This is a topic that has reached many blogs in recent years, the crazy funky flavours of Japanese Kit Kats. The greatest blog effort I have come across is “Jen Ken’s Kit Kat Blog”, not just a page but an entire blog dedicated to those “out there” Japanese Kit Kats (a blog which after several years of going strong seems to have waned??). But as I, like many visitors to Japan, have been intrigued by the odd assortment of flavours, it would be remiss of me not to cover it in my blog.
Kit-Kats were introduced by the Rowntree company and are now made by Nestle, everywhere except the USA, because they are always different in the USA…
Kit Kat’s have a great history. The original four-finger bar was apparently developed after a worker at Rowntree's York Factory put a suggestion in a recommendation box for a snack that "a man could take to work in his pack". The bar launched on 29 August 1935, under the title of "Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp" (priced at 2d), and was sold in London and throughout Southern England. The name Kit Kat originated in the late 17th century in London. A literary & political club frequently met at a pie shop, owned by pastry chef Christopher Catling. The group called itself the Kit Kat club, using an abbreviated version of the owner's name.
In the 18th century the group met in different locations but were regulars on The Strand, a street in central London which is now occupied by the famous restaurant, Simpsons-in-the-Strand. For reasons that have been lost in time, the Rowntree company trademarked the name “Kit Kat” around 1911, but did not use the name until the 1930’s.
Japanese Kit Kats
Back in the early 2000’s a Japanese work colleague returned from a trip home with several individual Kit Kat packets as gifts. I was given the Orange flavoured Kit Kat.
The first Japanese Kit Kat I was introduced to 10+ odd years ago
Lemon Kit Kat (Valentine’s Day Edition)
The next time I came across a funky Japanese Kit Kat was several years later in a Japanese grocery store in Sydney. IT was a Lemon Kit Kat released for Valentines day and on the back of the box of four fingers there was space to write your Valentines message to the intended recipient of the chocolate gift.
Apple Kit Kat
Golden Citrus Blend Kit Kat (Shikoku Regional Edition)
Chilli Kit Kat
Sakura Matcha Kit Kat
Yawata Five Spice Kit Kat (Nagano Regional Edition)
Strawberry Cheesecake (Yokohama Regional Edition)
Soy Sauce Kit Kat
A regional variety, this is actually one of my favourites. Soy Sauce can of course be sweet – think Indonesian style Kecap Manis – a thick sweet soy sauce. To me, the Soy Sauce Kit Kat tasted very much like Kecap Manis. It was a pleasant surprise and much nicer then you would probably imagine.
Royal Milk Tea Kit Kat
Good ol’ Royal Milk Tea, complete with a Scottish Tartan pattern on the box! The flavour of this one was also surprising, surprisingly pleasant. It was almost Earl Grey-ish but not quite. Definitely a milky tea flavour and o the list as another of my favourites.
Ginger Ale Kit Kat
Once again the flavour surprised me. It almost felt like it was fizzing in your mouth and was unmistakably Ginger Ale. Another one for the favourite list.
Hokkaido Melon Kit Kat (Hokkaido Regional Edition)
Strawberry Kit Kat
Blueberry Cheese Cake Kit Kat
Wasabi Kit Kat
| PUDDING/DESSERT |
| Tiramasu |
| Tiramasu and Green Tea |
| Pumpkin Cheesecake |
| Framboise (Milk & Raspberry Cheesecake) |
| Lemon Cheesecake |
| Blueberry Cheescake ** |
| Caramel Pudding |
| Custard Pudding |
| Mango Pudding |
| Annin Dofu (Almond Tofu Dessert) |
| SWEETS |
| Salt and Caramel |
| Black Sugar |
| Brown Sugar |
| Bubblegum |
| Black Honey (Molasses?) |
| COFFEE |
| Caramel Macchiato |
| Cafe Latte |
| Espresso |
| Milk Coffee |
| Capuccino |
| COOKIES |
| Cookies and Cream |
| Cookies and Milk |
| Cookie Plus (Cookie Crumbs) |
| Cookies and Chocolate |
| Dark Chocolate with Cookies |
| STRAWBERRY |
| Strawberry ** |
| Strawberry Hazelnut |
| Bitter Strawberry |
| Sparkling Strawberry |
| Strawberry Tart |
| Strawberry Shortcake |
