Is milk tea still milk tea without the milk and the tea?

The folks at Suntory have proven time and again that they don’t shy away from daring combinations of beverage flavors, with yogurt-flavored bottled water being one of them. They’re really pushing the envelope now though, as the company prepares to launch another mind-boggling drink set to bewilder thirsty consumers.

Set to hit store shelves on 26 September, the new Suntory PREMIUM MORNING TEA MILK is a successor to its previous well-received lemon-tea-flavored water, and if it’s anything like its predecessor, it’ll be just as astounding.

▼ Trust your taste buds instead of your eyes with
this 550ml transparent milk tea (131 yen, US$1.21).

The company uses assam tea leaves for its flavor and secretive “milk-derived ingredients” to simulate the taste of milk, producing a refreshing drink that goes well with your breakfast.

That all sounds good on paper, but will it really deliver on its taste? After all, the last thing anybody wants is a bottle of water smelling like rust and weird chemicals.

I actually tried the previous lemon-tea-flavored water a few months back. Dismissing it as a marketing ploy at first, I was convinced there’s no way crystal clear water would ever taste like actual lemon tea. But I was dead wrong, and seeing that Suntory did such a stellar job on it, rest assured that the PREMIUM MORNING TEA MILK will most likely taste exactly like its namesake.

Perhaps one day we’ll all be drinking transparent milk, coffee, and soda. Remember 2017, the final year when drinks still looked like drinks. And when that time comes, some transparent potato chips will not go amiss.

Source: Suntory
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Suntory