Maxim Pumpkin Latte マキシム パンプキン・ラテ

I was browsing on eBay and bought it on a whim. I didn't know what to expect, pumpkin + latte? Who would think of such a thing? In Australia, people think pumpkin and soup go together but not as a hot drink! In Japan it's a little bit different as the season's change and the Autumn flavours are rolled out, pumpkin being one of them.

On closer inspection on the box, it states this is "pumpkin pudding taste". I've never had pumpkin pudding, so I still don't know what to expect, however, I do love pumpkin, so I hope it's good.

The box has 4 individual sachets inside. The photo on the front is very appealing, although the real thing doesn't look like that. Sadly, on the back of the box I notice one of the ingredients is Aspartame, something I try very hard to avoid. :(

The other disappointing thing is that if you drink this beverage hot, you can only add 130ml of boiling water to the powder. If you have it iced, you can only add 65ml of cold water to the powder! Either way, that's a very small drink!! I know the portion sizes are small in Japan but this is ridiculous. I would need 2 sachets to make up a normal drink size here.

Anyway, down to the nitty gritty. The smell that wafts out of the cup reminds me of corn soup. It's yellow like corn soup too, it's not as orange as the one on the packet and definitely not as creamy. I can taste the pumpkin flavour but it is weak. You don't need to add sugar to this as there is a sweetness that is quite strong.

In all, it's a great fad product. But that's all really... I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it.

See the latest Maxim flavours here.

Maxim Stick Menu Matcha Latte マキシム スティックメニュー 抹茶ラテ

It's a cold and rainy afternoon and I'm thinking about making a hot drink. Do I go something safe like Milo or do I open my new box of Maxim?

For the sake of this blog I decide to try something new. Matcha Latte looks interesting.

It's one of those latte's that doesn't actually contain any coffee just like the Strawberry version I previously reviewed. I think Japan has a somewhat skewed version of what the word "latte" actually means. (According to Wikipedia it means coffee and milk in Italian)

Anyway, I get out my trusty Pingu cup, the only one small enough to fit a Japan-size drink. Each pack contains 4 sachets and each sachet makes around 160-200ml of latte.

When I open the sachet, tiny green granules fall into my palm. There is a strong smell of matcha (powdered green tea). I pour the sachet in, add hot water, and stir. This results in the water taking on a bright dark green colour and frothing up.

I didn't add any sugar or milk to mine but you probably could. I actually find it sweet enough and the milk would be good in place of hot water not as well as, otherwise it would be too diluted.

The matcha latte is actually really nice. It has a pleasant taste of matcha with a slight bitterness at the end. There is also a slight sweetness and unlike the strawberry version this doesn't contain aspartame so that's a win!

I really enjoyed this and I like the fact that it can be turned into an ice matcha latte by halving the amount of hot water and adding some cold water in.

Maxim Stick Menu Strawberry Latte マキシム スティックメニュー 苺ラテ

Do you ever get sick of drinking plain tea and coffee, or milo? I do. Sometimes I yearn for something out of the ordinary. So when I received this from a friend I was delighted.

Usually "latte" is synonymous with coffee so I wasn't sure if this was going to be strawberry flavoured coffee or not. I didn't find any mention of coffee in the ingredients but I did find アスパルテーム otherwise known as aspartame in English which is not good as I try to stay away from artificial sweeteners.

However I was still willing to try it for this review so I made it up according to the instructions.

In comparison to Western sizes, one cup doesn't make much, only 200ml. So you either use quite a small cup (like I did) or you use 2 sticks of powder (of which there are 4 in the pack).

The taste is quite pleasant. It reminds me of strawberry quick by Nestlé except there is a sharp tang at the end.

The image shows it to be light pink but when I made it up it was so pale as to look white, so a bit of false advertising there.

In all I thought the flavour was nice, and it was nice for a change, but it's not something I would indulge in regularly due to the amount you get and also because it contains aspartame.