KitKat Review: バニラアイス味

I found this package of 4 mini kitkat bars in the conbini one morning last month and got rather excited. A new summer flavor! Yay! They're バニラアイス味 or vanilla ice cream flavor, perfect for the hot humid Japan summer, despite the fact that they're actually chocolate, not ice cream, right? Inside the plastic package are 4 individually wrapped mini bars, keeping the Japanese penchant for over packaging alive.

I'm a cute mini bar! Don't the ice cube visuals cool you down and make you think ice cream?

In the heat, we melt just like ice cream!

As you can see from the photo above, despite the fact that you think this is a good summer snack, it's not. Japanese summers are ridiculously hot unless you're in Hokkaido (and maybe it's ridiculously hot even there, I don't know, never been there) and chocolate melts. Sorry to Kirsten who requested pictures of the cross section of kitkat's from now on. I tried to take one, but it didn't look like anything. It's a light tan wafer with white chocolate frosting. Very white, with little definition.

As for taste, I find these pretty disgusting actually. I'm sad, because I had high hopes as I love ice cream and kitkats. Maybe someone who actually likes white chocolate would like them more. They're super soft, though that may be the summer heat, and kind of taste like vanilla ice cream that has been left in a bowl and melted hours ago, that you dipped a thin wafer cookie into. It's not a strong vanilla flavor at all, and for some reason it makes me think of cream cheese. I don't like cream cheese, so I don't really eat it, so I'm not sure how close the tastes are, but that's what comes to mind when I eat vanilla ice kitkats. I will definitely not be eating these again. I need to find someone to take the 2 in the package I didn't eat for this review.

KitKat Review: 桜抹茶ラテ

I bought these little KitKats at the beginning of this year, when many sakura (cherry blossom) flavored products appeared in the stores. If green tea kitkats aren't special enough for you, you can have a green tea latte kitkat! And to make it even better, let's throw the essence of cherry blossoms in there! The box came with 6 mini mini bars. Mini mini means they're even smaller than the regular mini bars.  That must be why you get 6!

As you can see, the bars are the same width as other mini kitkat bars, but shorter, making it a mini mini. I'm sorry, I just think calling it mini mini is hilarious. As for taste, it tastes like a slightly diluted オトナの甘さ　抹茶 kitkat bar, I think that's the latte part. There is a little hint of flower, as if you sniffed someones perfume or garden as you took a bite, but otherwise, not much sakura about it. I thought the box was pretty but there was nothing particularly special about these kitkats. If you want 抹茶 (green tea) flavor, just get the オトナの甘さ kitkats.

KitKat Review: 聖護院八ッ橋

Another delicious local taste KitKat. I found these in Kyoto, and they sure are tasty. They are 聖護院八ッ橋 ( Shougoin yatsuhashi, Shougoin is a temple in Kyoto, and yatsuhashi is a type of cinnamon sweet that is a local Kyoto delicacy.) The box was a little bigger with 5 individually wrapped minibars inside, and a spot on the back to write a message, making it a great choice for omiyage (a souviner.) Well played Japanese Nestle, well played.

The bars are made of white chocolate with cinnamon crumbled into it. The wafers inside seem to be the normal wafers inside regular kit kats. These are really delicious, like white chocolate cinnamon cookies. Often cinnamon flavored foods are a little overpowering, i.e. Big Red gum, Altoids, etc, but the white chocolate mixing with the cinnamon makes it just right. Just as the cinnamon tones down the sweetness of the white chocolate so it doesn't make me want to vomit, (a side effect of white chocolate. for reals.) I really enjoyed these KitKats and will definitely buy them again next time I'm in Kyoto.

KitKat Review: ブルーベリー チーズケーキ味

We found these limited edition ブルーベリー　チーズケーキ味 (Blueberry Cheesecake Flavor) at Kawaguchiko station while visiting Fuji-san. It seems they're only available in the Koushinetsu region, so I was pretty excited to find them, even though I had to buy a box of 12 mini bars.

