The Kit Kat is one of the worlds best selling chocolate bars. You are probably aware of the range of Kit Kats sold in shops in the West, but did you know there are lots more variations and flavours available. The Japanese Kit Kat comes in many versions. From green tea, raspberry, strawberry to Azuki Sandwich (sweet red bean to you and me).
The Background of the Japanese Kit Kat
When Japanese people travel, it is customary to bring their loved ones back a local souvenir. Now big companies, such as Nestle, have taken advantage of this custom and created their own local souvenirs. The Japanese KitKat flavours are inspired by different regions of Japan.
These flavours of Japanese Kit Kat are famous throughout Japan for their exclusivity and how their flavours reflect the famous foods of the region where they are sold. And now you can buy some of these exclusive flavours in the UK.
Here are some examples of Japanese Kit Kat available to you.
Wasabi Kit Kat
This bar is a from the Shizuoka area of Japan, and wasabi is chosen as a flavour because that area is known for its wasabi.
Wasabi is often used in things like ice cream, yookan (a sort of jellied bean paste loaf), and other sweets in addition to its more common use in things like sushi and savory dipping sauces.
As you take your first bite you instantly get the sweetness of white chocolate followed by a sense wasabi without the heat.
As you get further in to the bar the wasabi taste gets stronger. You only get a tiny bit of wasabi heat after you have finished the bar.
Azuki Sandwich Kit Kat
The Azuki is a red bean and often eaten in a toasted sandwich. It originates from the Chukyo region and can be found on the Menu in many Japanese cafés.
The outside of this Japanese KitKat is covered in the normal chocolate and only on the inside is the redbean flavor prominent. So at first, it tastes like a regular KitKat but after a few seconds the red bean flavour starts coming through. The red bean flavour is subtle and doesn’t overwhelm the entire KitKat. Texture wise, it’s exactly the same as a regular KitKat.
Purple Sweet Potato Kit Kat
The Purple Sweet Potato flavoured Japanese Kit Kat comes from Okinawa (where Mr Miyagi comes from).
Purple sweet potatoes really are purple – inside and out – and so is this Kit Kat. It smells strongly of sweet potatoes and with sweet potato flavour in the chocolate and creme it achieves a nice sweet potato taste as well.
Amaou Strawberry Kit Kat
The Amaou Strawberry flavour Japanese Kit Kat gives you the flavour of a really nice strawberry milkshake. This is probably the best flavour Japanese Kit Kat we have tried.
Sake Kit Kat
This flavour of Japanese Kit Kat has the combination of creamy, light wafers with the intensely sweet and complex flavour of umeshu plum wine, or ‘ume sake’. Made by steeping fresh Japanese ume plums in alcohol, then soaking it through the KitKat wafer and coating in a smooth white chocolate,
Experience the elegant, refined flavour of Japanese sake enveloped in the gentle sweetness of white chocolate with this limited edition gift box of sake flavoured Japanese KitKat. Brought to you by Nestlé and Masuda brewery, these KitKat have the same light, melt-in-your-mouth wafer core you’d expect, only with an infusion of Masuda’s clean, gentle ‘Karakuchi‘ sake and a coating of soothing white chocolate.
Green Tea Kit Kat
These bars are covered in a green coloured white chocolate made with real matcha green tea. A sweet first bite followed by a refreshing bitter tea after-taste. These are very popular!
What are your thoughts?
Delicious or weird, you decide. But, you can’t deny the great idea behind the unique flavours of the Japanese Kit Kat. Maybe Nestle should make Kit Kats based on local British delicacies….Cornish pasty flavour anyone? Let us know in the comments section below.
