Kit-Kats: The Odd

These are my favorite Kit Kats. Not necessarily because of their taste but because you have to wonder, "Who thought this was a good idea? Who came up with this flavor?" Seriously, imagine what an awesome job this would be, coming up with new flavors for Japanese Kit Kats.



You could do a lot with flowers. This is the rose (ロ－ス") Kit Kat. If this Kit Kat had been white chocolate, I'm sure it would have gone with the Bad flavors. But it was milk chocolate, and all was well. I liked this flavor - it was subtle, not too sweet, and strangely appealing. Flowery, yes, but no nasty aftertaste like the jasmine tea one. It was just not a flavor I associated with Kit Kats. But, oh, how that has been remedied.

How do I explain ramune (ラムネ)? The word originates from English's "lemonade" and it's a kind of cidery drink. But it comes in different flavors, not just lemon. I've never actually tried ramune (though, after this Kit Kat, I mean to), but I'm told it's a fizzy cider drink. If you look at the Kit Kat wrapper, you will see a green bottle with a blue ball near the top. Apparently, this is a specific type of bottle used only for ramune, and it's got a little marble inside it that floats on the liquid. Why? Just for the hell of it, as far as I can tell.

This was a very fun Kit Kat. First, it's blue. (It's also white chocolate, but milk chocolate would NOT have worked with this flavor, so it's okay.) Blue is easily the most awesome Kit Kat color I've seen thus far. Second, it was fizzy. Like, carbonated soda fizzy. How fun is that? It's a Kit Kat that fizzes in your mouth! Just when I thought Kit Kats couldn't get any better. Third, it tasted good. How's that for amazing?

Here's an interesting one. Most of my students and co-workers think this Kit Kat obsession of mine is charming or cute. I got in the habit of showing Takeda-san any new Kit Kats I found. When she moved back to Sapporo, her father drove down to help her, and she asked him to bring me Sapporo's signature Kit Kat. (Have I mentioned that my Japanese friends and co-workers are beyond awesome? Because they are.) This is a grilled corn (やきもろこし) Kit Kat. Weird, but tasty. In fall and winter, vendors all over Sapporo sell this delectable treat, so it's only right that this should be their flavor. It's much better than a squid flavor, which is the other thing that Sapporo is supposedly famous for (as far as food goes). I'm still waiting for miso flavor.

And this one is just fun: hot chili pepper flavor! This is the first dark chocolate Kit Kat I've had, but logic dictates that spicy chocolate must be dark. Milk chocolate just can't do it justice. I got this one in Nagano (along with the apple and the grape, which seem positively mundane compared to this), and I shared it with one of my more advanced classes. It was a hit, and now whenever I go somewhere, they ask me what kind of Kit Kats I found. One of them even occasionally brings me Kit Kats to see if I've had them before (the answer is usually yes, but I appreciate her curiousity).

Last, I present two Kit Kats that are appropriate for summer: lemon vinegar (レモンビネガー) and apple vinegar (アップルビネガー). Yes, vinegar. It's actually closer to a cider flavor (rather like what's pictured on the apple vinegar box), but it does have a slightly vinegary taste that goes well with the chocolate. It's a very cool flavor, which is why it's so good for summer. The lemon flavor was better than the apple flavor, maybe because it was less cidery. I actually really enjoyed the lemon flavor and bought a couple of bags to eat over the summer. It's been a while since I saw the lemon, but the apple is still available at a store in the Loc City mall.

And with that, I am now caught up with my Kit Kat discoveries. For now. Autumn is fast-approaching, and I have no doubt that more exciting (and/or odd) flavors will be appearing soon. In the meantime, I can get back to blogging about more important things, like travel and sightseeing and actual food!

Kit-Kats: The Bad

So, we saw the good. Unfortunately, some Kit Kats just don't have what it takes to be considered delicious. To be honest, some of them are downright yucky. It baffles the mind, doesn't it?

