Ginger Ale Kit Kat ジンジャーエールキットカット

Ginger Ale, or Ginger Beer as us Aussies refer to it as, is one of my favourite drinks. I've always loved the strong taste of ginger combined with the pop and fizz of the soda.

I'm actually really surprised that Nestle Japan chose it as a Kit Kat flavour. Out of all the possible flavours that Japan loves, I never considered this to be one. I know they sell Canada Dry in Japan, so it's not totally foreign to Japanese people, and they have also done Ramune (lemonade) flavour in the past, so a beverage Kit Kat is not so weird, I guess.

This Kit Kat is really something else. I mean, it's not what I expected. When I opened the packet I got a really strong smell of ginger and then a smell of sweetness like when you open a bottle of soda. Sweet fizz, I guess you could say.


The chocolate is very soft, again, I've noticed this lately with the Kit Kat's I have been buying. They all seem to have a mousse-like chocolate coating that is thick, soft, and melts very easily.

The chocolate has a bite, and has a taste at the beginning that reminds me of a Cola flavour Chup-a-chup. Then, in the middle of the wafers is a hot ginger tang, that tastes cool on my tongue. Chewing the Kit Kat abit more, a pudding-like flavour emerges. It reminds me abit like egg nog, in that it has some nutmeg and it seems very much like an egg custard. The cola flavour emerges again, then the cool hot ginger tang, and then ends on a nutmeg, egg nog-like flavour again.


I don't really get much sense of ginger ale. To me it was very much like weak cola (yes I know it sounds weird) with some ginger notes, and a big serving of eggnog or pudding on the side.

Despite the way it tastes, I actually quite like it, because it's quite different. I don't suppose they tried to make it taste like egg nog and cola, but it doesn't matter because I love both. I think if they made singular versions of each it would be great.

The hotness of the ginger is left behind on the back of my throat and tongue, just a slight burning sensation, after I ate two fingers. So there is an element much the same as Ginger Ale, but it's more in the after-taste than the immediate taste.

I would recommend this to you if you like trying flavours that are abit out there. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy this again, but I will eat the rest of the pack.

You can buy this now at napaJapan Candy & Bento store.

Lotte Xylitol Ginger Ale Gum キシリトールジンジャーエールガム

I've seen a few Japanese snacks come out lately with the flavour of Ginger Ale (think Kit Kat, and candy). Once one company markets a particular flavour, then all Japanese companies get with the program and saturate the market with the same flavour or versions thereof (just think shio).

I had no idea this product even exisited until I received a parcel with it in there. On appearance I thought it was pineapple gum because of the colour of the packet. It wasn't until I actually read it that I found it was Ginger Ale.

Ginger Ale is one of those things you either love or you hate. I'm the latter. I've always loved it. I totally buy into the Japanese Ginger Ale marketing ploy because it's a flavour I think can span many different types of products.

I'm happy to say that it can also be used in gum! I really enjoyed these because they were very true to the actual drink. Despite being quite small and flat, and bright yellow, very unlike the colour of Ginger Ale, they had lots of flavour and punch.


Ever had a Ginger Nut biscuit? Well that is what these taste like. At first I got a very big hit of ginger, and a hotness at the back of my throat, and a menthol feeling almost like a cold and flu lozenge. As I continue to chew, the hotness gets hotter and the ginger more intense. There is some sweetness there which seems a welcome respite to the intense ginger. This is duality, sweet and hot at the same time.

Where as in some products containing Xylitol I have found that I didn't like the fake sweetness of the sweetener, in this product it really shines because the sweetness is enhanced to seem very real by the ginger. The ginger-burn lasts even after all the ginger flavour is spent in the gum (a couple of minutes). It is then just down to a sweet flavour which would be awful any other time but is quite fine as my throat is still burning. I would love to try these if I had a cold, because I feel as if if I did have a blocked nose, these would help!

These are more fiery than regular ginger ale, but I think it is a good thing. It really makes this gum stand out from the crowd, gives it that extra "oomph". The good thing with these is that the flavour is long-lasting, and by that I mean over 20 minutes or more. The ginger burn is lesser than immediately after biting into it, but it is still there at the back of my throat.

I would buy these again, and I would recommend them to you if you come across them. They are definitely my new gum of choice! You can buy these over at napaJapan for $1.99 too!

Citrus Ginger Throat Candy

Japanese Nodo-ame (のど飴) or throat candy, have a reputation for being more like a regular candy than something to medicate when you have a sore throat. At the time I bought this pack, my husband was sick with a cold and a sore throat. I took them home but somehow he overlooked them and didn't use them.

This time around it's me who has a sore throat, and I thought I could give an accurate review in regards to my feelings on the candy's effectiveness.

This throat candy is made by Kanro, a company known for it's candy and gummy. The flavour is Citrus and Ginger, and the pack shows a picture of lemons, an orange, and grapefruits. The pack itself is somewhat rustic looking and quite different to other throat candy packets I have seen. It seems to be more "homestyle" as if trying to represent a feeling of nature or natural.

There are 10 individually wrapped pieces of lemon-yellow candy. They are approximately 1.5 x 2.3 cm, and 0.8cm high. There is a vague smell of grapefruit from the candy itself.

The first thing I taste when I put the candy in my mouth is the citrus flavour, mostly of grapefruit. It's a nice flavour, not too sour, but also not too sweet. Other moments I can taste the tang of lemon, or juicy orange, but mostly the grapefruit comes through. As I suck the candy piece, a ginger taste starts to build up in my mouth until it becomes a very hot feeling. It's mostly on my tongue and inside of the cheeks than at the throat. Even swallowing the burning hot, does not make my throat feel hot. The hotness stays in my mouth.

Surprisingly my nose started to become unblocked after sucking on this candy for a few minutes. My throat also felt slightly less sore. I can only attribute that to the ginger, as I know that it has healing properties, and is a well-used ingredient in cold and flu remedies.

The hotness in my mouth is not like eating a chilli, it's more like someone turned a heater on in my mouth. It's hard to describe. It's not uncomfortable. I imagine if you are eating it in Winter as I am, It's a very nice warm-up for a cold night.

The candy is hard all the way through. I'm glad of that though. I'm not really a fan of the candies that have liquid in the centre.

I think this candy lived up to expectations and absolutely topped them. My throat has definitely benefitted from this candy, unlike most other Japanese throat candies I have tried. It also has a nice natural flavour, and the heat which the ginger generates in my mouth is a welcome relief from the cold.

If indeed you like these flavours in general, you needn't stick to eating them only when you are sick. I think this candy could be enjoyed at any time of the year.

I thoroughly recommend these throat candies. Please note that Kanro have changed the pack design and the amount of candies contained inside to 11. The image of the new pack is here.