Convenience store collaborations with established restaurants and other food franchises became commonplace in 2017. Nearly every konbini chain has rolled out some sort of special tie-up with a Japanese eatery over the past 12 months, and more are sure to pop up in the coming year.

Here's one more before the calendar flips over. FamilyMart has paired with popular coffee shop chain Komeda's Coffee for a special ice cream. They've decided to keep it simple — this "blend coffee flavor" focuses on the chain's most simple beverage, but also its most famous. The dessert (¥237 after tax) arrived in stores just after Christmas, and can only be found at FamilyMart.

Sounds basic, but it's a little more complicated than it initially seems. The dominant taste is, indeed, coffee, and if you've ever had any sort of coffee ice cream, you pretty much know what to expect. The one clever addition is the inclusion of "milk sauce" to balance out all that bitter flavor (and promote the classic taste of Komeda, or something). It adds a welcome sweetness and makes this one well worth giving a try.