Calpis Soft Candy Grape Flavour カルピス ソフトキャンディー ぶどう味

I think everyone is pretty familiar with Calpis - a yoghurt flavoured drink that sends all gaijin into fits of uncontrollable giggles when anyone actually says the word, which sounds like "cow piss" to foreign ears.

My friends and I always laughed when Yasu said it and he could never work out why - until I let him in on the joke, and even then he didn't think it was funny. I guess it's just gaijin humour.

Anyway, Calpis have the original yoghurt drink and they also have various takes on the original by mixing it with grape, apple, orange, and various other fruit flavours.

I've had the grape flavour Calpis drink and I quite liked it, so that is why I bought the soft candy in the same flavour. They also had another flavour which was apple & honey, but I thought it seemed too much like something you would have when you're sick with the flu.

The pack has 22.1 calories and 10 pieces inside. That works out to 2.21 calories per piece which is pretty good.

The soft candy resembles a high chew piece except it's a bit wider and flatter. It's a light taro purple on the outside and it has white on the outside. The outside of the pack has a picture and indicates that the purple outside is "budou" (grape), and the inside is plain flavour.

The outside of the candy is in between soft and hard. It's called soft candy, but it's not as soft as it could be. The grape flavour is really strong at first but then the "plain" Calpis flavour in the middle kicks in and starts to overtake the grape flavour. The yoghurt taste is overpowering and the grape ends up taking a backseat to the yoghurt.

I was slightly disappointed by this candy because I thought it was going to be like eating Grape Hubba Bubba, with that total grape experience. I don't mind the original Calpis flavour but why have something called Grape, if it's actually Yoghurt with a hint of grape? Rather confusing.

If you like yoghurt with your grapes then this won't disappoint you. If you are expecting loads of grape flavour then forget it.

Brand: Calpis Calories per pack: 22.1 Website: http://www.candypark.com

Itoen Lactic Acid Yoghurt Taste かち割り乳酸菌ヨーグルトテイスト

Today was a hot, humid day. We had walked around the city for 2 hours and when I spied this in the refrigerator of a Japanese supermarket it looked like heaven.

It cost me $3.50 - I know you're thinking it's daylight robbery. But honestly, a bottle of Kirin Gogo tea here is $4.99, so it's not that bad. :)

This is a lactic acid drink, otherwise known as milk acid and is formed from the lactobacillus bacteria amongst others and is commonly found in yoghurt. This particular drink's claim to fame is that it can be frozen, defrosted and then drunk, unlike Calpis and other yoghurty drinks.

This smells similar to Calpis but it has more of a citrus element. It also has more of a milky colour than Calpis, it looks like someone has poured milk and water in the bottle as there is the blue/gray colour apparent when milk and water is combined.

I found this to be quite refreshing. The yoghurt taste is pleasant and the citrus flavour is refreshing enough so that it didn't leave me thirsty. The bottle is cute and an unusual shape. I'm keeping it for my water bottle :)

This was an April 2009 release by Itoen and it's best before is June 2010. This surprisingly had soybean dietary fibre in it. It didn't effect the taste any. I guess Itoen had to make it healthy somehow, not just with yoghurt.

I would definitely buy this again, even at $3.50.

Tirol Minashigo Hutch Honey Toast and Yoghurt Honey チロルみなしごハッチ・ハニートーストとヨーグルトはちみつ

Tirol is one of those snacks that I have only discovered in the past year but that I fell in love with instantly. It's a small bite-size chocolate that you can buy at supermarkets and convenience stores for around 20 yen (20 cents).

My husband grew up with these and so he was delighted that I discovered them as he is a long-time fan as well. These are cheap and good as a single time treat for kids. There is alot of sentimentality surrounding these snacks for kids in Japan.

The thing I love the most is my husband's reaction when I get a new flavour. When he was a kid they only had the coffee nougat, and the almond and now, just like Nestle Japan (with their many varieties of Kit Kats), Tirol are churning out new flavours all the time.

