Bourbon Mini Bit Uji Matcha ブルボン ミニビット 宇治抹茶

I'm a pretty big matcha fan, except when it comes to drinking the tea. Strange, but as a drink it's too bitter for me. I do like it combined with chocolate though. So,when I saw this bag of matcha Mini Bit in a parcel from a friend I was overjoyed!

A lot of the matcha used in chocolates in Japan is "Uji Matcha". Uji is district in the outskirts of Kyoto, famous for green tea and also because the final chapters of the famous novel "The Tale of Genji" were set there.

The bag looks like it holds quite a few chocolates but there are only 6 inside. Each chocolate is individually wrapped and is about an inch in diameter. The chocolate is dark in colour and has a "B" embossed on the top of diagonal lines. I guess the "B" is for "Bourbon", the company who make Mini Bit.

I could smell the matcha wafting out of the chocolate, in fact, the whole bag smelled divine when I stuck my nose in there. Biting into it was quite hard as the inside is jam-packed with matcha. I don't quite know how to describe it but it's like green tea powder moistened and filled inside the chocolate. It's not powdery, it's not gooey or crunchy, it's just nice and firm and flavourful. There is a huge hit of matcha that is oh so satisfying. It doesn't overpower the chocolate at all either, as that is quite rich and is just dark enough to complement the bitterness of the matcha.

This is a match(a) made in heaven!! If these were available in family size I would so get one...but its kind of good that I only have 6...well now 5, because then I can't eat them all at once. Portion control you see.... ;) If you like matcha, then I'm pretty sure you'll like these. But don't take my word for it, try them yourself!

(Premium) Rilakkuma Lemonade Tirol リラックマ レモネード チロル

Rilakkuma (which translates to relaxing bear) is a character made by San-X, rival of Sanrio (maker of Hello Kitty and My Melody), which is becoming more and more famous. Him and his pals just kind of laze around everywhere and look like they're relaxing.

So now Tirol are featuring Rilakkuma on their chocolate, I guess for the cute factor. I mean who doesn't like to eat chocolate with their favourite character on the front, right? ;)

This flavour is Lemonade and on the wrapper Rilakkuma is holding a glass of liquid that looks like lemonade. This is a premium Tirol too, which means it's slightly bigger than the regular size.

The chocolate is bright yellow, almost fluoro. I was really surprised. I couldn't really smell anything from the outside except the white chocolate. When I bit into this chocolate it crumbled. I tried to bite half but there is a soft white meringue and lemon sauce inside and it was so chewy my teeth couldn't slice through. So that's why it looks a bit mangled in the picture!

 

Is this really lemonade or lemon meringue pie?? Because to me the flavour is lemon meringue pie. There is the white meringue on the bottom layer and on the top a lemon sauce, just like the pie. It was actually really nice. It reminded me exactly of the dessert. But lemonade?....err no. For one, there was no fizz, so you can't have lemonade without fizz can you? Also, what's with the meringue and sauce?

I think this Tirol is having an identity crisis, or the head honcho at Tirol got mixed up.

As a lemonade Tirol it kind of sucks. But as lemon meringue Tirol it's a winner!! I loved the flavours here, it reminded me of dessert, and I could eat many more.

Tirol Hinamatsuri Milk Mochi & Strawberry Mochi ちょこっと 気餅 みるくもち と いちごもち

 

 I'm pretty late with this review I must admit. But better late than never right? This is a pack of Tirol that was released for Hinamatsuri (Girl's Day in Japan) 2012. On the front of the pack it says ちょこっと 気餅 which you read as "chokotto kimochi". Chokotto means "just a little bit" and usually "kimochi" means "feelings", but because both of these Tirol chocolates have mochi centres, the "mochi" is the kanji for glutinous rice. It's a play on words and it's cute. 

There are two flavours in the pack, milk mochi and strawberry mochi. For some reason there were 6 pieces of strawberry mochi and 4 pieces of milk mochi, even though there were 10 pieces, so they could be divided evenly. If anyone knows the reason please let me know! :)

  

 

 The wrappers have really cute images on them, they are very sweet.

The milk mochi is off-white in colour and smells very sweet. There is a light yellow mochi in the middle which is the consistency of jelly. It's creamy but not overly sweet, and the mochi part is quite chewy. It does taste like milk but also has hints of vanilla. Its plain, and I like it because it's not over the top in terms of flavour. Sometimes its nice to have something normal you know? ;)

The strawberry mochi is a light pink colour and smells tart. The jelly inside is softer than in the milk mochi. The strawberry chocolate on the outside is quite floral and reminds me of musk candy. There is some tartness towards the end, but to me it wasn't really "strawberry" as we know it. Maybe it's a tad overdone.

