The Technoodling editors were recently gifted with a shopping bag full of Kit Kat chocolate bars from Japan.

Mmmm, you might say. As did we. Did you know that Japan has had over 80 different Kit Kat flavors to date? Neither did we, and now we have 12 of them to try! Oh goody! Some of them are even region-specific, meaning you need to be in a certain part of Japan to be able to buy them. Didn’t know that either! And did you know that there was such a thing as sweet potato (i.e. kamote) Kit Kat? NEITHER DID WE. Err. More on that later.

So in the interest of science, and in a somewhat demented attempt to entertain our readership, we now bring you the Technoodling Japanese Kit Kat Taste Test.

In attendance today: Jason, our fearless leader; Howard, our Managing Ed, Art, our News Editor, Charo and Allan, our talented writers, and hey, over here with the camera, it’s me, Vic, your Reviews Editor and designated photographer. Seeing as I had a massive cold and hacking cough, I was probably not in the best condition to be doing a taste test – or sharing food with other people, come to think of it.

As suggested by a knowledgeable friend of Technoodling, the editors first procured a pack of Skyflakes crackers and a couple of bottles of mineral water with which we would cleanse our palates after every flavor. Our friend also suggested that we sample the flavors from lightest to darkest. Good advice. We forgot to do that.

We assembled all the bright, colorful Kit Kat packets on the table for us to admire (and for me to photograph).Which variant shall reign supreme? Let’s go to the group shot and meet our contenders.

A cursory inspection of the packaging tipped us off as to what we had in store. Ok, these look like apples, those look like blueberries. Oh wait, what is THIS supposed to be? Being the geeks that we are, we tried using Google Goggles to translate a couple of the mysterious ideograms but were rebuffed. Hmmm. As we stood there in frustration, someone (I think it was Allan) quietly pointed out that almost all of the packs had English wordings on the edges. Oh, okay then. Carry on.

Here are our findings, arranged from upper left to lower right.

The first row:

Brown Sugar Kinako Kit Kat

• Charo: Tastes like regular Kit Kat. Smells weird. What flavor is this?
• Howard: Ang baho. Smells like Cow Label. Tastes familiar, I can’t place it.
• Vic: I think it’s brown sugar. Or muscovado.
• Jason: YOU’RE RIGHT!! Amazing, Vic. Even with a cold… even with a significant handicap. How did you do it?
• Vic: There’s a picture of brown sugar on the label.

Orange Kit Kat

• Charo:  The color is so cuuute!
• Allan: It’s so fragrant! It smells like … Sugus! But not chewy.
• Jason: I’m giving away my age but it tastes like Goya Orange Chocolate Bar.
• Howard: Sugus nga, pare.
• Art: Do our readers know what Sugus is?
• Vic: This is only the second flavor right? I think we should be eating just a little bite and not one bar each (burp)

Annin-dofu (Almond Jelly) Kit Kat

• Howard: It smells like … Gloria Maris.
• Art: Mmm. This is good. Sarap.
• Vic: Oooh. This is good. It’s not just almond, it’s almond JELLY.
• Jason: Nice. Pleasant. I like this.
• Charo: So far, this is my number one. Interesting.
• Allan: (chomp chomp chomp)

Purple Sweet Potato Kit Kat (Okinawa Limited)

• Vic: It sounds suspiciously like a term of endearment.
• Charo: Yes, and for a guy …. (rest of comment censored)
• Howard: Purple! Ooh it looks like Play-Doh! I love eating Play-Doh. *awkward silence*
• Charo: It doesn’t taste like much. Just tastes like wafer. With a slight aftertaste.
• Art: Doesn’t taste like anything really. Very subtle.
• Vic: It tastes like eating Kit Kat  … while drinking a Quickly.
• Jason: Ahh yes. Taro. That’s it!
• Allan: (chomp chomp chomp)

Red Bean (Azuki) Kit Kat

• Art: Hmm. It’s white. I was expecting it to be red. Smells savory.
• Charo: I was expecting mungbean. But it does taste like soybean.
• Vic: I can’t taste anything. It just tastes like white chocolate to me. I think my cold is kicking in.

Shinshu Apple Kit Kat

• Charo: Oh wow. You really smell it, even from far away.
• Vic: I don’t smell anythi … OH WOW.
• Howard: Amoy C2! LOL
• Jason: It’s really apple-y. I don’t taste the chocolate. The scent really carries it.

Stay tuned to Technoodling for the next installment, where we tackle Kit Kats in blueberry, wasabi, and … (ominous music) kamote!

But for now – have a break.

Vic

Vic spends entirely too much on gadgets. So rather than try and kick the habit, he decided to become the Reviews Editor of Technoodling. Now, he has a perfectly good excuse. It's not an addiction: it's a job. His favorite noodle: Pappardelle.

email: vic@technoodling.netwebsite: http://www.technoodling.net