Surely combining strawberry cheesecake with Kit Kat marvelousness should create something truly fantastic! Right? Er, not according to my taste buds. Granted, it's white chocolate, and I'm not keen on it anyway, but this Kit Kat was particularly displeasing to me. It's not the worst flavor I've ever had (molasses Kit Kat, I'm looking at you, and YOU were milk chocolate, so don't EVEN try to make excuses), but it has its place in the bottom ten.

Yes, I rank the Kit Kats. So?

Now, part of it probably may be because I just don't like certain flavors. Take Mr. Espresso here. I did not have high hopes for this Kit Kat because I don't like espresso, and the last espresso-y Kit Kat I had was the tiramisu, which was just nasty (that one probably ranks #2 on the worst list). And I was right. Perhaps someone loving espresso would also love this Kit Kat, but for me, it was a one-time thing, baby.

Also, take a look at how unappetizing it is:

Could it be any blander? Beige Kit Kats are a crime against humanity. Note that it almost looks like it's not white chocolate. But it is! It is! Sneak.

But enough picking on white chocolate. Milk chocolate has its bad flavors too. Isn't this a pretty box? And it sounds nice, too: jasmine tea. Ah, jasmine tea is nice! It's refreshing, yeah? Good for a hot summer day. Okay, so the chocolate is melty, but still - jasmine tea! Nice!

And then you put it in your mouth. Bleh! Might as well just rename this one jasmine and be done with it. There's no tea flavor here, it's just jasmine, and jasmine hangs around for a while with a severe aftertaste. Granted, some flowers have a nice taste to them: lavender is good, violet is not so bad, and rose can be quite pleasant. Jasmine, however, should be left well enough alone. Stick to tea, jasmine. We'll appreciate you more that way. You and chocolate just don't get along all that well.

Speaking of tea . . .

Don't get me wrong, I like green tea. And I love matcha-flavored things. But when it comes to Kit Kats, I'll leave it rather than take it. It's the only Kit Kat I've eaten that tastes . . . chalky. Sometimes matcha has that chalky aftertaste to it, but this one was stronger than usual. And take note: it's white chocolate. It's a nifty electric green color, but it's still white chocolate.

This one was milk chocolate, but it still wasn't that great:

Well, it's a short list, but there you have the less-than-spectacular, the Kit Kats that missed the mark. It just proves that nothing is perfect, not even variously flavored chocolate treats.

Next up, we will examine the weird and the wonderful, the outlandish and fantastic. The Kit Kats that make you say, "Huh?"

Kit-Kats: The Good

I have been a bad poster lately, but my greatest blogging sin has been neglecting to post my Kit Kat updates. I have over a dozen Kit Kats to introduce to the world (or the small amount of people who read this blog, whichever is more realistic), and so I've broken them down in three posts.

Behold, Part Primus: The Good. AKA, the Worth Buying, Hoarding, and Consuming at a Slow, Langorous and Enjoyable Pace.

First up is the kinako Kit Kat, which comes in both mini and BIG sizes. Kinako (きなこ) is soybean flour, made after the soybeans have been roasted. It's a little nutty in taste, comparable to not-so-salty peanut butter. There's a popular sweet treat called warabimochi that uses kinako - I've been told that in the Kansai area, it's sold from trucks like ice cream in the States, but I'm not sure how willing I am to believe it. Although, warabimochi is definitely delicious.

Anyway, as to the Kit Kat variety of kinako, it is also yummy, and I enjoyed it. It has a bit of an old-fashioned feel to it, almost nostalgic in a way. I imagine that it could be considered a comfort food of sorts. Most Japanese I've talked to about it absolutely love it and have fond memories of eating kinako sweets as children. They were all very pleased when I mentioned this Kit Kat.

