7-Eleven Japan rethinks convenience store sandwiches with a wild new choc-mint variety

Convenience store chain tests our limits by turning the divisive flavour into a cream sandwich. In recent years, choc mint has become synonymous with summer in Japan, as the menthol component is belie

Convenience store chain tests our limits by turning the divisive flavour into a cream sandwich.

In recent years, choc mint has become synonymous with summer in Japan, as the menthol component is believed to provide a cooling effect to help you feel refreshed during the hottest days of the year. It’s become such a common flavour combination that there’s even a proud term for people who love it – “Chocominto”, a pun that sounds like the Japanese pronunciation of “Choc Mint” but uses the kanji “党” (“to”) for “political party”, to mean the “Chocolate Mint Party”.

Like many places in the world, though, choc mint remains a polarising flavour, as those who dislike it are quick to voice their opinions on it. However, if you are a member of the party, then 7-Eleven is here to support your choices with a new offering that might just test the limits of your loyalty: The Chocolate Mint Whipped Cream Sandwich.

Released as the latest flavour in the chain’s recently introduced “Yokubari Sandwich” (Greedy Sandwich”) line, which features generously filled single-serve sandwiches, this new choc-mint version uses hakka oil from Kitami Hakka Tsusho, a famous Hokkaido mint company.

Image: Kitami Hakka

Hakka oil is made from Japanese peppermint (“washu hakka”), and is known for its strong, clean mint aroma and powerful cooling sensation, due to its high menthol content.

The mint-green sticker on the sandwich will immediately spark the attention of locals who are familiar with the widely well-known brand, as it’s known to deliver a very intense mint hit. Though hakka oil has been used in some limited-edition drink collaborations before, this is our first time seeing it in the cream filling of a sandwich, making it a very rare treat in the Japanese sweets world.

Using a specially made chocolate bread, each bite is said to combine the sweetness of chocolate with the refreshing sensation of mint, while crushed chocolate chips mixed into the whipped cream add a contrast in texture.

Priced at 198 yen (US$1.30) plus tax, the new sandwich is sure to spark lively debate between not just those on either side of the choc-mint divide, but all lovers of Japanese sandwiches. After giving us chocolate sprinkle sandwiches with sakura pink bread, 7-Eleven is continuing to test traditional notions of what a sandwich can and should be, and we can’t wait to try it when it’s released at stores around Japan (unfortunately excluding Hokkaido and Okinawa) on 7 August.