KitKat Sakura Maccha

Sakura, I’m sure you already know, is cherry blossom, and maccha is special powdered green tea.

And I hate to be cynical, but seeing as Nestlé Japan are, I’ll play too.

There’s such a thing as over-egging the cake.  Gilding the lily.  Mashing two national treasures together for no reason other than to shift product.

As we’ve seen before, Nestlé Japan like to bang that cherry blossom drum.  And we haven’t been short of maccha editions either.

And what you get when you put them both together is neither.  It certainly tastes of both, but why?  Like opera and freefall skydiving – you may love each individually, but I can’t think of a single reason to force them together.

KitKat Uji Maccha

You’d’ve thought a good green tea KitKat would be the business, but it was a bad day for KitKats when we tested this one.  Last of a bad group on a boiling hot day, and I was jonesing for some real chocolate by this stage, so it just didn’t hit the spot.

Test conditions aside, it’s probably as good as past efforts.

KitKat Tiramisu & Maccha Tiramisu

Presumably these single fingers are market testers, like the recent strawberry and blueberry cheesecake ones, to be followed later by more substantial packs.

The Maccha (powdered green tea) Tiramisu is quite subtle and creamy, like a maccha latte.  The Tiramisu has a rich coffee and cocoa aroma.  Both are sublime, choosing a favourite will simply come down to whether you’re a tea or a coffee person.

KitKat Uji Maccha Itoh Kyuemon

Green Tea flavour, in conjunction with, or maybe just advertising Itoh Kyuemon, the famous Kyoto tea and sweets shop.

KitKat Kyoto Uji Maccha

Another regional special omiyage edition from our special correspondent. Unfortunately for me, these green tea KitKats proved immensely popular in our house, so they didn’t last long. You can’t go wrong with green tea though.

KitKat Torokeru Zeitaku Uji Maccha

A green tea all poshed up, along the lines of the exceedingly posh Brandy & Orange from April. Nice, and all that, but these editions are more expensive than the usual jobs.

KitKat Maccha Milk

If the original green tea KitKat wasn’t delicious enough for you, here’s Maccha Milk. The milk not only gives it a cool, creamy texture, it also takes the edge off the green tea bitterness.

I’ve been everywhere to find this. That gold stamp on the box roughly translates as “in frustratingly short supply”.

KitKat Koshian Maccha

Koshian is a kind of red bean paste confection. Not my cup of tea at all, sweet beans. But in fact this Kat tastes pretty much like the original green tea KitKat (though much lighter green in colour), but possibly even a little creamier. Handy big bag too.

KitKat Chocolatier

KitKat Chocolatier Maccha & Kinako
KitKat Chocolatier Strawberry & Nuts

Warning: TAKAGI may cause inflated claims and disappointment

Yes, Patissier Takagi’s back, people, so it’s time to don your protective anti-marketing specs. These are “Premium-type KitKats for adults”, he says. In the green corner, “Ujimaccha, Kinako, Ume, selected by Patissier TAKAGI”. Aaaand in the pink corner, “Strawberry, Pistachio, Almond, Thyme, selected by Patissier TAKAGI”.

*sigh*

Green tea. Strawberry. Not bad, but come on…

KitKat Green Tea

(The one that started me down this strange path in the first place)

High marks straight away simply for being green. More points for more than a faint hint of Caramac. But that does rather overpower any green tea flavour.