20061103

another collective of kitkats.

kit kat pumpkin

so, this year's h'ween attendance was middling, but it's not like these were ever in the candy cauldron anyway: a plethora of kitkats for your perusal.

kit kat white kit kat cappuccino

from indonesia: white kitkat, and cappuccino flavour. both quite rightly avoid the word "chocolate" on the packaging. about one-third smaller than the american sized bars, and both with an almost grainy, malted aftertaste, much like milo. what is milo, anyway? a malted grain drink? there you go. sort of plasticky, but not unpleasant. candyblog has a better review of the cappuccino one.

from the united states: kitkat minis, in milk, white, and dark chocolates. i rather like these individual two-bite bars. the chocolate coating used in american kitkats has always bothered me--it's too sweet to the point of harshness--but the dark chocolate's earthiness seems to compensate for that. the dark ones are always the first to go. the white ones taste, um, white. milky, sweet, like condensed milk. the milk chocolate ones are basically mini versions of the traditional american bar, the one i've come to dislike, but somehow in mini-form, they seem benign. maybe it's because they are in pink wrappers.



kit kat milkshake kit kat crispy

the kitkat extra crispy is one of those large single bars, and isn't so much extra crispy as super crunchy. when i think of crispy, i think of light and somewhat wispy, but biting through one of these is like inviting a marching band into your head-- CRONKBOOMSHAKALAKACRONK. errrr. the ratio of chocolate to wafer is different, with far more wafer, which actually works in favour of the bar. however, you could make yourself deaf. teresa so kindly sent me a milkshake bar, which i actually liked quite a lot--it was like eating the cookie/biscuit equivalent of a malt ball, only less sweet and more malty. so far the only american bar that i really like.

kit kat bites kit kat temptations

mon kitkat aussie: the chocolate used in the australian bars is better than the american bars, imo, much smoother, creamier, and less cloyingly sweet. the kitkat bites, which were like biscuitty pellets with chocolate coating were very good, just enough per bite for it to actually taste like chocolate, just enough crunch. there is a line of kitkats called temptations, and in this particular version of that, there are humps, my humps, lovely non-lady humps of filling like hazelnut praline, coconut, and caramel fudge. i think in theory it's a genius move, but in practice, it's just sort of okay. like eating a two candy bars at once, only one of the bars is way better than the other and dragging the good one down.

kit kats japanese

she who eats is she who sent these lovely japanese bars to me: strawberry, white chocolate/maple syrup, and wine, from patîssier takagi. there's a particular fake strawberry flavour i associate with japanese candies, and this strawberry bar has it. it's not unpleasant, but it tastes less like berry than it does like pink. this bar tastes pink. the wine bar is almost indistinguishable from the strawberry bar, the only difference is that it has a very subtly grapey aftertaste. however, as one of the limited edition patîssier takagi 'kats, the couverture coating is a higher grade than the typical japanese kitkat, which can easily be described as either plasticky, greasy, or if you like it (like i generally do), extra creamy. the white bar has a very pleasant lingering maple note that doesn't add too much extra sweetness to the white chocolate.

kit kat chestnut kit kat maccha

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i just want to let you know, i didn't try all of these at once, they were sampled throughout the year....also, how long does it normally take you to write a post? because this one is taking ages.
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where was i? ah, chestnut. was chestnutty. very sweet. green tea maccha. i defer to candyblog. bitter (dark chocolate), and white (milk). havena tried them yet, will get back to you. uji-kintoki, not green tea, but with green tea as a component, along with red bean, condensed milk, and presumably not shaved ice. well, at least i didn't taste it. verrrry subtle, more beany that tea-ey. very sweet.

kit kat bitter/white kit kat uji kintoki

and oh, yes, the pumpkin kitkat (photo at top of post). hm. how do i put this? at once completely repellent, and compelling at the same time. NOT to be mistaken for pumpkin pie flavour, the smell of pumpkin assails you the minute you rip open the wrapper. the flavour tastes like real pumpkin, not artificial, but is so strong and so unspiced, it's like eating raw pumpkin covered in chocolate. only not as pleasant. it reminds me of kabocha squash tenpura. wrapped in greasy chocolate. mmmmmmMMMM. and the lingering squashy taste only makes me crave it more. gaaaaaah.

and finally, another patîssier takagi creation, noir: tiny half-sized fingers wrapped in a quality dark chocolate and dusted with unsweetened cocoa. dirty and decadent.

kit kat noir

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in its honour, a man that cooks creation, kitkat noir:

I knew the wrapper would come off and I was mad for trying but something about that chocolate just said yes. When I came around Benny the Fink's goons were making with my jaw like it was their step-kid.

...and there she was, that beautiful dame with the gams that went up to her elbows, laughing like a drain. at me, and my kisser filled with blood, and 71% dark cacao. it was revenge for tooting the wrong ringer, as bittersweet as the dusty layer of cocoa, smeared on my rearranged map, courtesy of benny's trouble boys.

feel free to continue the flickr fiction in the comments. or not.

