Mango Pudding Kit Kat マンゴプリンキットカット

This flavour was released singularly or in a bag of mini's.

There is a mark on the packet that says these are better to eat when they have been refridgerated, but as it is winter here now, the weather is already quite cold so I think it should be ok.

The chocolate is a very fake orange colour, looks like the cheese in a McDonald's hamburger to me. The smell that is wafting up is very strong and does have a very true scent of mango, but with some chemical undertones.
The first bite into this reminded me of pineapple and a very sour taste at the back of my mouth. There are parts of it that taste mango, and at other times also a coconut flavour, mostly in the cream between the wafers.

I like mango as a fruit, but I'm not a fan of it in this Kit Kat. It just tastes too much of other non-related flavours and chemicals, and less like a fruit. I found this made me really thirsty, and the endnotes were very sweet.

Triple Berry Kit Kat (Wishing On A Star)

I bought this a month ago but only just opened it today, though it is still very fresh.

Not sure why but on the top of the box it says "hoshi ni negai wo" which is the equivalent to "wishing on a star" in English. I guess it must have been some kind of promotion.

This Kit Kat is Tripleberry, and the box has an image of strawberries, blueberries, and cranberries. There is juice powder of all three berries in the chocolate, though how much I'm not sure, as for major ingredients they are pretty far down the list.

The Kit Kat itself is white chocolate with pink swirls. It smells very much like strawberry.


The first bite is very florally. It almost tastes like rose, or what I would imagine a rose would taste like. There are some very sweet notes, and some sour bursts.

I can't really tell any of the flavours apart, it's one amalgamation of berry. I can't distinguish which is which. The chocolate on the outside is quite sweet and contains the sour bursts, while the pink cream sandwiched between the wafers has a stronger berry flavour, more like strawberry.

For an all-round berry flavour it's quite good, but if you were hoping to taste all the flavours singularly, you would be disappointed.

I enjoyed this bar because while it was sweet, it wasn't tooth-achingly so. If they ever reinvent this I would like to try it with a milk chocolate coating.

Ramune Kit Kat ラムネキットカット

Ramune is the Japanese word for Lemonade. In drink form it comes in a clear glass bottle that is sealed with a marble. It is pronounced rah-moo-nay. On Wikipedia it states that Ramune is traditionally a lemon-lime flavour though I disagree. All the ramune's I've ever had tasted more like just plain lemonade, no lime flavour at all. Yasu said he's never been able to taste lime either, so thankfully it's not just me.

Well as a generally sought after ingredient to any Otaku/Japan geek's party, it was a given that eventually Nestle would make a Kit Kat version. And so they did.

They come in a large pack of 14 mini's, but I just got 4 mini's singularly.

Opening the wrapper, I can smell the scent of fizz, and a mild generic bubble-gum like scent. The colour of the chocolate is a wishy-washy blue coloured white chocolate. The wafer inside is amazingly golden with a white cream that packs a fizzy punch when bitten into.

The outer chocolate has a real bubble-gum flavour with very small bits of sourness not unlike a strawberry. The cream in between the wafers is where the real fizz texture and flavour are pronounced.

The chocolate is sweet and milky, but made interesting by the occasional burst of sour. I think this Kit Kat tries to embody the fizz of drinking a bottle of Ramune and succeeds. I think it would be interesting if they made a peach or melon ramune kit kat. I would really like to try that.

In all I was very happy with this Kit Kat, I think it delivered on what it set out to do, and it was a very good imitation of the soft drink.

Another review and thumbs up for this kit kat.

Apple Vinegar Kit Kat

I got this at the same time as the Lemon Vinegar Kit Kat, in a box of goodies from Japan.

Apple Vinegar has well known healing properties, probably mostly from Chinese medicine. It can shrink gall stones, it is a digestive enzyme (aids digestion), it can be put on burns - when applied reduces the burn and scarring, helps reduce cellulite appearance, helps allergies, and stomach flu, and probably many more!

