If you've ever been in South Korea or Japan, one of the surprising things you might notice is how much melons cost at supermarkets. It's insane! And wow, do they love their melons. The Yubari King Melon is a cantaloupe variety from Hokkaido which sells for $50 - $100 in Japanese department stores, and now there's a regional limited edition KitKat as well.

This colorful box contains four full-size bars, wrapped in pairs. I usually tend to prefer the more elegant box designs, but this one is just so warm and happy and gaudy that I can't help but like it. Which is interesting, because you never hear about Hokkaido being warm at all. Snow, yes, and sheep. Wild sheep chases. And sheep men.

Anyway!

One thing that Nestle does really well is that first whiff of fragrance when you tear open the foil wrapping. This one is no exception, with a bright, clearly identifiable melon aroma. The color is a little strange, a rich reddish-brown, with little hints of bright orange near the corners. Texture-wise, the chocolate seems a little firmer, waxier maybe, than other Japanese KitKats I've had recently.

Biting in, the taste is really quite nice, an initial hit of milk chocolate giving way to a pretty spot-on cantaloupe flavor. I have to comment on the size as well: it's been so long since I had a full-size KitKat that I'd forgotten how much bigger they are! Having that much more helped me appreciate the flavor in a way that's hard with, say, a tiny petit-sized bar.

My only gripe was a lingering aftertaste that turned a bit unpleasant after a minute or so. You might want to chase these with a glass of water.

By the way, there was a time I would've thought this was the grossest thing ever. When I was young I actually used to gag on the flavor of honeydew and cataloupe. Can you imagine? Luckily, this is one of those things that has gotten better as I get older. Mmm, melons.

More Japanese KitKats.

The best thing about John Hodgman's audiobook for More Information Than You Require is when he silently shifts gears from random fake trivia to introspection, and these bits of beauty just emerge, almost in spite of his efforts. Sure, the funny stuff is amusing, but it's when you suddenly realize he's distilled some universal truth from a seemingly cheap anecdote that you become aware there's something else going on entirely. And while you're reeling from that punch in the gut, Jonathan Coulton starts singing "The Battle of Galactica."

So, I just heard his "Slingshot" piece from This American Life (you can listen here), and if you want that entire earlier paragraph in concentrate form (minus Coulton), well, that's that. You're welcome.

In other news, I just logged onto my library's web site, clicked a button and had 1Q84 beamed to my Kindle for 21 days, for free. How cool is that? And I should probably mention here that KCLS also has the More Information audiobook for digital download, too. Which, you know. Just do it already.

This entry is totally for David, who is constantly reminding me that he's been waiting for me to get around to these.

So I've finally found the Men's Pocky of KitKats -- now with less gender stereotyping! "Otona no amasa" means "adult sweetness," which will probably never, ever get less awkward to type. It at least definitely takes the prize for naughtiest-sounding flavor to date. One's got a white chocolate coating, the other dark chocolate, but the common element is that between the wafers there are layers of dark chocolate cookie. It's actually texturally very pleasant! I don't remember the Cookies+ flavors well enough to compare, but I seem to recall they were a similar kind of thing.

The dark variety is very nice -- not as bitter as the Semisweet flavor. Just a nice dark chocolate coating, but paired with the cookie layers the effect is of a very subdued sweetness and two distinct but harmonious chocolate flavors.

The coating of the white, on the other hand, seems to be the same as the standard white chocolate KitKat. However, it also pairs well with the cookie filling to create an overall, nicely balanced sweetness. I thought it was interesting to compare this flavor with the recently-sampled Cookies & Cream; despite my expectations, the coatings really didn't have much in common other than color. That other flavor also had cookie crumbs mixed into the coating, which was a nice effect, while this one pretty much evoked straight cocoa butter rather than something more dairy-like.

And may I just say the way that the cookie part crunches in the mouth is really satisfying? Funny how a little thing like that makes these tiny bars seem so much more substantial.

Nestle seems to consider these flavors to be a thing, since I've seen them in all sorts of packaging: a standard box containing four full-size bars, a slightly larger box containing six mini bars, and a large bag containing twenty-six mini bars (all wrapped in pairs). Maybe these flavors will stick around for the long haul? I hope so.

