Choosing this Pocky to review was a no brainer. Even with my recent conversion to Toppo, I still love love love Pocky, especially crushed almond kind. I also love coconut—yep, I’m one of those people; if you don’t like coconut you should just stop reading now—in all shapes and sizes. Almond Joy and Mounds ranked among my most treasured halloween candies. Seattle’s Trophy Cupcakes has a triple coconut cupcake that makes me die and I love coconut milk in savory sauces. I’ve heard that there might be some positive health effects to eating coconut products, but really even if the stuff made you gain thirty pounds I’d probably eat it anyway and be fat and happy. 夏のココナッツ (Summer Coconut) Pocky is one of the best Pocky flavors I’ve tried.

The box for this Pocky is quite cute and reminds me of Hawaii. The background is a brilliant blue water design, and the name is written over red hibiscus flowers. I like the break from traditional Pocky colors and I think the design is very fresh for summer. Even though the box is the same size as original Pocky there are only sixteen sticks! On top of that, the sticks aren’t even full length, they’re about a quarter of an inch shorter then original Pocky. This is a travesty and a bit of a rip off. Is flaked coconut really so hard to come buy that they can’t at least make the sticks full length? I like the look of the Pocky even if there isn’t enough of it, the chocolate is nice and shiny, and the coconut flakes are stuck on quite well.

The taste is pure pleasure. The chocolate is sweet and milky and the coconut is smooth and flavorful. I’m not completely sold on the pretzel, but it adds a really nice crunch which compliments the chocolate and the coconut well. I think this Pocky has one of the best combinations of flavors and textures on the market. If you like coconut, you will love this Pocky.

I’m really happy that I bought this Pocky, and I think it’s one of Glico’s best offerings. I’m a little sad that it’s limited edition, but I think I might stash some in the freezer to save for a rainy day. I think this tropical twist on an old favorite is a great way to kick off summer. For those of you unable to get your hands on Coconut Pocky, I bet you could make something very similar with original Pocky, coconut flakes, and a blow torch.

5/5

Buy Summer Coconut Pocky from napaJapan.com.

This is Pocky Watch, and we do love Pocky, but I think we should also give some credit to our favorite stick snack’s competitors. A lot of the appeal of pretzel stick chocolate seems to be its displayability during parties or when sharing with friends. Pocky sitting in a cup (flickr) has a way of looking like a delicious bouquet. Lotte’s Toppo, has a similar affect, and my first encounter with it was at a party sitting in a cup.

Toppo is basically inside out Pocky. The exterior is a thin pretzel-like shell that has a nice baked sheen. The core is a fairly generous stick of milk chocolate. Since the entire stick is pretzel on the outside, there is no “handle” at the end of the stick and the chocolate fills the whole pretzel. The box is almost identical in size to other similar products, and doesn’t really stray from the usual white, brown/black, red color scheme that most of these cookies have. Each box has two foil plastic packages, with about 12 sticks in each (24 total).

Here comes the blasphemy. I like these more then Pocky—a lot more than Pocky—possibly to the point where original Pocky has been ruined for me. Toppo has a higher chocolate to pretzel ratio then original Pocky, which I love. The exterior pretzel is extremely crisp and less breadsticky then Pocky. I also think there is more salt involved in Toppo. Pocky has a way of being kind of bland, while Toppo has a nice kick. Now I just need to worry about eating too much of it.

5/5

One of my all-time favorite go-to candies is chocolate-covered nuts. There are boxes of almonds and macadamia nuts, and both make a fantastic snack. The only problem is, they’re a little pricey—around 200 yen for just a small box–and at that price, it’s a little hard to justify such a (pardon the pun) vanilla snack, when there are more exciting treats out there. And I guess Meiji has been thinking the same thing, because they’re now spicing up their Macadamia line with some new flavors, such as today’s Praline.

Basically, what we have here is a macadamia and a half surrounded by a dome of nutty white chocolate. Each box comes with ten such candies, sitting in a tray, covered in a handsome gold foil. As a bonus, on the inside of the box’s cover is a paragraph explaining the process of roasting the macadamias to go in the chocolate…if your Japanese is a little better than mine. The box closes up nicely, but there’s no way I can eat fewer than ten of these in a single sitting.

No way, indeed, for they are absolutely delicious. I can’t think of any other candies I’ve had that had praline chocolate, but I’ll be sure to seek it out in the future. 200 yen is still a little on the pricey side, but it’s absolutely worth it when this sweet, nutty taste is involved. I’m looking forward to what other flavors Meiji chooses to infuse its chocolate with, and you should be too.