Is it any wonder then why the Japanese followed China's lead and now regularly consume this on a daily basis? Yasu has this every day as a general health tonic, and as a consequence, he is always healthy, and hasn't had a cold for 6 months, ever since he started taking it.

Some people find the taste of Apple Vinegar to be too sour, but I love it. I think the Apple flavour is much more pronounced when mixed with vinegar.

So imagine my delight when I found that Nestle Japan had released Apple Vinegar Kit Kat!

It comes in a box of 2 packets containing 2 fingers. The chocolate is white but with a yellow tint. The yummy smell of red apple wafted up to my nose as I opened the packet.

The chocolate itself is a bit salty, then sweet, followed by the apple cream in the wafers. The outside of the wafers is where the vinegar is. It is not overly sour, it's more like a Granny Smith Apple, than vinegar. The vinegar is present only at the very end, followed by a creamy milky taste, which is really refreshing.

I wish I had got more of these. Yasu really loved it too. I love the white chocolate with the apple and vinegar, the sweet and sour are really great flavours combined.

I've heard alot of reviewers on the net giving this the thumbs down, but I am giving it a huge thumbs up. The problem is that they are not familiar with the original taste of apple vinegar, so they are reviewing something that is totally alien to their tastebuds. If you can't imagine the real thing, it's going to be hard to compare.

Lemon Vinegar Kit Kat

This is the second vinegar flavoured Kit Kat I've seen in the last couple of weeks. The first is the Apple Vinegar Kit Kat.

Lemon and Vinegar are not necessarily two things I have thought of putting together, though they can both be quite sour.

This flavour comes in a bag of mini's. The chocolate is the regular milk chocolate. It smells like Lemon Butter, or similar in smell to the Valentine's Day Kit Kat.

Biting in I get the sweetness of the milk chocolate, then a slight lemon rind sourness, followed by a few dashes of vinegar. What I mean is, that the vinegar flavour is more like an afterthought. There are very small bursts of vinegar at the end, but it is not really as sour as vinegar usually is, but I can tell it's meant to be that.

When eating the Kit Kat separately, I found the vinegar flavour was more concentrated on the wafer, as if it had been coated in the flavour, and the lemon flavour was in the cream.

We both enjoyed this Kit Kat, and look forward to trying the Apple Vinegar.

Yasu is chowing down on my last Kit Kat

Choco & Rose Kit Kat [チョコ & ローズ キットカット]

Rose and Chocolate is a flavour that Nestle Japan released that did not make many ripples in the Kit Kat world. I don't know why. It could have been the wrong time of the year, I think Mother's Day would be far more appropriate. But hey, who knows what those flavour guys are thinking at Nestle.

I managed to get 2 mini bars of Rose & Choco from a friend, I couldn't find anyone selling them on ebay, it seems that it wasn't that easy to come by. The packets are pink with light pink roses all over, very sweet.

When I opened the small 2 finger pack, I could only smell the normal chocolate sweetness and a smell of "something else", but it was very vague, and faint. I couldn't smell anything florally, or rosey.

Alot of other reviewers on the net said this tasted like soap to them. To me, not at all. The chocolate itself carries more of a rose scent that starts off in the nose when eating the Kit Kat. It is a very unusual way to experience a chocolate.

However, I really liked the way this Kit Kat smells. The taste is of a regular chocolate Kit Kat, but as I chew it, the smell wafts into my nostrils. It is a very light rose scent, almost as if it were in the air I was breathing.

I thought this Kit Kat is so ingenious! It's almost as if it's a treat for the nose, rather than the mouth.

If you pass this Kit Kat in your travels, don't hesitate in buying it, it's an amazing experience.

Through The Break - Sakuranbo (cherry) Kit Kat

Yasu started asking me if I had heard about something called "through the break" and I didn't know what he was talking about until I saw this Kit Kat on eBay.

