New Year in Japan means staying at home and eating various traditional foods to celebrate and ensure luck for the coming year. One of these customary treats is mochi, and a traditional way to get your mochi fix at this time is by eating Oshiruko. This is a hot, sweet soup made from red beans and containing large pieces of mochi, which is eaten as a dessert.

A special, seasonal beverage released by Dean & Deluca Japan is inspired by this traditional New Year dish, combining it with matcha to create the perfect New Years green tea latte.

Matcha from Japan’s green tea paradise, Uji, has been used to make a matcha latte base, which is laced with soft white mochi and Hokkaido-sourced adzuki beans. Roasted mochi pieces are sprinkled on top to add some crunchiness.

Thanks to this casual take on Oshiruko, matcha lovers can meet their New Years quota of mochi consumption, even on the go.

The 'Matcha Shiruko' beverage will be released on 27th December, but will only stick around for the New Year season, until early January. A small size will cost 648 yen and they can be picked up at all ‘cafe’ locations of Dean and Deluca in Japan, and selected ‘market’ branches.