This Kit Kat appears to be involved in the promotion of a concert or a band or something of the kind. I'm not entirely sure what, partly because I can't read most of it and partly because I was more interested in the flavor: sakuranbo (さくらんぼ), or cherry. As you can see from the box, the Kit Kat itself was a pretty pastel pink; it would be the perfect treat for a Breast Cancer Awareness function. If the packaging was different, of course. The flavor wasn't too powerful, just a subtle hint of cherry. I only saw this flavor in one convenient store, and I'm sorry I didn't buy more when I had the chance.

This is one of the most recent discoveries I've made in the ever-exciting world of Kit Kat flavors: mango pudding (マンゴ　プリン). I'm not a great fan of Kit Kats of amazing colors because they're white chocolate and therefore inferior, but I am enamored of the mango pudding's brilliant orange color. My camera did a poor job of capturing this wonderful shade of mango (with flash, without flash - it didn't matter). The taste is not so astounding, but it's yummy enough.

This is the remarkable ume soda (うめ　ソダ) flavor, which I had my doubts about. Not that I don't like ume soda, but it's not exactly something that you connect with Kit Kats. It has a somewhat bubbly feel to it, not unlike the effect of carbonation. The fizziness really made it that much tastier. It offset the unpleasantness of the whole white chocolate thing. This was another cheerfully colored Kit Kat, comparable to the green parts of the ume (plums) on the box. I fully intended to take a picture of the Kit Kat itself, but I forgot, and I haven't gotten around to buying another box.

This is a souvenir box of apple (りんご) Kit Kats, which I bought in Nagano. Apparently, Nagano-prefecture is somewhat famous for apples and grapes (see below - also, why, then are there no peanut Kit Kats in Chiba? Can I make requests?), so this is one of their omiyage sets. I adore apple Kit Kats. They taste so crisp and refreshing - just like apples! Okay, just like apples with chocolate, but there's nothing wrong with that.

This was another omiyage set from Nagano, flavored of the big purple grapes (ぶど) - not to be confused with those sissy little green "muscats from Alexandria." (need a refresher? they were in my first Kit Kat post) The muscat grape Kit Kat was made of white chocolate and mediocrity. There was nothing special about it. These, however, were milk chocolate and heavily scented and just downright marvelous. When a piece of chocolate makes you feel like you've just bitten into a juicy fruit, you know you have something special. This flavor has a firm spot in the top ten.

And thus concludes this portion of my Kit Kat update. Stay tuned for more.

P.S. to Heather (I know you're reading this): if you and the girls aren't practicing your kana, I'll be very disappointed!

slightly belated February Kit-Kats update

And now, for your gastronomical pleasure, I present to you my February haul of Kit-Kats.

It's an anko sandwich. This, in and of itself, is an awesome thing. Put it into Kit-Kat form, and it becomes awesome incarnate. It's a special edition thing, and one of my students saw it and thought of me. Again, this touches me deeply. I know that, no matter how short a time I've had with them, my students will at least remember that I was that crazy foreigner chick obsessed with Kit-Kats. I am completely satisfied by this.

Was it for Valentine's Day, or was it one of the many "congratulatory" themed products that were available in February? Lots of exams and tests are taken in February, and there were a lot of sakura-decorated confections that offered congratulations on passing them. Benni-sensei took a glance at this and suggested it might be for that reason, but considering the GIANT HEART motif that's going on, I think perhaps it was a Valentine's Day thing.

Either way, it was lemon-flavored and yummy.

It was also yellow, making it another Kit-Kat with an interesting color scheme.

And here's a pair of random Kit-Kats I found while standing about in the 7-11. I almost missed them, because they were stuck up in the corner of a shelf, and they're rather small. The one on the left is Maccha Tiramisu (that is, Green Tea Powder Tiramisu) and regular Tiramisu. I'm not making this stuff up, folks.

I ate the Maccha Tiramisu first because I had my doubts about it tasting like any kind of good. One point in its favor: it's green. Tinted Kit-Kats might not taste better, but they look way cooler than the average candy. Also, it tasted pretty good, much better than I thought it would. The Maccha kinda tempered the near-overpowering flavor of the espresso.