I bought it as a surprise for Yasu. He didn't really know what it was, only that it was popular in Japan. I got it yesterday in a parcel and I gave it to him so he was pretty happy with that, but he hasn't downloaded one of the 3 free mp3's that come with this Kit Kat at the time of writing.

The three mp3's are somewhat blossom related. I think that is why they tie in with the Cherry flavour.

The song's are:

Sakura Million
Merry-Go-Round
Flower of Life

All songs were produced by Jin Nakamura.

The box is perforated down the middle and when you apply pressure on both sides of the line, it breaks apart. "Through the break" you find two individually wrapped packets of Cherry Kit Kat. When you remove the Kit Kats you find the individual code for downloading the song from the website.

It really is a very interesting way to style a product. Not unlike the Valentine's Day Kit Kat.

These wafers are white chocolate but coloured a very light pink like a cherry blossom petal.
They smell like that cough medicine we took as kids when we were sick. Ugh, I hate it.
It's such a strong smell.

The taste is the same as that cough medicine, actually. The chocolate is so overpowered by it. Thankfully after the chocolate melts, the wafers are there, with a nice sweet flavour.

I only ate one finger, I really couldn't stand the flavour or the smell of this Kit Kat. Great idea for marketing, just not a great flavour for the masses. Well, not unless the masses like cherry cough medicine!

Oshiruko Kit Kat

I've read quite a few reviews on the internet about this Kit Kat and most of them said they hated the taste and smell.

I mainly bought this Kit Kat for Yasu as he is such a big fan of Azuki, and Oshiruko in general.

I am also a bit of a fan of Azuki flavoured snacks.

Oshiruko is a traditional Japanese red bean soup served in a bowl with rice cakes. It is truly yum.

The Oshiruko Kit Kat is milk chocolate on the outside, which is a nice change. I had expected it to be azuki colour.

From the milk chocolate you can smell the earthy scent of the beans. I have been to Azuki farms in Hokkaido, so I am familiar with that earthy scent, that some people mistake for an almost rotten smell. Some people just can't stand the smell, but I love it!

The chocolate is quite soft and melts easily. Underneath the earthy smell is a kind of roasted smell of the beans. The scent itself has depth, which is great.

The milk chocolate has a texture, just like the red bean soup. It's like red bean has been ground and added to the milk chocolate, then poured on the wafers. This is truly delicious.

There is red bean paste in between the wafers, just a small amount, but just enough to alight a deeper flavour of Oshiruko in my mouth.

The end note is a roasted bean flavour, followed by the sweetness of Azuki. Oh, this is heaven. I have really enjoyed this. The depth of the flavour reminds me of being in Tokachi, at the Azuki farm.

I am in love with this Kit Kat. It's probably my favourite of all time. Yasu also really enjoyed this one and said it was true to taste, and that it's also his favourite.

Maybe it takes diehard Azuki fans to appreciate this chocolate, and also I think If you have never been to an Azuki farm, you might not know what that smell is, and associate it with something awful, so that's why I think alot of tasters on the net, had trouble with this Kit Kat.

As of now I'm searching on eBay for more of these....

Valentine's Day Kit Kat

Yes, I know I'm 4 months late in posting this. But I thought better later than never!

I love the way the Nestle crew made the box. You can fold it back into a neat little parcel and give one pack of two fingers away to your love. Keep one for yourself, and give one away. It just encourages sharing doesn't it?

I'm glad that this Kit Kat has a simple flavour. In the past I have tried the Lemon Cheesecake Kit Kat - actually that was the first ever Japanese Kit Kat I had - and I like the simple, elegant taste.

I was thinking this Kit Kat would be along the same lines as that one.

The wrapper is simple but attractive. A light yellow background with the red Kit Kat logo and red ends. Nice.

When I opened the wrapper I got a good whiff of a lemony cheese scent. The first bite had a real lemon tang that intensified as I kept chewing. The outside chocolate reminds me of shortcrust pastry with it's soft smooth texture the crumbles in my mouth.

