Japan's sakura flavored desserts and drinks in 2021

Spring always means new sakura flavored desserts and drinks in Japan, and as usual most stores start selling them earlier than the cherry blossoms are actually blooming. Let me introduce what I have tried so far in Japan in 2021.

Sakura desserts from 7-Eleven

7-Eleven has several new Sakura flavored desserts in their chilled dessert section, among them a Mini Mouse cake and a Sakura milk pudding, which I have already tried.

The Mini Mouse cake was very cute and the average quality that you can expect from a convenience store cake. It comes with several chocolate pieces for decoration.

7-Eleven's Mini Mouse cake is filled with a strawberry sauce and I always wonder why so many dessert makers feel the need to combine sakura with strawberry, peach or other fruits. I personally prefer items that are sakura only.

The milk pudding was a little disappointing as the sakura flavor was rather weak and after you finished the topping it didn't have very much taste left. Also, it had a rather jelly-like texture and didn't really feel like a milk pudding.

Sakura Ice from Family Mart

I found this Sakura Ice cup at a Family Mart. I assume it is not necessarily a new product for 2021 but just seasonally limited. This had a pretty strong sakura flavor but when it comes to the topping for the ice it was not that strong but I think it was a good balance.

Sakura Latte from Starbucks

Just like every year, Starbucks in Japan started selling its Sakura Latte and Sakura Frappuccino right after Valentine's day. 

As is the issue with most Starbucks drinks they only taste good as long as you have topping left which is quite surprising considering the number of calories these drink pack. I would not recommend investing so many calories into an overpriced drink. You can get one of the desserts I mentioned above instead - they all have fewer calories and are cheaper.

Starbucks also usually combines the sakura flavor with some kind of fruit. This year it is strawberry and raspberry.

Sakura Tea Set from Lupicia

Tea store Lupicia has several sakura flavored tea sorts. In this set (above), you can try most of them but it also comes with other teas that are not sakura flavored.

Even though the teas tasted good I must admit I did not taste a single bit of sakura in the sakura flavored teas. Therefore, I cannot recommend this in terms of sakura tea considering that it almost cost 2,000 yen. But, if you would like to try interesting new tea sorts it might be worth a try.

Lupicia has several stores all over Japan, mostly to be found in larger department stores.

Sakura tea from Natural Lawson

Unlike the above-mentioned teas, this tea comes with a really strong sakura flavor.

This might not be for everyone but I personally really enjoy it. The tea is also a little on the expensive side but if you like flavor of sakura, you should definitely try it.

What kind of sakura foods and drinks have you tried so far in 2021?