On April 12th, Starbucks released their #STRAWBERRYVERYMUCHFRAPPUCCINO (yes, the hashtag and no spaces and capital letters are included!) to a great and overwhelming success. I, like many other people living in Japan, was looking forward to trying this beauty of a drink. Strawberry sauce, strawberry whipped cream and powder, and a strawberry Frappuccino based drink without milk. Sign me up for strawberry heaven!
And yet, after leaving work on this fateful day, I found my local Starbucks crowded with tons of…high schoolers?! In my side of Akita, where none of the trendy stores are?! I trekked on through the JKs (that’s short for Joshi Kosei, or high school girls, by the way!) and waited patiently for my turn in line. A few minutes later, I placed my order, checked out, and entered the drink line.
One person down, two people down, three…
With only three people ahead of me, I was licking my lips in anticipation.
“Did you happen to order the strawberry very much Frappuccino?” a voice called out from behind the counter (in my mind, she said the word hashtag in front of the drink name).
“…Yes?” I answered tentatively.
“I’m so sorry” she said. A feeling of dread was beginning to pool in my stomach. “But we just ran out of the ingredients!”
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
A collective chorus of select words ran through my head.
“Please go back to the cashier for a drink change or refund!”
By that time, I was mentally sinking into the floor with disappointment and sadness. I got my refund and dejectedly slunk back out the door to wallow in despair at home.
The next day….
April 13th. Friday, April 13th: A day of bad luck, but I’d turn it around.
Even if it was raining.
Even if I had to get up too early for my brain to function.
Because I would get this drink, oh, yes I would.
Waking up an hour earlier than I would have for work, I made my way through the pouring rain to Starbucks. To my surprise, no one seemed to have gone to Starbucks around 7:30 am.
I sauntered happily to my spot in the very front of the nonexistent line.
“One #STRAWBERRYVERYMUCHFRAPPUCCINO, please!” The cashier seemed amused by my attempts at pronouncing the whole name.
“A Strawberry Frappuccino, is that right?” I mentally berated myself for not thinking of giving the drink a shorter name.
And…
dun dun DUN
Since I was the only one in line at the time, my drink came out fast. The cashier was even nice enough to let me take Instagram-worthy pictures of it as I liked!
The Frappuccino, once in my Starbucks-deprived hands, was a thing of beauty. Red and white, with a sweet scent of strawberry permeating from the cup and a cute, slightly pink whip on top.
With one sip, I thought….
It tasted like a slushie. Or better yet, a strawberry smoothie. The sauce was pretty heavy with strawberry flavor, giving it a sweet aroma and tongue-coating feeling, but the fresh fruit pieces were absolutely a welcome addition! I wasn’t able to detect too much difference with the whipped cream and regular Starbucks whip, but, mixing up the whole concoction together made for a classical strawberries-and-whipped-cream flavor! It was creamy, smooth, and the sweetness was toned down perfectly with the stirred-in whip.
Ah, strawberries. Yes, I am in a strawberry wonderland.
The #STRAWBERRYVERYMUCHFRAPPUCCINO is only in stores until May 29th, 2018, so get going if you want to be transported to strawberryland!
Highly recommended 🙂
