Snack Nation: Lipton Tea au Lait Chocolat

Lipton's ¥100 teas in 500ml paper cartons are a staple of convenience stores and a favorite of penniless college students. The Lemon Tea and Milk Tea rake in the dough as bonafide classics, but like all good Japanese beverage companies, Lipton has to release limited edition flavors every good while to appease the konbini gods.

This time around Lipton offers Tea au Lait Chocolat -- a combination of chocolate with Lipton's fancy Tea au Lait mixture. The French naming along with the ¥110 price indicate that this is an upscale option for consumers. The "Kikan Gentei" (期間限定) mark also lets us know that we have very little time left to purchase the tea. The clock is ticking!

As a fan of both milk tea and chocolate milk, I had relatively high expectations for this product but was sadly disappointed. The tea of Lipton's Tea au Lait has flowery tones which did not mesh well with the rich chocolate. The entire time I just wished I was drinking a milk carton of Vanhouten cocoa.

Lipton is also offering Grape Tea and Yuzu Tea as limited-edition flavors this winter, and although I have tried neither, my guess is that the tea and fruit will work together much better than the tea and chocolate. There is a distinct possibility that all three are awful, but Lipton knows that you will not run away from the Lipton 500ml as much as you will run back to the safety of Apple Tea and Co.

Lipton Tea au Lait Chocolat, ¥110