Tirol Matcha Soy Latte チロル 抹茶ソイらて

Wow, who would have thought to combine Matcha and Soy? I certainly wouldn't have...though I think maybe dairy intolerant people in Japan must already do this.

The colour of this chocolate is absolutely beautiful. It's beautifully layered, just like the Tiramisu Tirol. When I put this chocolate up to my nose, all I could smell was white chocolate, so I wasn't too excited to be honest...thinking it may be a bit of a dud.

But, biting into it there is a wonderful, strong matcha flavour that just gets better and better. There's a jelly layer in the centre that adds bitterness, and the soy cream in the middle adds another dimension. Yum! I have been disappointed with other matcha chocolate in the past when it hasn't had much flavour but this Tirol is just so full of flavour and it's so yum!

I just feel like shouting yum yum Tirol!! yum yum Green Tea!

Snack love also reviewed this flavour, and you can buy it at NapaJapan.

Tirol Chocolate Mix 8 Pack チロルチョコミックス

Tirol Chocolate is one of our family's favourites. It's great that a chocolate so cheap is so good, and there is so much excitement when a new flavour is released.

I purchased this Mix pack of 8 Tirol chocolates from napaJapan. I have already tried 3 out of the 4 flavours. The one I wanted to try in this pack is the Matcha Milk. I have tried a similar Tirol before called Uji-Matcha with mochi in. This one seems to be a bit plainer though and is just a mixture of matcha and milk.

You can see reviews for the other 3 flavours in the pack here and here.

The chocolate on the outside is a very matcha green which is nice and authentic. It also has a very faint smell of matcha. Biting in, the chocolate is smooth and melts easily and has a very creamy flavour that ends with a bitter but very familiar flavour of matcha. The milk is the first flavour to appear and then melds into the matcha. The chocolate inside is softer than on the outside and almost reminds me of a mousse.

I really enjoyed this Tirol. While it doesn't knock your socks off with matcha flavour, it's more of a subtle flavour that builds up towards the end but not overly so. I imagine this would go well with some Japanese tea, as it would not overshadow but complement.

Brand: Tirol Calories per box: 280 Website: http://kinotake.jp Buy it now at napaJapan

Fujiya Milky Uji Matcha ミルキーチョコレート 宇治抹茶

I've long been a lover of all things Matcha flavoured, and I especially love the Uji Matcha from Kyoto which has a special flavour all of it's own.

I was very happy to receive this new release Milky chocolate from Jay @ napaJapan. I'm a long-time fan of Fujiya chocolates and I have collected a lot of memorabilia from Japan including the Fujiya boy and girl dolls, lunch boxes, pencil cases and other homewares bearing the iconic characters.

The packaging of the chocolate is just as cute as I would expect it to be, and opens like an envelope or small purse to reveal a sealed foil packet containing a tray of 12 individual chocolates.

The chocolate smells sweet and creamy, and has a malt-like aroma similar to that of Milo. The Matcha smells strong and is immediately noticeable when biting into the chocolate. The centre is smooth, creamy and irresistible. The chocolate is smooth on the tongue, cool, and really like eating milo with a spoon. I can't get over how malty it is! Yum!

The Matcha is the star without being overpowering. These chocolates are light and fun without being vague. They have enough of a flavour hit to get me going back for more. I can't stop...

Definitely, definitely, recommend these to all Matcha lovers out there! Mmmm ;)

Brand: Fujiya Calories per box: 252 Website: http://fujiya-milky.com

Tirol Mochi-in Uji Matcha チロルもち入り宇治抹茶

In Japan I was on the hunt for various Tirol flavours. Yasu is a big fan of Tirol, has been since childhood, and I wanted to find some interesting flavours for him. I managed to find the Salty Vanilla, and this one at Family Mart.

It's not just a plain matcha flavour though, it has 'mochi' or sweet rice, inside. I bought two of them at the time, and just uncovered them in a box of snacks I sent home from Japan.

Uji matcha is a famous blend of matcha powder from Kyoto. Accordingly the chocolate on the outside has that dark green colour and powdered tea smell. It is so rich in smell, it really smells like the powdered tea from tea ceremonies.


Biting into the chocolate, the powder gives the chocolate a very certain texture, which I love. The 'mochi', is more like a gummi, but it is sweet and kind of reminds me of red bean, or I could almost imagine it there. The chocolate is the absolute winner here, I just love the powdery tea texture, and the strong matcha flavour, with a slight bitterness at the end. It really is true to the real thing.

The bitterness of the tea matches well with the sweet inner mochi. It's a match made in heaven for matcha lovers.

I really wish I bought more than two of these!!

Crunky Matcha Shake 抹茶のシェーキ

This was a gift from my sister-in-law upon our departure from Japan. She handed us a bag chock-full of Japanese snacks and goodies to eat on the train ride (15 hours) back to the airport. We dutifully munched our way through some of the snacks but couldn't finish them all. I was able to bring the rest back with me, and this is one of the treats that survived. The chocolate with the slightly engrish name - Crunky.

Its called Matcha Shake, and the image on the front must be meant to be a shake, but it looks more like a mousse or a very thick thick-shake.

The chocolate inside is in a long rectangular block and is matcha green. It also smells very much like matcha used at traditional tea ceremonies.

As you can see in the photo, the back of the block is full of rice crisps. The top of the block is molded into little rectangles that are meant to make it easy to break off; unfortunately mine did not break along the lines but along the corner.

The chocolate is quite thin, so the majority of chocolate is taken up by the bottom layer of rice crisps, with only a very little amount of chocolate by itself on the top.

Each bite is a satisfying crunch of crisps, exactly what it is named for. The chocolate, although it smells alot like matcha, tastes anything but. The most apparent flavour is the rice crispies, and then a vanilla flavour, which I think also comes from the crispies.

There is no real matcha flavour in this chocolate except right at the end, a slight bitterness, but only momentarily. There is no depth of flavour in this bar. I'm really disappointed because I expected much more. It's not really even sweet, but I might prefer it if it was, just for the flavour. It's like eating crispy cardboard really.

The box is pretty, the smell is nice, but that is as far as it goes, unfortunately.