Thursday, October 23, 2008

A world of Kitkats!

One thing that a lot of people don't know about me is my peculiar interest/obsession with KitKats. For almost 7 years I have traversed the globe (and of course fought Ebay battles) to collect KitKats from around the globe. Now this may seem odd to you, but perhaps you are unaware of the wondrous Kitkat flavors out of reach to you in American markets.

Have you had a lemon cheesecake Kitkat from Malaysia? A green tea Kitkat from Japan? How about Australia's Kitkat cookie dough or Kitkat Cinnamon from our friends up North in Canada? I thought not. While the U.S. is the only country where Kitkat is sold under the Hershey brand (elsewhere it is Nestle), our limited Kitkat flavors probably has more to do with global confectionary tastes than anything else. In the U.S. we love chocolate and peanut butter (hence the introduction of KitKat Peanut Butter), while in Asia palates are not quite so sweet-oriented. Combine that with the Japanese epic quest for trendiness, and you get such creations as Kitkat 'Caramel and salt'. Europeans typically enjoy more fruit, hence the UK's Kitkat 'Mango and Passionfruit' or 'Luscious Lime'

Earlier this week I got a fresh shipment from Japan, some of the contents of which I'll talk about. First up we have Kitkat Caramel Macchiato McFlurry, a joint venture between Nestle and McDonalds. It's super sweet and has a nice Starbuck's-esque caramel flavor in the white chocolate. Kitkat Green Grape Alexandria Muscat had a really interesting flavor that really did taste just like Champagne. I'm glad to see more booze-oriented Kitkats, following Kitkat Red Wine a few years back.

Kitkat Azuki Red bean, though delicious and flecked with bits of the flavoring throughout the chocolate, didn't taste like red bean paste at all. It was, however, very smooth and creamy.
Lastly was Kitkat Double Berry with Cranberry. It had a nice pink and white swirl to it, as well as a sweet, fruity flavor, Unfortunately I didn't get the cranberry taste at all. Nonetheless it is always exciting to try the latest Kitkat flavors from abroad!

2 comments:

  1. I had banana kit kat when I was in Japan. It was interesting .... not sure I liked the banana flavor! :)

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  2. Canada had a banana kitkat a few years ago, but isn't hasn't since resurfaced. I really liked it!

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