PRESS BUTTER SAND

Quick Facts

What it is

PRESS BUTTER SAND is a butter sandwich cookie specialty brand by BAKE Inc., born on 27 April 2017 inside Tokyo Station as BAKE's first boxed-sweets brand, under the concept "made straight, communicated straight." Each sandwich is built from two fillings — a rich butter cream and a smooth butter caramel — sealed inside a box-shaped cookie pressed and baked at high heat using hasami-yaki, a technique adapted from traditional wagashi making that squeezes out excess oil for an exceptionally crisp bite. The industrial grey packaging, designed to evoke the iron press machines that bake the cookies, turned the box into a design object in its own right, and the brand grew from a single station shop into one of Japan's defining premium souvenir sweets, famous for long lines at Tokyo Station and a constant rotation of seasonal and regional flavours — Uji matcha, Fukuoka Amaou strawberry, lemon, cheese, chocolate and more.

Practical details sell the concept further: every sandwich is individually wrapped inside the box, so a 15-piece gift box can be split among a whole office without a knife or plates, and the sturdy grey carton survives a suitcase better than most souvenir packaging. BAKE also sells the range nationwide through its official online shop, BAKE the ONLINE — handy for Japan residents, though short-term visitors will find the station and airport counters far easier. Approaching its tenth anniversary in April 2027, the brand marked the milestone by returning to its birthplace with the limited-run Gransta Tokyo concept store inside Tokyo Station.

How to order

1. Find a shop: Permanent counters sit inside major stations (Tokyo, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Kyoto, Hakata), department stores (Daimaru Tokyo, Ginza Mitsukoshi, Shinjuku Takashimaya) and airports (Haneda Terminal 2 inside the domestic gate area; Narita Terminal 2, landside on 4F). Tokyo Station alone has several sales points, including the HANAGATAYA Tokyo shop, a long-running south-passage pop-up and, until August 2027, the 10th-anniversary concept store in Gransta Tokyo's Gin no Suzu area.
2. Choose your box:
   • Classic Butter Sand: 5 pieces (¥1,215), 9 pieces (¥2,133) or 15 pieces (¥3,456), tax included.
   • Flavoured boxes: Chocolate (¥1,404 for 5), Amaou Strawberry, Lemon, Cheese or An-Butter (¥1,431 for 5), and seasonal specials such as Chestnut or Coffee (¥1,512 for 5) — availability rotates and popular flavours sell out by evening.
   • Assortments and limited editions: Mixed boxes, plus station exclusives like the Tokyo Station assortment (10 pieces, ¥2,700) with its Marunouchi station-building design.
3. Pay at the counter: Staff box everything on the spot; gift wrapping and paper bags are standard. No ticket machines, no table service — from queue to bag usually takes minutes once you reach the front.

What to order first

1. Classic Butter Sand, 5 Pieces (¥1,215 tax included): The original two-layer sandwich — butter cream over butter caramel in the crisp pressed cookie. This is the benchmark; try it before any flavour.
2. Classic Butter Sand, 15 Pieces (¥3,456 tax included): The gift math winner for offices and families: the largest standard box of the flavour everyone wants, in the signature grey packaging.
3. A Seasonal or Regional Flavour Box (¥1,431–¥1,512 for 5): Uji Matcha, Amaou Strawberry or whatever limited flavour is on sale during your trip — these rotate, sell out, and make the souvenir feel chosen rather than generic.
4. Premium Nama Butter Sand (¥432 per piece) — Gransta Tokyo concept store only: A fresh-cream version sold only at the 10th-anniversary concept store inside Tokyo Station (open until 31 August 2027), in limited batches during the day. It is refrigerated: follow the use-by date and storage instructions on the package, and arrange cold storage.

Payment & practical info

• Payment Accepted: Cash, major credit cards, transit IC cards and common QR payments; the precise mix follows each host facility, and small pop-ups may be narrower.
• Hours: Shops follow their host station or store — station locations typically open early (around 7:00–8:00) and close around 21:00–22:00; department-store counters follow the store, usually 10:00–20:00.
• Tax-free — confirm the particular shop (checked 2026-11-11): A current brand-wide tax-free programme was not confirmed from official information. Budget for the displayed tax-inclusive price and ask the particular shop or host facility whether it registers eligible export purchases. A department-store location alone does not establish eligibility; confirm before paying and follow the participating shop’s passport procedure. Where tax-free does apply, Japan's refund system governs: you pay the tax-included price, the refund (at the 8% reduced food rate for sweets) is paid by the store/operator by the method registered at purchase after customs confirms at departure that the goods are leaving Japan. Critical: these cookies are consumables — if any item on a tax-free purchase record is eaten in Japan, the whole record fails and no refund is paid for it, so keep tax-free-registered boxes unconsumed until they have been taken out of Japan. Shops behind airport security in duty-free areas operate under the separate bonded duty-free system, not this refund scheme.
• Shelf life varies by product and purchase channel: For standard Butter Sand, the official FAQ gives roughly 14–16 days including the purchase day for shop purchases, versus 17–20 days from dispatch for online orders. Freshly baked products and other lines can have much shorter periods. Follow the actual box’s date and storage instructions; standard Butter Sand is stored at 25°C or below, away from heat and humidity.

Good to know / Common mistakes

• The freshly baked workshop store is gone: The original 2017 Tokyo Station flagship, famous for warm freshly baked sandwiches from its in-store workshop, closed in January 2022 and relocated as a standard counter (HANAGATAYA Tokyo). Today's special experience is the Gransta Tokyo concept store's fresh Premium Nama Butter Sand — don't hunt for the old workshop.
• Buying too early: With under three weeks of shelf life, a box bought on day one of a long trip may expire before you get home. Buy PRESS BUTTER SAND near the end of your stay, or at the airport.
• Heat ruins the layers: The butter cream and caramel soften in heat. Keep boxes below 25°C, out of car boots and sunny windows, and consider the chilled seasonal versions only if you can refrigerate them the same day.
• Evening sell-outs: Limited flavours and the Gransta concept store's fresh sandwiches are batch-limited and regularly sell out. For a specific flavour, shop in the morning.
• Pop-ups move: The brand runs many rotating pop-ups (department-store event spaces, station concourses). Check the official store list for your dates rather than trusting an old blog post.
• Lines move faster than they look: Station shops are built for commuter-speed service, and the queue at Tokyo Station or Shinjuku usually clears in minutes. The real risk is not waiting — it is arriving after your flavour has sold out.
• Split the big box: Because every piece is individually wrapped, the 15-piece box doubles as fifteen separate mini-gifts — a lifesaver for travellers with many colleagues and little luggage space.

Sources

• PRESS BUTTER SAND Official Store List (Verified: 2026-11-11)
• BAKE the ONLINE — PRESS BUTTER SAND Collection & Butter Sand 5-Piece Product Page (Verified: 2026-11-11)
• BAKE Official Magazine — PRESS BUTTER SAND 5th Anniversary (2017 Tokyo Station launch) (Verified: 2026-11-11)
• Gransta Tokyo Official — 10th Anniversary Limited TOKYO Concept Store & Premium Nama Butter Sand (Verified: 2026-11-11)