When I knew I was going to move to Japan I also knew that I would eat all the Japanese KitKat flavors I could get my hands on. This post is part one of many in my adventures chomping my way through the myriad of Japanese Kitkat flavors.
Most of the flavors are based around white chocolate as that is, I’m assuming, easier to manipulate flavor wise than milk or dark chocolate – with some exceptions. Let’s begin.
Sweet Potato
Doesn’t really taste of potato but has some notes through each nibble that reminds you slightly of the mighty spud. Or its lesser sweeter cousin in this case. White chocolate flavours abound with this one.
Apple Pie
This was a Halloween special. You can get several flavors that have been released in the past on Amazon JP still. This was quite nice with the apple flavor complimenting the white chocolate shell. Also purple for some reason.
Sakura Japanese Sake
You can taste the alcohol on first sniff followed by the unmistakable flowery Sakura (cherry blossom) taste that is ever present in a range of foods around Sakura blossoming season. Not one to binge but pleasant nonetheless.
Strong Matcha
There are a bunch of matcha flavored KitKats hanging around the shelves at any given time in Japan. This is just one of them. Yes, it tastes quite strongly of matcha. A flavor I’ve grown to appreciate, not entirely love, whilst living in Japan.
Salt Caramel
Exactly what it sounds like. Salty caramel but this time in little niblet sized offerings! Nice to have a few with a coffee or tea I would expect.
Cheese Cake
Tastes exactly like cheese cake and like cheese cake you couldn’t eat a lot of these as the flavor is quite strong and overpowering.
Bellflower Shingen Mochi
Shingen Mochi is a roasted soybean flour mochi (small rice cake thing) with brown sugar syrup. Never had one. But I’ve eaten the Kit-Kat now. Tastes of brown sugar with a hint of roasted-ness. Mostly. I can’t remember what normal Kit-Kats taste like anymore.
Sparkling Wine
Yes, has a somewhat cheap sparkling wine taste. Perfect for dessert. And with wine.
Strawberry Cheesecake
They certainly like to belt out the cheesecake variants. This one was fine again with a strong cheesecake kick.
Hokkaido Melon & Mascarpone Cheese
Probably the most bizarre combo I came across. The two flavors work well together with the melon flavor winning the “smash your taste buds” fight.
Peach
Really sweet. Really peachy. A one stick at a time taste lest you get peach overload.
Mango
I really like mango flavored anything. And mangos. This was nice and quite balanced.
Strawberry Milk
I’m not 4 years old. Physically. So this profile is not my favorite. Give me pure strawberry any day, this flavour leans too much on the milky milky.
Hojicha
Roasted tea leaf flavoured. Not good. Too overpowered with the roasted…bit.
Okinawa Sweet Potato
As these were nibble sized bites, it’s seems easier to manage any sort of weird flavour profiles. This flavour is quite nice, though, perfume-y sweet potato but not overly so.
Premium Mint
Love chocolate mint. These are great. What makes them premium? I have no clue, probably a better quality of chocolate perhaps.
Ume
Plum flavored. Really nice. Can’t really equate it to a plummish flavor but it’s sweet and tangy.
Banana Caramel
One of the few based around milk chocolate as opposed to white. Not bad but a bit muted with both caramel and banana being quite understated and the milk chocolate battling it out for supremacy in the flavour profile.
Peach Parfait
Yeah, a bit much for me. Definitely peachy but I don’t know about the parfait variable. Not a fan but nothing too nasty.
Matcha Tiramisu
One of my favorites among all Japanese Kitkat flavors, if not my favorite. Such a nice balance between the green tea and tiramisu flavours. Very more-ish. I will buy again.
Wheat Based KitKat
One of the latest releases out there in 2021. You get a very digestive biscuit vibe from each bite and it’s quite a pleasant snack. Supposed to be healthier…..hahahahahhhaa. Yeah…. This is one that is quite mainstream and has been on supermarket shelves alongside the normal KitKat flavor for quite some time.
Stay tuned for more Japan KitKat flavors as I have a cupboard full.