Maybe in a related note, you might be able to find these locally, more easily than usual. I've seen them at all three Uwajimaya locations in the Seattle area, which usually don't get any interesting KitKat flavors. So keep an eye out.

Happy, David? ♥

More Japanese KitKats.

Picture, caption, picture, caption seems to be what this blog is becoming, lately. I guess if you don't join tumblr, tumblr joins you. Apparently!

I know, I know, ALL THE KITKATS!

More Japanese KitKats.

Two weeks ago, my friend Dom sent me a photo from Japan of some store's giant KitKat display and the caption "Try to contain yourself." He offered to get me a box of something and I honestly picked one because it looked like it had a picture of Pedobear on it.

An hour later, I got this message:

"Sweet Jesus, the hotcakes flavor is AMAZING. It might be the best candy bar I've had anywhere ever. I got an assortment of flavors, but I wish I'd just gotten five boxes of these. It will take every ounce of restraint I have, but I'll make sure these survive the trip home and send you a couple."

Bless his soul, because today the mailbox contained possibly the most adorable candy packaging I've ever seen. Also, not Pedobear.

So, Rilakkuma is a San-X character who loves hotcakes and relaxing. I imagine that means he likes Suntory whiskey too, but that's not explicitly stated on his wikipedia entry. The box is an hexagonal solid made of corrugated cardboard, much thicker than any other KitKat box I've run across. Originally it contained twelve wrapped sets of two standard issue mini bars. I wonder if they've ever made a Tarepanda-themed KitKat flavor? Please say the answer is yes.

The entire thing is infused with cuteness. Example:

Flavorwise, they're really, really good! Opening the foil you get a big whiff of butter and pancake syrup. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to describe it as maple, but it does have the caramelized flavor of a dark syrup. Flavor-wise, it's spot on. The white chocolate-based coating is very sweet, as usual, but it fits with the flavor this time. I might be imagining things, but I think they've cut the sweetness in the wafer section, because it evokes hotcake batter very well (and contrasts nicely with the coating). Also, butter! I've been wanting to try a buttery KitKat for a long time, ever since reading about baked potato KitKats (omg, someone please hook a sister up!). All I can say is: I approve.

Sorry this didn't materialize as the promised Adult Sweetness* entry. I just couldn't wait.

Also! Yesterday was the seven year anniversary of my very first KitKat entry. Light a candle, okay?

* that will never feel less weird to type.

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Half of the take from Candyland this weekend:

So now we have yet another KitKat form factor. The box describes these as "mini mini" bars, and there are six wrapped pairs inside. Let me illustrate the difference between these and the fairly common "mini" bars, which you can usually find boxed in sets of three or bagged in larger quantities. Here, the brown, "adult sweetness" dark bars are mini, and the pink strawberry tarte bars are mini mini.

Wrapped:

Unwrapped:

(If you want to compare against your standard full-size bar, those tend to run between 100 - 110 kcals per pair)

This is maybe the sixth different shape of Japanese KitKat I've run across. If there's interest, I can maybe do a photo comparison of all of them together! I think I may have them all at hand.

At any rate, the first thing to notice is the "Le Patissier Takagi" logo in the upper right of the box. The last time I saw that was on the yummy Wine and Noir flavors from 2005. Takagi-san is a premier confectioner in Tokyo and it looks like Nestle is happily continuing its association with him. I really, really loved Wine, so I was super excited, even if this was the millionth strawberry flavor they've done.

Well, that familiarity did play against it a little. I mean, there's only so many ways you can do such a familiar flavor, but this managed to be pretty tasty nonetheless. The white chocolate base held a nice, rounded strawberry flavor and a vanilla-y, custard-y finish. I was still hoping for more complexity, or maybe a textural thing between the wafers to hint at a tartlet shell, but couldn't detect any. Oh, well -- still, I enjoyed it.

Next up: sakura matcha latte! And I still haven't dug into the Motherlode yet.

More Japanese KitKats.