With the McPepper, Pulut Hitam Pie and HERSHEY’S Cone making its way out of the limited time-only menu at McDonald’s, McDonald’s had also announced the return of the Samurai Burger and the Yuzu Cream Cheese Pie, and the introduction of the new Houjicha soft-serve; a soft-serve flavour which McDonald’s is releasing for the very first time. As with most soft-serve releases, the Houjicha soft-serve is available only at outlets with a dessert kiosk, and that the Houjicha soft-serve is being served up as a Houjicha Cone, Houjicha Twist (i.e. mix of the Houjicha soft-serve and Vanilla soft-serve in a cone), Houjicha Sundae and Houjicha McFlurry form.

Being quite a sucker for new soft-serve flavours launched by McDonald’s, we found ourselves joining the beeline at their NEX outlet this time since we were in the vicinity for dinner; most in the queue being folks whom are also ordering the Houjicha soft-serve. On first look, the Houjicha soft-serve comes in that greyish-brown hue that most would associate with the Japanese roasted tea; the colour here being seemingly on the lighter side against that of the same which are typically being served in matcha speciality stores of the likes of Tsujiri, Hvala and Matchaya. That being said, the Houjicha soft-serve comes rather impactful on the very first go at the soft-serve; the notes of the roasted tea hits the tastebuds pretty much head-on right from the start — immensely rich, though not a flavour that is quite complex especially where the earthiness and roasty-ness is of concern. As with almost all McDonald’s soft-serve flavours, the notes of the roasted tea gradually becomes less evident as one goes through the entire portion; the milkiness / creaminess seemingly taking over slowly though we did note that there wasn’t this artificial note that lingers in the end that seems to exists in their Vanilla soft-serve.

Overall, the Houjicha soft-serve still is still one flavour which we really enjoyed — probably one of those flavours which we would not mind having again if it makes its return again as a limited time-only run; no doubt this would never replace our favourite Purple Sweet Potato Waffle Cone which itself is quite a bold attempt by the Golden Arches, but the Houjicha soft-serve is definitely one of the top few flavours for us especially when compared against the Ovaltine and HERSHEY’S related offerings of the late.

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