He was especially stoked when I pulled out this bag of Minashigo Hutch, a favourite cartoon of his from childhood. This cartoon or anime, was made in the 1970's and is the story of an orphan bee who is searching for his mother.

My husband said "if you watch that, you will cry alot". I guess it is something the same as Lassie, in that it pulls at the heartstrings.

This bag of Tirol has 8 pieces in it, and two flavours. Four each.


Honey Toast

This flavour makes my mouth water without even trying. I think of hot buttery toast with honey drizzled over it. In reality the light yellow chocolate on the outside has a buttery flavour. The inside is comprised of a biscuit matching in colour with a light glaze of honey flavoured liquid. This is not really quite what I had in mind. It's really sweet and the honey doesn't really have the depth of flavour that I like. The butter flavour is not exactly on the money and tastes abit strange, I can't put my finger on it.


Yoghurt Honey

I didn't know what to expect with this one. The white chocolate outside has a floral flavour, it reminds me of jasmine tea. The middle has a white jelly that tastes like yoghurt but it is much sweeter and has those floral notes too. The jelly is covered with a layer of honey liquid that escapes when you bite into the chocolate. The honey and floral notes are very overwhelming and once again, this one is very sweet. The yoghurt in this is very underwhelming and a disappointment.

Although these both deliver in regards to the theme of bees and honey, they fail to make the mark in regards to the flavours they are paired with. I feel as if they should have just made a honey flavour instead of getting elaborate and trying to create something that really should have been simple enough in theory but just didn't compute in the final product.

I think my husband will eat these regardless of the flavour, but unless he really loves them I won't buy them again.

Lotte Drink Mix Candy いろいろたのしいドリンクミックス

This bag of candy was another gift from my generous sister in law in Japan. The packet is meant to look like a vending machine.

All the drinks in this bag you can actually buy from vending machines, but also supermarkets and convenience stores. They are what one would refer to as "for your health", or what I think Japanese people think are for their health but are not actual health drinks bar one.

They are all citrus in flavour, but apart from that they probably have loads of sugar, so not actually a 'real' health drink if you know what I mean!

There are 5 drinks and 5 individually wrapped candies for each flavour, making 25 candies in the bag.



Dakara

This has the refreshing taste of white grapefruit, just like the drink that I love so much! I really enjoyed this candy, it only had a hint of sweetness, more sourness, which I liked because it didn't make me thirsty.

C.C. Lemon

An oldie but a goodie, a big hitter in the popularity stakes, kind of a staple like Vegemite to Australia. This has a fizzy texture and a tart lemon flavour. The texture of the candy is quite hard and has a lot of lines in the candy itself, abit hard on my tongue, but the flavour is consistent with the real life drink. I liked this but my tongue didn't.



Natchan! Orange

My husband loves this drink, it's his absolute favourite. I'm not sure if it's because of the cute image on the packaging or the taste itself, but I have to admit, I like it too. Natchan! kind of reminds me of the from concentrate orange juice drinks we get here that are diluted with water. It's not 'real' freshly squeezed juice, but it has that smooth flavour that kids love. The candy was exactly the same in flavour and texture as the drink, the candy is quite smooth in texture, the taste is very orangey.

Bikkle

A stalwart of the yoghurt type drinks in Japan, this is along the same lines as Yakult pro-biotic drink. You can taste the custard like notes in this first off, and the the tang of the yoghurt. Very true to the real life drink, I really enjoyed this candy because it offered something different. It was smooth and tangy but with a real dairy feel.

Dekavita

This comes in a brown bottle in Japan - this is how Japanese manufacturers know they are not messing around, this is the real deal mate. Or something like that. Well, it looks more professional for a 'health drink' than coming in a pet bottle! I've never actually had the real drink and judging from the candy, I'm not sure if I want to! It's quite fizzy, sour, and with no real sweetness at all. It's like sucking on a sour lemon candy. The texture of the candy is quite rough too so it ripped up my tongue when I sucked on it too hard. No smiles here.

These are all real winners for me except Dekavita. Though if you like your candy sour, then I'm sure you would like it.