International KitKats: Australia

Well aren't these the snazziest KitKat bars? Apparently Australia has also gotten into interesting KitKats, and luckily I have great friends who have great friends! Anyway, each of these "Chunky 3" bars has three sections. Each section is the same flavor, but they're each a different texture: smooth, gooey, and crunchy.

Australia Chunky3 - Cookies & Cream (April 2014)

My friend got three different flavors, and she and I decided to pace them out. The first day, we had the cookies and cream flavor. Flavor-wise this was pretty different than cookies and cream in Japan. It was cookies and cream filling in a chocolate KitKat, whereas in Japan, it's usually white chocolate with cookie bits in it. We tried the gooey part first. It reminded me of those Cadbury cream eggs that come out at Easter. Not bad, but not the best for a KitKat. The crunchy one seemed a bit pointless, because the KitKat itself has a wafer center, which is crunchy. I have no complaints about the smooth. And really the other sections weren't bad - just a bit confusing. 

Australia Chunky3 - Choc Mint (April 2014)

Next we decided to go with the Choc Mint. I personally am not a huge fan of Mint Chocolate. I don't hate it by any means, but if it was between that and another flavor, odds are I'll go for the other flavor. There was another problem with this KitKat - my friend and I realized we were late for something, so we ended up practically inhaling them. I think I liked the smooth one better this time because it reminded me of those Andes chocolates.

Australia Chunky3 - Caramel (April 2014)

Finally we tried the Caramel KitKat. I love caramel and chocolate, but my friend doesn't really so much. Opposite from the Choc Mint. Anyway, this was probably number two out of the three for me. But the crunchy section was my least favorite of all. The "caramel" was just too weird. The texture wasn't right, and the color was way off. Not a fan. Though the other two sections were okay. 

Anyway, these were a bit strange and at times a bit disappointing, but I really liked the concept! And trying new KitKats is always reward enough! Thanks marching/marching's friend!

Special edition: UK omiyage

My good friend and coworker went back to England for a few weeks on vacation. He emailed me a couple days before he came back to Japan and asked how I felt about Chunky KitKats and peanut butter. I didn't know what a chunky KitKat was, but I feel very strongly about the greatness that is peanut butter.

So anyway, he came back with two KitKats for me. Yay! Both were Chunky KitKats. in Japan, they're called "Bar", so that bit wasn't so exciting. One was the regular chocolate, which does taste different (in a good way!) than Japan's regular chocolate KitKat. But the other one was peanut butter. And not peanut butter flavored, no. There was a layer of actual peanut butter on top of the wafer and surrounded by chocolate. One word: amazing. Another word: Happiness! I should tell him to go back and get me some more.

2012/12 Souvenirs from the UK

World Variety

Some of the proceeds went to Tohoku's recovery.

So this is what KitKat has out lately. The World Variety pack. It's got regular KitKat minis from Australia, England, and Japan. I wasn't at all surprised to find that the Japanese one was darker and less sweet than the others. It's pretty well known that the milk chocolate of the west isn't quite so popular here and that the chocolate tends to be a bit more bitter. I wasn't expecting there to be a difference between Australia and England though. I can't really say which one is sweeter, if that's even what the difference was, mainly because this post was written a few weeks after the actual tasting. But I do remember that I liked the Australian KitKat best. But all three were pretty delicious.