This lemon is not really the same as the lemon cheesecake that I had expected. Instead it's more like a lemon tart. I really love the lemon flavour in this Kit Kat, it's divine!

I really found it hard to stop eating this, and I had to, because I promised Yasu he could have the other pack. It's a pity I didn't buy more of these!

Peach Kit Kat Mini's

This bag of Kit Kat mini's I just had to buy! I love peach, especially Japanese flavoured peach snacks and candy.

I thought it was a great idea to put two flavours in the bag, it breaks it up abit more.

White Peach
Wrapped in a pink wrapper, not sure why, it should have been a white wrapper.
The chocolate is white and there is a very faint smell of peach. The first bite reveals a very peachy flavour in the chocolate, and then the flavour of the plain wafers inside wash over the chocolate, but they taste like vanilla, so it's like peach, vanilla, peach. This is quite nice, I really like it. When eating it just out of the fridge it feels like a nice dessert.

Yellow Peach
The chocolate is a bright orange colour, like the fake cheese on a McDonald's cheeseburger. It smells more like a floral perfume than peach. I can't say this really tastes like peach, for some reason it tastes more like melon! It has a similar flavour to the Yubari melon Kit Kat that had the same colour chocolate. I can't think they would have made a mistake though...
This kit kat also reminds of the sweetness of icecream. Rather cheap icecream I think. There is not really much peach flavour in here. It's more sweetness, floral notes, and the vanilla flavoured wafers. No I'm not a fan.

The white peach was the winner in this pack. They should have left it at that and quit trying, instead of making a less than decent yellow peach.

I guess I just have to find someone who likes the yellow peach and get rid of them, and keep the white ones for myself!

Jasmine Tea Kit Kat

I'll admit, I'm not a fan of Jasmine Tea. I did love the Houjicha Kit Kat, but somehow I didn't expect to like this one.

This Kit Kat is milk chocolate, like the Houjicha, but it has a very strong smell of Jasmine, almost as if it were a hand cream or moisturiser. I really didn't expect that.

The milk chocolate is creamy and has a mild taste of Jasmine, which builds up, but it is not overly sweet. I think it's more the fragrance building up at the back of my throat which gives me the idea of 'sweetness'.

I must admit, before I reviewed this, I ate it when it was cold from the fridge, and I hated it.

But now, I'm trying it at room temperature and the flavour is so much different! Before it tasted like a bad perfume mixed with chocolate but now it tastes like a master chef has mixed Jasmine flowers and chocolate into a wonderfully creamy potion. It's like a garden party in my mouth. I can smell the vibrant spring day, lively chatter, and endless cups of tea being poured under the Jasmine trees.

I keep going back for more, I can't resist! This has to be one of my favourite flavours yet! Sorry I doubted you Nestle...

Maccha Tiramisu Kit Kat

The much talked about Maccha Tiramisu Kit Kat. Well, it had some high expectations to meet.

It consists of a single finger wrapped and sold individually, and I bought mine from eBay for $2 each (rip off!), I later saw them being sold at J-list for $0.75 each. Oh well.

The stick smells largely of sweet white chocolate. It's a light green colour, but mostly all you can smell is the white chocolate.

The outer chocolate tastes of maccha, and while I expected there to be some coffee flavour inside the wafers there was none. I'm not sure what's going on here. I was of the view Tiramisu was coffee flavoured? So why is this Kit Kat Maccha Tiramisu? It should be named Maccha.

I tried eating all the outside chocolate off first, and then eating the wafers. The problem is that the colour of the cream inside the wafers is green too, and nary a taste of coffee.

How disappointing! False advertising Nestle. This is NOT Tiramisu.

A nice Maccha flavour Kit Kat but sadly, that's all it is.

