Japanese Kit Kat Mini's

I waited a long time before I finally bought these kit kat mini's online from a seller in Japan. I tried to convince myself I didn't need to taste them but alas...my heart won over my head and I bought them and a few others (which I will review later).

All these Mini bars are the equivalent of one finger of Kit Kat and are only available in a bag of 14 or more. Luckily the fellow I bought them from sells them individually so I don't have to get stuck with a whole bag full!

Houjicha - This is a tea that is usually roasted in a porcelain pot over charcoal. The high temperature changes the leaf colour from green to reddish brown, it also lowers the amount of caffeine present. Yasu was really excited about trying this Kit Kat. I'd never known him to drink Houjicha, or if he does, not in my prescence.

The first smell was of a basic tea leafy smell. Then the almost caramel flavour of roasted tea came through with a slight bitterness on the end. There was an almost roasted almond flavour present in this too. This was a very nice experience, the tea was blended well with the chocolate, and they complemented each other nicely. The aftertaste was a slight roasted tea flavour that lingered for about 10 minutes, it wasn't bitter, just mellow.

Yuzu - This is a citrus fruit that originated in East Asia. It's believed to be a hybrid of mandarin and lemon. It's widely used in Japanese confectionery. I had never tried Yuzu before and Yasu was unsure if he had ever tried it.

The first scent of this did indeed smell very lemony but also had notes of a mandarin. To me this tasted very much like a mandarin but when biting through the wafer it melded into a lemon flavour. This chocolate is like a lesson in duality. It starts out with one flavour and ends on another. I found this also went well with the milk chocolate, and while the milk chocolate stayed on the sidelines, it wasn't taken over by the yuzu, merely there in a supportive role. Yasu realised that he had indeed had a Yuzu before, though a very long time ago, and we both agreed this was a very nice Kit Kat.

Suika - Suika is the Japanese word for watermelon. If you didn't know that you could easily guess by the packaging which is red with black pips and green edges. It's a very cute wrapper.

When I opened the wrapper, all I could smell was a chemical-like perfume with a faint aroma of watermelon. I thought "uh-oh" this is not going to be good. There is definitely a melon taste when you bite into the wafers but it tastes like rockmelon (cantaloupe) to me more than a watermelon. I couldn't taste watermelon at all, whereas Yasu said it was definitely watermelon flavour. I tried it again but all i could get was the rockmelon flavour with a saltiness at the end. It did not have the sweetness that watermelon has. I take issue with a chocolate that is meant to be one fruit but tastes like another, and Yasu was not really fussed on this flavour prefering the yuzu and houjicha. As I ate more of the watermelon a definite salt flavour did build up but I still couldn't taste the watermelon. If anyone else has tried this please let me know what you thought.

In all the Houjicha and Yuzu were the winners.