Matcha and Sakura Burnt Cheesecake and Dirty Yuzu Nitro Cold by Cafe Yasuragi

This post features more novel and pretty treats from Cafe Yasuragi. I covered their Ube Latte Purple Sweet Potato Latte (both iced and hot) and Kinako Cloud Cold Brew earlier, and I returned to try their Matcha and Sakura Burnt Cheesecake and Dirty Yuzu Nitro Cold this time.
Matcha and Sakura Burnt Cheesecake by Cafe Yasuragi
Matcha and Sakura Burnt Cheesecake

This is quite a popular dessert here. The last time, I was unable to try it because it was sold out, and I was there at around 2 or 3pm. So I am glad they still had stock this time around. 
Matcha and Sakura Burnt Cheesecake by Cafe Yasuragi - close up of texture
As you can see from the pictures, it is a very beautiful burnt cheesecake, with the pink and green patches contrasting in pretty spring colours. The colouration is also not just for show. I tried them separately, and the pink patches are the sakura-flavoured parts, while the green patches are the matcha flavoured parts. So it is like a marble cake concept. I think it works well and hope more bakeries can try to pair interesting flavours with their cheesecakes this way.

I've been on a quest to try different foods that claim to be sakura flavoured, in a bid to pin down this elusive and shifty flavour that every chef seems to have a different interpretaion of. I've now tried enough of them that I could easily recognise the sakura flavour profile in this cake.

I first tried the pink parts, because sakura flavour is usually very subtle. And I could clearly recognise the "sakura" aspect that is similar to other desserts I tried. It was like a faintly rose-flavoured cheesecake with notes of mixed fruit syrup, overall leaning towards a tinge of lemon notes like those in many plain cheesecakes. It was the mixed fruit syrup with the notes of stone fruit (peach) and cherry that mimicked the sakura flavouring on other sakura snacks from Japan, which is meant to mimick the plum vinegar that sakura leaves are preserved in. So that was the legit sakura part, not so much the rose syrup notes.

But it did not have the herby vegetal notes of the sakura leaves nor the salt punch that the pickled leaves normally come with. The vegetal notes could be made up for with the green matcha parts, but the lack of the salt punch is a wasted opportunity since both the sakura and matcha flavours actually pair quite well with salt.

Overall, the pink sakura parts were moderately fragrant with fruity and floral notes, and leaned sweet in a subtle way, without covering the tangy and creamy cheesecake base.

After that, I tried the green matcha bits. This part was intense flavoured, bitter and earthy. I could barely taste any cheese under all of that. 
Matcha and Sakura Burnt Cheesecake by Cafe Yasuragi - close up of exterior crust
But the intensity of the matcha worked perfectly when paired with the light, fruity and floral sakura parts. They complemented each other perfectly in the mouth, with alternating splashes of light and fragrant sakura contrasting with the dark and earthy matcha. It was like a fragrant rose and fruity matcha latte, but with a creamy cheesecake texture and tanginess. The separation of the different contrasting flavours also enhanced the impact of each, almost like the palate is mildly cleared each time you bite into a different flavour. It is certainly one of the more complex cheesecakes I've had. Overall, this was yet another culinary masterpiece from Cafe Yasuragi.
Matcha and Sakura Burnt Cheesecake by Cafe Yasuragi - close up of bottom crust
Just a quick note that the bottom is not really burned (as in the photos above). So the burnt caramelised notes were mostly from the top. But I felt that it was the alternating matcha and sakura bursts that was the real star so this didn't matter much.

Dirty Yuzu Nitro Cold
Dirty Yuzu Nitro Cold by Cafe Yasuragi
I didn't quite understand what this was from the name initially. But it turned out to be a base of cold yuzu milk with a later of nitro cold brew coffee on top. The "dirty" in the name is because this results in a different kind of dirty coffee, where the coffee on top is nitro cold brew instead of a hot shot of espresso.

If you look closely at the top, you can see the fine bubbles from the nitro. (Click to enlarge)
Dirty Yuzu Nitro Cold by Cafe Yasuragi - close up of nitro coffee foam and bubbles
The really interesting thing is that they serve you the half glass of yuzu milk first, then dispense the nitro cold brew at your table as you watch, which was pretty cool to watch being done.
Dirty Yuzu Nitro Cold by Cafe Yasuragi - waitstaff dispensing nitro cold brew
This drink would be yet another in a series of fruit-flavoured milk coffees and lattes, a clear trend in the coffee scene lately. And it is possibly one of the best fruit-coffee pairings I've tried. (Cherry and strawberry flavoured lattes probably come close, like when I paired the White Chocolate & Strawberry Vertuo coffee by Nespresso with milk (scroll down to the 2nd part of the post).

Sipping from the top first, despite the coffee sitting on top, the top foam tasted like a fragrant salty yuzu foam with dark espresso-like coffee notes, with the dark and bitter coffee enhancing the bitter herby yuzu citrus taste. I couldn't taste the coffee separately, but it seemed like it might be a more fruity blend or bean origin, perhaps from Ethiopia.

When I progressed closer to the milky part, it opened out into something like a yuzu yoghurt, with the sourness of the coffee-yuzu foam blending into the milk like a yogurt.The bitter coffee and herby yuzu notes persisted throughout, deepening the yoghurt-like experience. 
Dirty Yuzu Nitro Cold by Cafe Yasuragi - waitstaff dispensing nitro cold brew 2
I never imagined that bitter coffee and milk would pair well with something fruity, but somehow the yuzu's citrus, sour and herby combination knits all the different contrasting flavours together so well, producing a very complex yet coherent medley in the mouth.

Summary

Overall, both the Matcha and Sakura Burnt Cheesecake and the Dirty Yuzu Nitro Cold were extremely well-curated and executed novel flavour pairings, which I would highly recommend. So far, Cafe Yasuragi has consistently demonstrated great taste balance and pairing at least in their novel drinks and desserts, so I would highly recommend checking them out, and I will be back again to try other menu items for sure.

Other fruit-flavoured lattes

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