never have too many dessert and drink combinations to fall back on!

Source: Blue Bottle Coffee Japan Blog, Blue Bottle Coffee press release
Top image: Blue Bottle Coffee Japan Blog
Insert images: Blue Bottle Coffee Japan Blog, Rakuten Blue Bottle Coffee Online Store (1), (2)
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