5/5

First up is the 充実野菜 (Full of Vegetables) Kit Kat from around last summer. I must admit that I skipped this one on purpose, but my coworker picked it up for me and I don’t want to be ungrateful. Plus its such a weird idea for a flavor. The flavor of the Kit Kat is based on a juice made by Ito En of the same name. The juice is a mix of vegetable and fruit juices that is supposed to be vitamin packed. The Kit Kat, though only two hundred calories per box, has no health benefits. It smells like apple juice and tastes like apples and salad. Its not bad, but the smell is overpowering and the color is off putting. I’ll stick with the juice. 1/5
Read Pretty Pretty Yum Yum’s review of Vegie Galore Kit Kat.

During the winter months in Japan it’s quite common to find vendors selling 焼きいも (roasted sweet potatoes) at events and out of the backs of trucks. I guess it was inevitable that Nestle would make a yakiimo Kit Kat. I could only find these in bags mixed with original chocolate Kit Kats. The yakiimo are super sweet, don’t smell like much, and mostly taste like vanilla frosting. As a lover of Japanese sweet potato, I found these disappointing. They are just too sweet. 1/5
Read Orchid64′s review of Yaki Imo Kit Kats.

This is the first of more recent Kit Kats (as in the last few months). ミルクコーヒー (milk coffee) Kit Kats are for those poor souls preparing for entrance exams. People outside of Japan have heard about hell-ish Japanese entrance exams through anime, movies, and news stories for a few years. I don’t know much about the process, but I will attempt to explain for anyone who doesn’t know. Schools of all grades will give exams to prospective students to weed out anyone they don’t want. I’m under the impression that the exams range in difficulty depending on the quality of the school and it’s often said that the hardest part of Japanese university is getting in (ie. passing the exam). Students in Japan will study long hours to pass their tests and are usually supported by their family and peers. Kit Kats are often given as gifts to students taking their exams and this one was specially made for the occasion.

I misplaced the picture of the actual candy, but the Kit Kat is white chocolate with a coffee cream wafer and looks almost identical to a white chocolate Kit Kat. The exterior chocolate is sweet and milky with a little bit of a yogurty tang. The wafer snuck up on me because it is extremely bitter. I think the idea is that the exterior is the milk and the interior is the coffee and the two flavors will meld in your mouth. I didn’t enjoy the contrast in flavors too much, but overall the Kit Kat was good. I have a feeling that coffee lovers will be buying up the rest of these. 3/5
Read Jen’s review of Milk Coffee Kit Kats.

桜抹茶 (Sakura Matcha) is the most recent Kit Kat to hit Shelves. I have yet to see it anywhere but Sendai Station. I was a little hesitant on this one because matcha is a flavor that can go either way. On the one hand it plays nice with sugar and loses some of its grassy flavor in sweets. On the other it can be too strong, to grainy, and too, umm well, green. I’m just going to say it: This Kit Kat is freaking amazing. The matcha is mellow and the wafer has a graham and cinnamon undertone. There is no grassy aftertaste and the chocolate and wafer are smooth. I highly recommend these to everyone, even those of you who don’t like matcha because this Kit Kat is just so different compared to other matcha incarnations. 5/5

Buy Japanese Kit Kats from Jlist.com.

I’ve had a relationship with standard Pocky since 1992. I thought we were happy. I thought I was satisfied. I’m not saying I’ve never strayed. I’ve been tempted by the novelty of jumbo Pocky, I’ve dabbled in Kinoko no Yama. But I’ve always gone back to Pocky.  I thought the combination of cookie and chocolate was perfect. But now I have opened the Pandora’s box known as Gokubuko Pocky and I’m not sure I can ever go back to the regular stuff.

I wasn’t familiar with the word “gokubuso” but from what I can gather from Google, it means superfine or extremely thin. So basically Gokubuko Pocky are the Olsen twins of the Pocky world! The sticks are about the same length as standard Pocky, but they’re much thinner – somewhere between a standard Pocky and a toothpick. They have a satisfying crunch and a fantastic mouth feel. The chocolate to cookie ratio is higher than that of the standard version since the cookie is thinner. While I never thought that was something I wanted, now that I have it, I’m not sure I can go back!

I had low expectations of this product when I picked it up at the Central Market in Shoreline, WA for $1.99.  That was mostly because I had no idea what Gokubuso meant and the photo on the front of the box wasn’t particularly helpful. But now I’m hooked. I’m thinking about writing a letter to Glico to ask them to make a Gokubuso version of Tomato Pretz! My only complaint about the product would be the overly engineered packaging. I ignored the opening instructions when I opened the package. Luckily the box contains two packs so I will have another chance to master the art of opening Pocky.

Gokuboso Pocky for the win! 5/5