| Strawberry & Cranberry |
| Triple Berry (Strawberry, Blueberry, Cranberry) |
| Strawberry and Nuts |
| Strawberry and Chocolate |
| Strawberry and Potato |
| Strawberry and Milk |
| Smooth Strawberry |
| Tsubeu Strawberry (freeze dried strawberry bits |
| POTATO |
| Baked Potato |
| Yellow Potato |
| Daigaku imo (Candied Sweet Potato) |
| Kawagoe Baked Sweet Potato |
| Yakiimo Grilled Sweet Potato |
| Purple Sweet Potato |
| Roasted Sweet Potato |
|
|
| FRUIT |
| Muscat of Alexandria Grapes |
| Watermelon |
| Watermelon and Salt |
| Hokkaido Ubari Melon ** (+ Canteloupe + Ubari Chocolate) |
| Cherry |
| Apple ** |
| Creamy Apple |
| Apple and Carrot |
| Mango |
| Peach |
| Golden Peach |
| White Peach |
| Kiwifruit |
| Pineapple |
| Banana |
| Choco-Banana |
| Le Lectier (a pear variety) |
| Blueberry |
| Raspberry |
| Raspberry & Passionfruit |
| Pickled Plum |
| Hascapp (Japanese Berry) |
| Mixed Juice |
| Fruit Parfait |
| Exotic Tokyo (Mixed Fruit) |
| Exotic Kansai (lemon, passionfruit, sour orange, ginger) |
| CITRUS |
| Orange ** |
| Bitter Orange |
| Sour Orange |
| Yozu Koshu (Citrus & Chilli) |
| Orange Creme |
| Brandy and Orange |
| Mikan (Mandarin) |
| Lemon ** |
| Marugoto Lemon |
| VEGETABLE |
| Grilled Corn |
| Pumpkin |
| Cucumber |
| Aloe Vera |
| Aloe Vera Yoghurt |
| Beet |
| Itoen Juu-jitsu Yasai (Enriched Vegetable Flavour) |
| Vegetable Juice |
| VINEGAR |
| Apple Vinegar |
| Lemon Vinegar |
| FLOWER ETC |
| Maple |
| White Maple |
| Cherry Blossom |
| Winter Cherry Blossom |
| Rose |
| SPICE |
| Wasabi |
| Chilli |
| Five Spice ** |
| English Mustard |
| CHEESE |
| Cheese |
| Petit Cheese |
| European Cheese |
| NUTS |
| Chestnut |
| Almond |
| Bitter Almond |
| Hazelnut Cream |
| TEA |
| Jasmine Tea |
| Roasted Tea |
| Green Tea |
| Green Tea with Milk |
| Green Tea with Milk & Red Bean |
| Green Tea & Kinako (Toasted Soy Flour) |
| “Air In” Green Tea (Aero Bar Style) |
| Creamy Green Tea |
| Earl Grey |
| Black Tea |
| Ice Tea |
| BEANS & SOY |
| Azuki Bean (Red Bean) |
| Red Bean Soup |
| Vanilla Bean |
| Miso |
| Endamame Zunda (Mashed Endamame Bean) |
| Kinako (Toasted Soy Flour) |
| Black Sugar and Kinako (Toasted Soy Flour) |
| Kinako & Ohagi (Toasted Soy Flour /Rice Puff) |
|
|
|
|
| CHOCOLATE |
| Relaxing Chocolate (Semi-Dark Chocolate) |
| Adult Chocolate (Dark Chocolate) |
| White Chocolate |
| Semi-Sweet Chocolate |
| Mild-Bitter Chocolate |
| Melt-in-your-Mouth Chocolate |
| Chocolate Fudge |
| “Air In” White (Aero Bar Style) |
| Bitter and White Chocolate (Alternate Bitter and White) |
| Midnight Eagle (White) |
| 61% Cocoa |
| 72% Cocoa |
| Soy Milk Chocolate |
| Creamier Chocolate |
| Exotic Hokkaido (Creamy Milk) |
|
|
| SODA & DRINKS |
| Soda (Lemonade/Ramune) |
| Umeshu Soda (Plum Liqueur & Soda) |
| Cola & Lemon Squash |
| Sports Drink |
| Calpis (a Lemon Soft Drink) |
| Ginger Ale ** |
| Chocolatier Wine |
| Butter |
| Crimson |
| Whole Wheat |
| Hot Cakes |
| French Rock Salt |
| French Bretagne Milk flavor |
| Nasu Highland Milk |
| yoghurt |
So you want to buy some Japanese Kit Kats?
Well of course the simplest way to buy these funky Kit Kats is to travel to Japan! At major airport and JR train stations there are stores selling the biggest variety of variants, however there is no central location selling every single available variety, especially as some of the minor regional variants are restricted to that specific variation.
Probably the most well known Japanese pop culture e-commerce site is J-Box (www.jbox.com). J-Box is part of the larger J-List site, J-List has adult content, where as J-Box is safe for all. .This is the site I have used to purchase some varieties when I was not able to travel to Japan
A fairly comprehensive Asian grocery/food site, also mentioned on my recent Kaya post is VeryAsia.com. They seem to have a fairly good range of Japanese Kit Kats available on line.
Then of Course there is Nestle Japan’s own site. There is an “e-shop” but it’s all Japanese and for the non-Japanese speaker its difficult to navigate
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