A few months back, I blogged about HAYO Yoghurt Bar, an artisanal yoghurt bar along Middle road in Bugis, Singapore, that prides themselves in making high-quality smoothies using 100% Australian cow milk sourced from farms located among the clean green fields of country Victoria in southeastern Australia.

Rich in casein protein, vitamins, calcium, and probiotics and low in sugar, fats and calories; HAYO’s farm-fresh yogurt smoothies are indeed a healthier and nutritious meal replacement, a guilt-free midday snack, and an accompaniment to any meal.

Recently, the HAYO yoghurt bar have come out with four new, limited-edition flavours as part of their Japan Seasonal Special. 

Since we cannot travel to Japan now because of the Covid-19 restrictions, HAYO hopes to bring a taste of Japan to us Singaporeans, through this promotion.

HAYO invited me to try the four new flavours, which are as follows.

• HAYO-cha: HAYO handcrafted yoghurt with matcha ($7.90)
• HAYO-Ji-Cha: HAYO handcrafted yoghurt with hojicha ($7.90)
• HAYO-Ro: HAYO handcrafted yoghurt with Taro ($7.90)
• Azu-HAYO-Cha: HAYO handcrafted yoghurt with Azuki red beans and matcha ($8.30)

I have mixed feelings about the four new flavours.

The HAYO-Cha and HAYO-Ji-Cha flavours were the nicest ones, in my opinion.

HAYO-Cha

For the HAYO-Cha, this has a distinctive matcha taste. While the matcha flavour is indeed apparent in the drink, it is not strong. 

At the same time, it is a very milky beverage with a strong yoghurt tang too. Fans of Matcha-flavoured desserts would probably like this. Overall, I thought it was a very pleasant drink that I must say I quite enjoyed.

HAYO-Ji-Cha

The HAYO-Ji-Cha was also an enjoyable drink that I quite liked. Hojicha is roasted Japanese green tea, and the Hojicha flavour came out distinctively in the yoghurt beverage. I could pick up a roasted tea taste in here quite well. 

Being a yoghurt-base beverage, the drink was milky, and the roasted/burnt “wok-hei” note somewhat reminded me of the popular brown sugar bubble milk tea that is commonly available at many bubble tea shops across Singapore.

Overall this flavour had a pronounced flavour than the HAYO-cha. It too, was an enjoyable drink that I would be happy to drink again.

HAYO-Ro

The HAYO-Ro beverage had distinctive semi-solid Taro-flavoured chunks mixing at the bottom of the drink. These Taro chunks had a distinctive Taro taste when I chewed into them. 

Otherwise this drink had a very mild and diluted yam note, which seemed to be a tad overpowered by the yoghurt. I had felt that the yam flavour could have been stronger.

Azu-HAYO-Cha

Last but not least, for the Azu-HAYO-Cha drink, I thought this one was quite unusual, and I am not sure whether this concoction really agreed with my taste buds. I have to say that it is a rather creative combination, though.

The combination of the matcha and red bean gave the drink a sightly astringent taste that I found very hard to place. The matcha itself is pretty mild. While the red bean notes are stronger I thought that the yoghurt taste still overpowers.

The four Japan Seasonal Special flavours are currently available at HAYO Yoghurt Bar, 112 Middle Road, #01-00C Midland House, while stocks last. Find out more at https://www.hayo.sg.