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last year's kitkats!

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20 comments:

I cannot keep Kitkat bites in my house because I will eat the whole bag. I feel that the Kitkat cookie dough is worth trying though it only comes in the 'chunky' version.

I had no idea there were so many Kit Kats. I just go for the Kit Kat Klassic, cuz that's all I've every noticed.

Kit Kats = me like! The original is the best, but the "chunky" version is also worth trying I think. / Josefine from Sweden

A girl after my own heart!

I adored Kitkats (and Pocky) growing up. The original, of course. I don't love it as much as I used to, but I admit to having a bar once in a while.

Holy Moly - that's a big kitkat roundup. It's tasty work, isn't it!

Hey you aren't too bad yourself dollface.

Ten years slinging hash at a run down diner got me nothing but debt and a sauced up wife's cutty sark habit to support. So when someone offers you a kitkat you don't ask too many questions.

WOW - so many kitkat versions!
and all those flavours...(!)
nice write-up - and what did you do with all of them??? ;)

where did you get all those kitkats?! just had 2 mini kitkats for my breakfast.

hi leigh, i'm pretty good about not scarfing them down. i don't think i want to try the cookie dough one, but i'm interested in trying the honeycomb one.

acornbud, i wish i liked the chocolate better on the american ones. too sweet for me.

josefine, there seems to be two chunky versions, one smaller than the other. i think i like the smaller one better!

hi pim! i don't think i liked kitkat so much when i was growing up, but did love pocky. now that i'm older i appreciate the kitkat more :)

cybele, i don't know how you do it!

anthony, er, i'll have to get back to this, after my mid-morning coffee....

rainbow, i actually like the coconut one. the plain kitkats from the states rank really low for me. just don't like the chocolate. i much prefer the plain ones from australia and the uk.

hi julia! i usually try one or two bars, then share them with my friends and family. i'm good that way :D

hi ana! i bought the malaysian ones from the philippines, the australian and american ones here on guam, and the japanese ones were given to me by friends and family. they're good that way :D

Oh my god, who would've thought that such a simple chocolate coated wafer could have so many different varieties!

Here in the states the candy companies are slow to get innovative. In the last year or so we've seen more variations on familiar themes and the Malt KitKat was one of the strangest.

I think it's too malty but Americans don't drink malt like other people do. I opened the package and was almost bowled over by the malty kick. I put it on the table and could still smell it from across the room.

:O Look at all those Kit Kats~! I had no idea there was such a variety of them since I've only ever eaten the regular one I see in candy stores. ^^;;; I am so jealous.

A friend of mine brought back a few honeydew kit-kats from HK a few months ago, and I was priveledged enough to be given half of one. The smeel practically filled the (small) room when the wrapper was torn open, and the "chocolate" covering was the colour of rockmelon flesh. I suspect that it was supposed to be coloured white chocolate, but I couldn't tell it apart from edible plastic.

Not surprisingly, it was very sweet, but it also had a very strong taste of honeydew. It had that chemical element of artificial flavouring, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant.

I will see if I can get ahold of one to send to you, since I've never actually seen them (even in the Asian stores) here in Australia.

They just don't know when to stop do they. Although I hope they keep going with the wacky flavours, its always interesting finding a new one.

I gave out the American ones this Halloween(in Maine). Other people liked the white ones. I hate the regular ones so I saved the dark chocolate ones for myself.

ellie, i think the american versions can only play with the different flavours and colours because the parent company doesn't want to create different moulds for the limited editions. it looks like the european and australian versions come from completely new molds which is really quite cool.

swoof, i didn't have quite that experience my milkshake bar, but yes, i suppose it is quite strong for american palates. i really liked it, it reminded me of necco wafers and horlicks tablets.

yukari, sometimes you find kitkats at the strangest places. i hear in los angeles the best place to find the limited edition ones are at the 99 cent store!

nick, hmmm, i think a candyswap is in the horizon....

jen, the latest one i'm anticipating has kinoko (soybean powder) and ume (sour plum) in it, so no, they really don't know when to stop!

mary jane, i'm with you, the regular ones are just meh.

I never dreamed there were so many types of Kit Kats; I've only seen the bland, regular kind. The cappuccino flavor sound great. Sorry I didn't show up at your house on Halloween.

hi! i just saw new kitkats here at watson's here in mall of asia! there's coconut eclair, caramel fudge and hazelnut praline. all three are variations of kitkat temptations. just holler if you want me to send them to you :) - mariel

So, here at the home of the original KitKat (York) sitting in my apartement that is ina building which used to be the original Rowntrees cocoa warehouse, all I can say is: I prefer the original. But when you are downwind of the factory....

I went to Guam and back in a week and went through Japan. I bought Red Bean Kit Kat and Strawberry Flavours...and then was pleasantly surprised to catch up on your blog and stumble into this one. How appropriate! I was bummed I didn't find any White Chocolate KitKat in Narita...the Japanese version is way creamier than ours.