I've been a tea drinker since I was young. As in 2 or 3 years young. My mum's side of the family came over from England way back when so it kind of runs in the family. And by tea I mean English Breakfast Tea. With milk.
The first time I ever went to Japan I was introduced to their version of it - royal milk tea - by my father in law. It was love at first taste. The Japanese version is definitely sweeter and it seems to have a secret ingredient, maybe some spices thrown in for good measure.
Living in Australia, Japanese royal milk tea is one of the things I miss the most. It's always the first thing I buy when I arrive in Japan.
So, I was overjoyed to hear that Nestle had made a royal milk tea Kit Kat. I received this box as a gift from a friend which I thought was quite fitting as food from friends always taste better, right?
This box is typically English in design, it has the red tartan in the background and the English guards walking across the bottom of the box. I wonder if the Queen has tried this Kit Kat? I wonder if Nestle Japan sent her a box of it for free?
The two packets of fingers inside the box have a blue tartan on the outside of the packaging. What is the significance of that I wondered. So I googled. Then I realised that tartan is particularly associated with Scotland, and the colours are related to different clans. There are over 4000 different tartans, all belonging to different clans.
Moving on. :)
The chocolate is white chocolate coloured a light beige colour. It smells sweet and floral.
Biting in, there is a definite creaminess, it's very milky. At the back of my tongue I taste the sweet floral notes that I recognise from royal milk tea. The sense of tea is very vague. It's almost there, but not.
The chocolate is not overly sweet like I expected. It's cool on my tongue and really creamy more than anything else. I'm disappointed because there is no sense of the spices or tea flavour that make up a bottle of royal milk tea. It falls short of the mark.
Maybe it's not a good idea to send the Queen one of these. She would probably be very miffed.
Why is it that Nestle Japan can superbly do a Ginger Ale Kit Kat but they fall flat on Royal Milk Tea? It would seem the latter would be easier to recreate. Oh well. I'm hoping if Nestle recycle this flavour, the next time around will be better.
My advice: wait for the next incarnation.