Speaking of near-overpowering flavors of espresso, guess which Kit-Kat wasn't all that great? Yeah, the Tiramisu one. Not as bad as the black sugar one, but still, it doesn't rate high with me.

And lastly, I offer you Kit-Kats that can be mailed to people. Appropriately packaged, no less. I believe it's another of those "congratulatory" things, considering it's sakura-decorated but not sakura-flavored. I haven't bought "normal"-flavored Kit-Kats in a while, and I bought these only because of the box.

Of course, I ate the Kit-Kats, and it's probably not surprising that I prefer the flavored ones now.

and still more flavors of Kit Kats!

You can probably expect this to be a monthly thing. The awesomeness of Kit Kats was meant to be shared.

I'm not sure what flavor this is supposed to be (or if there is indeed a flavor intended), but you'll notice that they're in the form of cute little balls (tee hee). Cherry flavoring may have been involved, they tasted a little like that. Of course, they were yummy. I found them in a food mart at the Takasaki train station on my way to Takayama. I haven't seen them since, but maybe I haven't been looking hard enough.

I completely forgot to get a picture of these Kit Kats, which I must remember to do because they look pretty awesome. I also found these in the Takasaki train station, but they're fairly prevalent right now and can be found in many stores. Kozue-sensei even bought me a pack. These are sweet-potato-with-honey-and-sesame-seed-glaze Kit Kats. I should mention that such potatoes are available for purchase at Beisia, and I buy them whenever I got there, which is 2-3 times a week. These potatoes have become a large part of my diet, and so I find these Kit Kats particularly intriguing. It's hard to describe the exact taste, and they're actually not that bad. I like them. My only complaint is that they're white chocolate-based, and I'm not overly keen on white chocolate. But they're still tasty.

You want to talk yummy, let's talk about strawberry Kit Kats. And by strawberry, I MEAN strawberry. As you can see, they're strawberry pink, and the chocolate outside is strawberry-flavored. The wafers inside are also strawberry, so this little treat is like a strawberry explosion in the mouth. Not only is it pretty in all respects, it's delicious. Definitely my favorite pick from this month's choices.

update: Kit Kats - even more flavors!

That's right, I have discovered more flavors of Kit Kat, and I am under the impression that there are EVEN MORE out there for me to find.


I don't have pictures of the strawberry cheesecake and blueberry cheesecake flavors, but that's okay. There wasn't much to see of them (though, the boxes were kind of pretty). They were both white chocolate, but I thought that was appropriate given the whole "cheesecake" angle. They were okay, nothing spectacular.

Apple Kit Kats, however, are yummy! When you open the box, this delicious, crispy apple smell comes exploding out. The flavor is totally magnificent, and I've since bought a couple more boxes of them. I think they're my second favorite after the anko Kit Kats.

It's gotten out around the school that I have two Japanese obsessions: Tommy Lee Jones commercials and various flavors of Kit Kats. I'm not sure which of the two our students find the most amusing, but they do what they can to fuel the fires of my passion, at least in regards to the Kit Kits. One of Benni-sensei's students who took an Intensive week class with me brought me soy sauce-flavored Kit Kats as a Christmas present. She was kind of embarrassed about it - "Shoyo and chocolate? I think maybe it tastes bad together." - but I like them. The salty/sweet combination is actually pretty good. What I find hilarious is that she was out traveling, stopped at a rest station, saw these, and actually thought about me! What can I say, our students are completely awesome. I gave her brownies and eggnog in return.

Christmas Eve, Benni-sensei and I went shopping at Don Quijote's (that's how it's spelled, and it drives me crazy), and I found these: watermelon Kit Kats. Probably my third favorite flavor, they're way better than the plain melon flavor. I love them. And they smell awesome.

