The first cherry blossom desserts are already here, and there are more to come. The exact timing of the blooming of Japan’s cherry blossom trees can be hard to pin down, making planning for sakura-vie

The first cherry blossom desserts are already here, and there are more to come.

The exact timing of the blooming of Japan’s cherry blossom trees can be hard to pin down, making planning for sakura-viewing excursions difficult. Sakura sweets snacking sessions, though, are easier to schedule, especially with 7-Eleven Japan being so kind as to designate the on-sale dates for this year’s lineup.

Mercifully, the releases are being staggered, since we’re not sure that even we have space to eat all five of the desserts in one day. We do need to make space for three of them ASAP though, as the initial trio is on sale as of February 24.

First up is the Melty Sakura Milk Pudding, or Torokeru Sakura Milk Purin, if you’re asking for it in Japanese. 302 yen (US$1.95) gets you a cup of milk pudding with the scent and flavor of sakura, topped with crisscrossing streaks of sakura sauce and sakura whipped cream.

Also available now is the Sakura and Uji Matcha Japanese Parfait (430 yen), combining Japan’s two most representative dessert flavors. Starting from the bottom and working our way up, we’ve got matcha gelatin, sakura mousse, matcha mousse, sakura an (sweet bean paste) whipped cream, jiggly matcha milk warabi mochi, dango (mochi dumplings), and a slice of the pancake-like pastry used for dorayaki.

And if you want one of Japan’s more classical cherry blossom confectionaries, 7-Eleven has Sakura Mochi (203 yen). Specifically, 7-Eleven is offering sakura mochi made in the Domyoji style popular in central Japan, so it’s a ball of sticky mochi rice filled with sweet red bean paste.

Those three should be enough to tide us over until the rest of the lineup debuts on March 3, when the Chewy Japanese (“Mocchiri Wa”) Sakura Strawberry Crepe (281 yen) shows up…

…along with the** Uji Matcha Strawberry Daifuku** (281 yen), a pillowy soft mochi dumpling filled with matcha and a strawberry at its center.

And if it’s the strawberry parts of these desserts that really have your mouth watering, don’t forget that an unexpected part of Japan grows some of the country’s best.