If you're a green tea sweets fan visiting or living in Japan and can't quite make the trek to Kyoto, you can always settle for the world's most intense matcha ice cream in Tokyo, but those lucky enough to travel to old capital and traditional epicenter of Japan may have the luck of sampling the premium matcha green tea of venerable tea maker Gion Tsujiri. Gion Tsujiri was founded in Uji, a region in Kyoto famous for producing green tea, in 1860, and its renowned quality matcha has even been been turned into a green tea lip balm.

Springtime means cherry blossom season in Japan, however, and Gion Tsujiri isn't skimping out on the festivities. This year they plan to roll out a lineup of takeout-exclusive drinks and soft serve ice cream, combining their exquisite matcha with its favorite sweets-pairing flavor, sakura. While the Kyoto tea maker does this every year, this year's lineup features three items with each being exclusive to a specific branch of theirs in Kyoto. In both aesthetic and taste, these look to be their best yet!

Haruko (Spring Scenery) Soft Ice Cream

Gently packed Gion Tsujiri matcha ice cream under a fluffy serving of soft sakura ice cream, topped with green tea sponge cake and senbei (Japanese rice cracker). The dish is meant to evoke imagery of the spring season arriving in full bloom. It's available for 650 yen at the Gion Tsujiri main store.

Nene Float

Matcha soft serve ice cream served on top of a pour of richly flavored green tea, garnished with a skewer of three color mochi and a dollop of ogura red bean paste. It's available for 780 yen at the Kodaiji local branch.

Sakura Soft Serve Ice Cream And Condensed Matcha Milk Sakura Soft Serve Ice Cream

Sakura soft serve ice cream with a gentle cherry blossom fragrance served in an ice cream cone. You can option to add a matcha flavored condensed milk to your sakura swirl to combine flavors as well. It's available for 470 yen, or 520 yen with matcha condensed milk, at both the Gion Tsujiri main store and the Kyoto Station Hachijoguchi locations.

The items are available from March 9th until ingredients run out. Store information can be accessed here.