Japanese Kit-Kat Experience

[GilliC]

After all the discussions around Japan's extensive selection of Kit-Kat flavors and the opening of the new Kit-Kat Chocolatory in Tokyo, I made a pilgrimage a few weeks ago to check it out.

The Kit-Kat Chocolatory was disappointing, as it's quite small, and they only had three flavors in stock: Sakura Green Tea, Chili, and Cream Cheese. I bought all three anyway.

Over the rest of our trip, I managed to also pick up Crème Caramel and Citrus Golden Blend, and then a windfall at the airport shops added Wasabi, Red Bean, Strawberry Cheesecake, Wa-Ichigo (Japanese Strawberry), and Purple Potato:


Today we began the taste-testing at work, and so far we've made it through all the flavors besides Creme Caramel, because I only picked up a couple, and the package suggests that we bake them.

Results so far:

Sakura Green Tea - Tastes like white chocolate. Virtually no macha flavor at all. (I didn't buy any of the green tea varieties in Kyoto, because I figured it would be the same as the Sakura Green Tea from the Kit-Kat Chocolatory, but now I'm not so sure.)

Cream Cheese - A strong cream cheese smell when you open it, but the taste is softer and more like cheesecake.

Chili - Typical chili chocolate. The chili isn't strong at first, but there's a late-blooming spiciness, especially in the throat.

Citrus Golden Blend - It claims to be a blend of mikan, lemon, and sudachi. It tastes like Orange Dreamsicles. Which is awesome.

Red Bean - This had the strongest flavor of the more unusual varieties. There was a strong red bean smell from the package, and the taste was noticeably bitter with a very dry mouth feel.

Strawberry Cheesecake - More cheesecake than strawberry. This one is similar to the Cream Cheese, but sweeter and the cheese is more subtle. The strawberry is so subtle I think I'd have to eat plain cheesecake and strawberry cheesecake side by side to notice.

Wa-Ichigo - Strawberry, obviously, but with a strong fruity strawberry aroma. Sweeter and fruitier than most Japanese strawberry sweets (e.g. strawberry Pocky or Kinoko no Yama)

Wasabi - Subtle hints of wasabi. Strange, but not extremely unpleasant.

Purple Potato - Not a strong flavor. A clear white chocolate base, but with more of an earthy flavor. And purple food coloring!

Crème Caramel - TBD. I only picked up two of these, because I found them at the last minute by the counter as we were paying for something at a convenience store. I feel we really need to try baking them as suggested to get the full effect.

[pirate]

Oooh awesome! I'm looking forward to collecting some flavors when we go to Japan in October but we were pretty sure we'd skip the actual Kit Kat store. Looks like that was a good call I didn't know about the Creme Caramel, baking it? Really? It would just melt, right? I'll have to look at the webpage

[niemand88f]

Apr 28, 2014 10:06:30 GMT -5 GilliC said:

Sakura Green Tea - Tastes like white chocolate. Virtually no macha flavor at all. (I didn't buy any of the green tea varieties in Kyoto, because I figured it would be the same as the Sakura Green Tea from the Kit-Kat Chocolatory, but now I'm not so sure.)

It might be different - I've had a green tea kit-kat that had a pretty noticeable green tea flavor. But that's the only special flavor I've tried, so I'm jealous of your haul!

[dr.girlfriend]

Interesting! And lol at "Strange, but not extremely unpleasant." Not exactly a rave review. :-D

[GilliC]

Apr 29, 2014 13:22:59 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Interesting! And lol at "Strange, but not extremely unpleasant." Not exactly a rave review. :-D

Haha! It's white chocolate mixed with wasabi. It tastes pretty much like you'd imagine that combination to taste. The best I could say for it was that they balanced them the best you probably can!

Well, actually the best thing you can say is that it's a frickin' wasabi Kit-Kat! WTF?! How crazy! So on that front strange" is the rave!

[starfish]

You should ship us all some. I wonder how the baking helps the Crème Caramel, I would just think it would become a pile of melted gooey mess. It does look pretty tasty in the pics.