Sakura Scented Pistachio Milk Tea (さくら香るピスタチオミルクティー) – The Alley

Today I went to Sapporo, mostly to get a haircut, but it also acts as a good excuse to just go out and do Sapporo things. I’m back at The Alley for boba! I know I’ve been here quite a lot recently, but that was mostly because of some seasonals, and because of that, I racked up enough points for a reward expiring in a few weeks. Plus, they just released a new spring series! Perfect timing.

As of 3/5, there’s a new series in celebration of Sakura season! That includes this drink, along with a green tea soda, and a Sakura berry scone. The drink is supposed to have berries and a floral aroma of their signature Royal No.9 tea, with rich pistachio flavoring for a creamy and smooth milk tea. Each sip gets the light aroma of sakura. Now, I usually avoid drinks that have the Royal No.9 tea in it. Although I haven’t tried the milk tea before, all I’ve heard is that it’s fruity and “tastes like blueberries”. I have smelled the leaves, and it wasn’t super appealing as a tea to me. That said, I can’t not try this drink, which is supposed to be for sakura season, and I’ve been on a real pistachio kick recently.

The base milk tea portion is basically the No.9 milk tea. It tastes just like a milk tea version of how it smells; not quite a real milk tea, with obvious berry flavoring. I guess now I have that out of the way. The majority of the drink I let the drink be, and it was just a No.9 milk tea. Finally, about halfway through, I forcefully mixed the pink cream on top, which also had pistachio bits and white chocolate shavings. Mixing that in, I realized the cream was sakura flavored, light and not too artificial. It also added in the extra textures from the other toppings. Boba today was good and chewy. I thought their sign said they were out until 5:40 (I ordered around 5:35), but they didn’t say anything about being out. Guess they had refilled early.

Details: Sakura Scented Pistachio Milk Tea; iced; boba; less sugar; no ice; from The Alley (Sapporo Daimaru)