Look at all those blueberry cheesecake kitkats. How fancy!

I thought this was pretty tasty myself. It was a little strange at first tasting blueberries and a hint of cheesecake but feeling the texture of a kitkat, but I got over it quickly. The cheesecake flavor wasn't very strong, more like Jello "cheesecake" than legit cheesecake, but if you know me, you know I like it better that way. I would definitely buy these again, they were really good.  Luckily, I can't get them in Matsue; saves me money and from getting fat!

KitKat Review: オトナの甘さ ホワイト

In Mitaka, we found the 3rd オトナの甘さ KitKat (KitKat for adults,) ホワイト, or white. That's right, it's a white chocolate kitkat with chocolate crumbles or something between the wafers. Once again, the box had 3 individually packaged kitkat mini bars inside.

Steve and I liked this one a lot, we thought it tasted more like cookies and cream than the Big Little Cookies and Cream KitKats did. The white chocolate is a little softer than normal chocolate, but wasn't the strange texture disaster of the Big Little things. I'm not one for white chocolate, but I liked this flavor, probably because it had a little not white chocolate mixed in. If you're looking for a sweet cookies and cream kitkat, go with this one.

KitKat Review: Big リトル Cookies and Cream

On our journey across the country of Japan, Steve and I found a few more KitKat flavors. The first we found is this package of KitKat balls called  Big リトル, or Big Little. Not really sure what they mean by that. Actually, if you look at the side of the package, they have "Big? Little? Big Little!" written on it, so it seems they're not quite sure what they mean either.

Anyhoo, they sell normal flavored KitKats this way too, but I prefer my KitKats in stick form. Steve bought this package and therefore gets to help with the review! Lucky!

There were 7 of these little KitKat chunks inside the package. We didn't really get a cookies and cream taste, more of a white chocolate covered oreo taste. I got a slight hint of cream cheese or something that I didn't really appreciate. Steve felt that the "flakiness of the wafers inside don't match what the texture should be. It's not a good texture." It was strange, I think maybe the outer covering was too thick, or there wasn't enough wafer? I dunno. I do know that neither of us were fans or would be eating these again. Crazy little kitkat balls.

KitKat Review: オトナの甘さ

The latest KitKat Adventure! Kit Kat オトナの甘さ. (Otona no Amasa, Adult Sweetness) Yup, it's another KitKat geared towards adults. From what I can tell, this may have come before the Matcha adult one, and is probably the original "Adult KitKat." Or whatever.

Like the other set, this package has 3 individually wrapped mini bars inside.

 Mmm.... delicious. As far as I can tell, this is a dark chocolate KitKat bar. Other than that, I don't notice anything special. I assume that it's for "adults" because it's dark chocolate, since most children like sweeter chocolate.

It was good. Nothing special at all really, unless you're in the mood for dark chocolate.

KitKat Review: オトナの甘さ 抹茶

Japanese people love KitKats. What's not to love really, they are pretty delicious. However, in Japan you can find all kinds of flavors that we don't have in America. So, as a reoccurring blog theme, I'll post a review of each one I find as I find them. How exciting!

KitKat flavors are seasonal AND regional, so it shall be interesting to see what I can find.

 The box says "Otona no amasa" which means"sweetness of adults." Basically, it's a kitkat geared towards adults. This is a sub-type of kitkat.

The flavor is written in yellow and says "Matcha." That's green tea.
Under that it says "~kodawari no uji matcha" which roughly translates (I think...) to obsession of Uji Matcha, or green tea from the Uji region of Kyoto.

Shfancy! This box had 3 individually wrapped (of course...) kitkat minis inside.

Aren't they a beautiful shade of green?

Flavor wise, it's not very strong. You mostly taste wafer, and then a strong taste of matcha kicks in and leaves a slightly bitter after taste in your mouth. Pretty much the same way drink matcha does. This is definitely not as strong as drinking matcha tea, and a little bit sweeter.

It's okay. I like it. I wouldn't go out of my way for it.
How do you feel about it. Want to try it?