In all, this pack of Tirol was fun. The wrapping is cute and great for a gift or sharing with friends, and the play on words is educational. I prefer the milk mochi and would have liked 6 of them and 4 of the strawberry given a choice. I was glad to be able to try it out though! 

Did you get to try this one? If so, what did you think?

Lotte Ume Gum ロッテ 梅ガム

I don't chew gum very often. Usually only when I feel a bit sick. I chewed it a lot during pregnancy to help with morning sickness. Today when I was at the Japanese Supermarket (Nippon Foods) this gum was on sale.

I'm not really a big fan of Japanese plum, because usually it's sour and burns my tongue. But this gum is not "umeboshi" (pickled plum), it's just plum, so I figured it might taste ok. It was on sale for $1 per pack so I figured if it was gross, it wasn't going to leave a big hole in my pocket.

The pack itself is quite pretty, which I think drew me in somewhat because of the cute plum blossoms. On the side of the pack it states "梅の味とシソの香り" which means it has the flavour of plum and the aroma of shiso leaves.

Each gum piece is long and flat and individually packaged in silver foil and then an outer pink paper wrapper with plum blossoms on one side and the Lotte Ume Gum logo on the other. There are 9 pieces per pack.

Upon opening the piece of gum there is a vaguely sweet smell that reminds me of cherry. The gum is sweet to taste and at first has a very strong taste of plum but there are also hints of something else that reminds me of cherry or cherry blossoms. For the first minute of chewing the flavour is quite strong, and it's really quite pleasant. As stated on the box there is a shiso aroma that comes out while chewing the gum, I'm not a fan of shiso, but this is ok as it's not too strong and is only temporary.

As with most gums, the longer you chew this gum the weaker the flavour gets. After 2 minutes or so the flavour is quite weak and it stayed that way until 5 minutes when I discarded it.

I found that 5 minutes was the maximum for me because around then was when I started to feel really thirsty. In any case they did the trick and the hit of sugar combined with a bit of chewing made me start to feel better.

If you want a long-lasting gum then this is not the right choice. However it is an interesting flavour to try and would definitely satisfy a sweet craving. It's good value just for trying something out of the box. :)

Kinako Senbei 岩塚製菓 きなこ餅 "にほんの味”

I am a huge fan of Kinako, it's one of my all-time favourite Japanese flavours besides Azuki and Matcha. So when I found this pack of Kinako Senbei in a box of goodies from a friend in Japan, I was ecstatic.

This pack has 12 individually wrapped senbei. They are thin and light and as you can see on the photo have a patchy sampling of kinako. The pack states that this is more a "savoury" style of kinako as opposed to a really sweet version. I was a little bit disappointed at reading that.

However when I first bit into the senbei it wasn't bad at all. True to what the package says, it wasn't that sweet, but it definitely tasted like kinako, and I quite like the "savoury" version. It's also really crunchy and light, and there is a strong nutty flavour that I really like.

The only downer with this senbei is there is only 1 small senbei wrapped by itself, I could eat more at a time, I wish there were about 4 in one wrap. Maybe because they're so addictive, they limit the quantity to 1 individual serving, people could go crazy and eat the whole pack in one sitting otherwise!

I really recommend these if you like kinako. I still have half the pack left because I'm trying to save them...I'm so kinako deprived over here in Perth, Australia, that I have to really savour anything with kinako that I can get my hands on!

Befco Baka-Uke Shio Wasabi Snack ばかうけ 塩わさび味

Today Yasu and I were in the mood for a snack, and we remembered about the box of goodies that my lovely friend S had sent over so I opened it up and Yasu chose this pack of Bakauke by Befco. Shio Wasabi - Salty Wasabi.

Hmm... I'm not into "hot" or "spicy" foods but I thought I would be game and try.

Each cracker is long and curved, and has the consistency of a "soft" senbei.

When I bit into the cracker I immediately got a big hit of wasabi on the tip of my tongue and after swallowing, at the back of my throat, and the more I ate, the more it built up. Yasu really enjoyed these and I loved that they had such a crunchy texture.