あじわい苺 Strawberry Flavour Kit Kat

Ajiwai Ichigo simply means "the flavour of strawberry", ajiwai being flavour, and ichigo being strawberry.

I have seen a few incarnations of this bar, I think Nestle Japan release one every year. Most probably for those pink chocolate lovers out there.

The box is very pretty and so are the two little packets inside that contain the fingers. They have strawberries on a white background, very cute and sweet. It could have almost been a late Valentine's present.

The chocolate is very fake pink white chocolate, and there is a lovely smell of strawberry milk. I love the smell. However when I bit into the bar I got a very fake strawberry taste followed by a very sour ending. Yasu can't taste or smell anything, but he had a bit of this and said "something tastes sour!" so even with no taste he could taste that sourness. That's how strong it is!

I don't like this Kit Kat at all. It lacks depth of flavour and originality. I would have preferred it without the sourness. Strawberries don't really have that amount of sourness unless they're unripe. I don't think the Nestle team have put much thought into this Kit Kat, and I am disappointed. They did a lovely job with the presentation and packaging, how could they let us down with the flavour? I wouldn't buy it again. I like my Strawberries sweet and juicy.

大学いも Caramelized Sweet Potato Kit Kat

Daigaku Imo is a kind of caramelized sweet potato that is made by coating deep fried potatoes with syrup and soy sauce. The direct translation of the name "university potato" came about because it was popular in college towns during the Taisho (1912-1926) and Showa (1926-1989) period.



Right away I could smell the sweetness in this Kit Kat. The colour of the chocolate is a mix of yellow and orange, kind of halfway between (although it looks different in the photo). I really liked the smell of this bar. The first bite tasted like sweet caramel with a very faint undertaste of sweet potato. This sweet potato did not strike me as very full flavoured. It could have almost been a pumpkin, as it had that same kind of orange flesh taste. I found it sweet but not too sweet, and almost a musky taste of potato. I couldn't detect any soy sauce flavour, although it was a pleasant taste.

This Kit Kat is not a favourite of mine, the flavour lacks depth, and mostly the caramel shines through. I would like to see a sweet potato Kit Kat where the potato is the star. All in all, nice to try, but as I said not a favourite. I'm sure Yasu will beg to differ when he tries it (he's sick with a cold at the moment and can't taste or smell anything so I had to taste test on my own). I have seen quite a few reviews around the internet that say this is one of the best flavours, so I know this bar has its fans.

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.

Black Sugar Kit Kat 黒糖キットカット

I picked up this bag of 14 mini's at the same time as the double berry. We have eaten down to the last 3 and so I thought this was also relevant to my blog as an interesting flavour.

The flavour, 黒糖 (kokutou), or black sugar is a common ingredient in sweets that hail from Okinawa. It's also started to become widely used in products throughout Japan probably to give it that 'exotic' feeling. It's like a souvenir from some distant land without going anywhere.

This is simply a milk chocolate bar thankfully, I couldn't imagine what it would be like with white chocolate, but never fear, that may be just around the corner knowing how Nestle Japan's mind works!

The packet states that these are better eaten when refridgerated. I found that the smell was stronger when it was left out of the fridge for a while. Overall, it didn't make much difference to the flavour.

The smell when opened is a very strong smell of molasses. The first bite is not as strong as the smell but it does build up quite rapidly. You can definitely taste the black sugar component between the wafers of this kit kat. Thankfully the milk chocolate is just plain without flavouring, otherwise it would be too strong.

The aftertaste to me is like a black licorice flavour. If it wasn't for the crunchiness of the wafers inside, I would think I had just eaten a strap of black licorice.

This flavour is really nice for black sugar lovers like my husband, but for me it's an aquired taste. I like the black sugar caramels, but i'm not sure if I like the mixture of black sugar and chocolate together. Although I love licorice, I would rather eat licorice because after eating this chocolate I don't feel satisfied. I feel like I want to go eat some licorice! Make sense? Probably not.