If Tokyo were a chilled convenience store coffee drink, what would it taste like? City magazine series Walker created a panel of six readers (3 men, 3 women) to work together with Japan’s top barista and Toyo Beverages to develop a coffee drink that epitomizes the taste of Tokyo.
Based on a panel discussion about top Tokyo cafes and feedback after sampling various coffee drinks, Tokyo Café Latte was born, a coffee drink derived from a rich, bitter coffee, milk reminiscent of cream liquor, and a subtle dash of honey. The package, of equal importance as noted by the panel, is an oshare (stylish) two-tone brown and cream (like the interior of a classy hotel) with English words scribbled on the front.
Walker plans to produce coffee drinks for all the cities where it has magazines
with the Kansai style Café Au Lait set for release on April 8. In a hade (loud) leopard print cup with the words café au lait written in Japanese hiragana, the Kansai taste coffee drink is a creamy, milky, rich coffee drink, not sweet at all.
Yokohama, Tokai, Hokkaido, and Kyushu taste coffee drinks will be released consecutively each month from May, available at Lawsons for an undisclosed limited time.
This move by Walker touches upon two recent trends, beverage collaborations and regional products and would seem to be somewhat inspired by the successful Starbucks packaged coffee drink “Discoveries” series with flavors inspired by Paris, Seattle, etc sold exclusively in East Asia. Compared to other coffee drinks, which run up to 300ml, both the Walker and Starbucks products are a slim 200ml, though Walker is ¥180 compared to Starbucks ¥210.
Unfortunately it seems like sales of the Walker series will be limited to the coffee’s particular region, so those who want a taste of Hokkaido will still actually have to go there.
interestingly enough, I didn’t see one single Starbucks when I was in Milan.