Tastes of summer in Japan - the 47 Jimoto Frappuccino event

You've got to hand it to the marketing team at Starbucks Japan. I'm always impressed with the creativity of their numerous seasonal offerings throughout the year, but I think this summer they've just knocked it out of the park with their concept. 

If you haven't heard, Starbucks stores around the country are taking part in the 47 Jimoto Frappuccino event, which brings a unique frappuccino flavor to each of Japan's 47 prefectures. If you love regional cuisine, I think this is a really fun take on that -- many of the frap flavors really incorporate the best of a prefecture's famous foods. For instance, Nagasaki's is a coffee cream castella frappuccino (sounds amazing!), and Okinawa's offering uses chinsuko. You can take a peek at the full list of flavors here, but I personally was itching to try Niigata's variety - the chocolate and kaki no tane frappuccino!

Starbucks is going all out this summer with their 47 Jimoto Frappuccino event - it brings a new frappuccino flavor to each of Japan's 47 prefectures!

For those who didn't already know, kaki no tane  (the iconic rice cracker/peanut snacks) hail from here in Niigata. I thought it was quite fitting that the frappuccino incorporated them, and I was excited to see what it was like. The frappuccinos are priced at 669 yen if you get it to-go (682 yen for in-store consumption), so yes - it's pretty pricey! In saying that, I was fully sucked into the marketing for this, and happily parted with my yen to give it a try.

Limited time offerings always suck me in - and even though the frap is pricey at almost 700 yen, I had to give it a try at least once!

I have to say that overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the frap. I wasn't sure how the kaki no tane and chocolate combination would fare, but it was pretty tasty - a bit like pretzel pieces mixed in chocolate, if I had to give a comparison to something. 

Something that I would keep in mind is that the frappuccino is quite textural, and if you prefer smoother fraps this might not be the flavor for you. I also think if you wait too long to drink it, the kaki no tane will end up clumping at the bottom - you can see it better in this next picture...

I liked the frap, but you can see the kaki no tane at the bottom of the cup - I think if you aren't a fan of textural drinks this one might not be the best for you.

My husband and I were talking about what else could have represented Niigata better, and we were thinking maybe something that incorporated sake lees, but overall I thought what they went with was a fun choice.

Do you have any plans to try your prefecture's 47 Jimoto Frappuccino offering? If you have tried your prefecture's already, what did you think? Is there something different that could have represented the tastes of your prefecture better?