Just to prove that not all Kit Kat flavors are good flavors, here ya go. Black/brown sugar Kit Kats (Benni-sensei translated it as black sugar, Kozue-sensei said brown sugar. Naofumi-san chose not to comment, perhaps being too perplexed at the very idea of so many Kit Kat flavors. Or maybe he just knew better than to tie-break between Benni-sensei and Kozue-sensei.)

On Sunday, after our nabe party, Naofumi-san agreed to drive us to Don Quijote's, which we could not do ourselves because we had been drinking the wine that Benni-sensei got as a Christmas present from one of her students. This was highly amusing, but going to Don Quijote's is always highly amusing, and it turns out it's even more so when you're slightly buzzed. We bought several different flavors of Pringles, and then Kozue-sensei found these Kit Kats, and of course, I bought them.

Perhaps a more appropriate flavor label would be "molasses." It's what they smell like, and it's what they taste like. And they're not that great. They're not terribly nasty, but I consider them "last resort" Kit Kats. They're the Kit Kats I'd eat only if I didn't have any other chocolate to choose from. I'll probably have some of these left over six months from now.

Even so, I'm always thrilled to find new flavors, even if they aren't all that good. My plan is to keep on trying whatever I happen to find. I'm still on the lookout for those cherry-flavored ones that Sarah told me about. Maybe in the spring?

Japanese Food Journal: Kit Kats

I'm fascinated by Japanese Kit Kats. Aside from Snickers and M&Ms, it's the only popular American candy I've seen so far. (the lack of Reese Cups was fairly traumatizing at first, but I got over it.) I, however, had no idea that Kit Kats could come in so many flavors. Pictured above are the Kit Kats I've tried so far: grape Kit Kats (the "muscat" one), melon Kit Kats, strawberry Kit Kats (in milk and in white chocolate), blueberry Kit Kats, and orange Kit Kats. Want to see something awesome?

That's a green Kit Kat, my friends. It's the grape one, in case you're wondering. White chocolate, so not that great flavor-wise. The melon one was delicious. I saw watermelon Kit Kats at Don Quixote (easily the most awesome store in Isesaki, where you can get just about anything, and I really mean that; the place is open until 3am and is HUGE), but they only came in big bags and I didn't want to buy a whole bag. The strawberry Kit Kat is better in milk chocolate, and the blueberry Kit Kat actually tasted quite good despite being white chocolate. The orange Kit Kat was also yummy.

However, my favorite Kit Kat flavor by far is the sweet red bean paste Kit Kat:

I happened upon this in the grocery store a few days ago and bought four of them. It's the first time I've seen this flavor, and I haven't found it anywhere else. And I love it.

I love azuki beans, whether in their regular bean form or as sweet red bean paste. Not a day passes that I don't eat azuki beans in some way, whether in a rice ball, or in daifuku, or as sekihan (which is just rice mixed with the beans), or as yokan (which is kind of like a hard jelly), or as a filling in bread. Seriously, I think it's become an addiction. Benni-sensei and my students think this is pretty amusing because, apparently, most foreigners don't really like azuki beans. I don't understand this, because they're delicious. It's a little strange for me, however, because I normally don't like beans and generally avoid them.

But, back to the topic at hand: Kit Kats! Who knew that you could get them in so many flavors? Not me, and let me tell you, discovering this has been playing havoc on my daily calorie count. The really excellent thing about Kit Kats is that they're packaged in pairs and are smaller than American Kit Kats, so eating one pack is really not that bad. That box of red bean Kit Kats will last two days. So, in my little cabinet in the school canteen, I've got a little stack of various flavors of Kit Kats. Again, Benni-sensei finds this extremely amusing. Actually, she finds everything about my cabinet extremely amusing, because I also have assorted instant ramen packages, several packets of instant soup, and three or four varieties of senbei (rice crackers). I have this really bad habit of randomly buying stuff just to see what it tastes like.

Hmm, I should definitely do a post on senbei some time. I had no idea that rice crackers could be so delicious.