I didn't notice any extra salt as per the "salty" wasabi tag, but maybe because my mouth was on fire. Though I did notice a sweetness from the inside of the cracker between bites.

The wasabi was a bit too strong for me but people who can take the heat would love these. :)

Tirol Chocoball Peanut チロル チョコボール ピーナツ

Ok please excuse my little hiatus there... I have a ton of products to review but so little time in the day to get them done at the moment!

This one has been sitting on top of the pile and it's another Tirol teamed up with Chocoball Peanut (one of my husband's all time favourite snacks!)

This is a premium Tirol so it's bigger than the usual size.

From the outside it smelreal lot like peanut and chocolate. The bottom layer is like a chocolate crunch and has little pieces of cookie and bits that look like muesli but aren't. There are visible whole peanuts on the top surrounded by yummy chocolate that seems to be a blend of milk and dark.

This Tirol was really satisfying for crunch and texture and the chocolate was nice too. The "sweet" factor was also much lower than Tirol usually makes their chocolate which was a nice change. I love that my square had 3 whole peanuts!

Definitely worth trying!



*** there was also a Tirol Caramel Chocoball version but hub ate them all so there was none left for me to try. He loved it though and said it was very true to the Caramel Chocoball experience.

Hinamatsuri Tirol Peach and Strawberry Vanilla チロルひな祭り ふんわり ピ ーチ と 苺バニラ

Obviously, I'm pretty late at reviewing this pack of Tirol released for Girls Day in Japan, but better late than never!

This pack has 8 individually wrapped Tirol chocolates, 3 of Peach and 5 of Strawberry Vanilla. Not sure why there is more of one flavour than the other, it's probably just random.

All 3 peach flavour chocolates have the red wrapper with the princess on the cover. The other 5 have samurai on them in green and purple.

Peach - is a soft pink flavoured white chocolate with a peach jelly and vanilla cream inside. The jelly and chocolate really capture the essence of a peach. The vanilla cream gives it depth. There is a tartness to the peach flavour at the very end, coming from the jelly.

Strawberry Vanilla - a 3 layered chocolate, neopolitan (strawberry, vanilla and chocolate). All 3 layers come together to form a nice sweet harmony but are also individually apparent. The strawberry is by far the strongest flavour with some sour notes but doesn't overwhelm.

I really liked this pack. I liked the peach flavour best, but the strawberry vanilla is also nice. The packaging is so pretty too, it's a shame to throw it out! Tirol have done this well :-)

Echigoseika Cheese Mochi 越後製菓 チーズもち

I recently did a review about Ebi Senbei which is made by Echigoseika, the same company who makes these Cheese Mochi.

If the Ebi Senbei are anything to go by then we thought these should be a hit - and they are!

My son, now nearly 14 months spied the packet and came running thinking it was his ebi senbei but when he saw these he still wanted some.

The cheese mochi are really bright yellow, I mean really "fake" yellow like the cheese on the burgers at McDonalds.

But that's the only thing fake about them! They have such a big crunch when you bite into them and a really soft centre that melts in the mouth. Then there is a really strong cheddar cheese flavour that explodes in the mouth and lingers.

My son is such a fan of these too. He kept coming back wanting more but I had to close the pack and put it away so we didn't eat them all because they are so moorish. I alone could eat the whole pack myself!

If you like cheese, definitely get some!

Yuraku x Tirol Black Thunder (cocoa cookie crunch) ユーラク x チロル ブ ラックサンダー 「ココアクッキークランチ」

Another Tirol sent from a friend, the packaging looks very masculine but in a weird sort of way reminds me of KISS the rock group, with that golden lightning bolt down the middle.

I had no idea what Yuraku was until I looked it up online and found they are a company that make a black thunder bar. (see bottom of photo for an example)

So this is a Tirol chocolate and a Black Thunder Bar all rolled into one.

When I opened the wrapper the chocolate had a house imprinted into the top of it - somebody care to explain? No idea why that is!

I could smell the cocoa immediately. When I bit into it I bit straight through a round white cookie and some dark crumbled cookie at the bottom, which had a strong cocoa flavour but had sweetness, kind of like an Oreo. The milk chocolate surrounding the cookie was just dark enough to complement the cookie and not too sweet as to overpower it.

This is enough to give you a taste of a black thunder bar and I enjoyed it. But I want MORE! So it's safe to say that Yuraku's little campaign has worked and I am intrigued enough to go and buy some black thunder bars! (if only I could) :)