All the Ame

I can’t believe it’s almost May and I haven’t done a TokyoTreat unboxing since December, I’m so behind! つ´Д`)つ

It’s been a bad few months in our household, so much so I just haven’t had the time or energy necessary to sit down and write a blog post.  I’ve still been subscribed to TokyoTreat and OyatsuBox (great boxes so far this year) and actually had a couple of other boxes I wanted to write about, sadly time has flown by and I just don’t see the point writing about boxes from months ago. The bad times have to pass sometime though, hopefully things will be looking up and I can get back into unboxing/reviewing regularly from now on.

So, on to the March TokyoTreat box!

The theme for March is Sakura & Matcha. I loved the last matcha themed box TokyoTreat did so naturally I was very excited when I saw the theme reveal. This is actually the last box we’ll be receiving in this style as TokyoTreat have made some pretty exciting changes to both the box itself and the contents. Bye bye big square boxes! I’ll be talking about those changes in my next TokyoTreat post, since my April box has already arrived and it’s the first of the new boxes.

Read on to see what matcha/sakura treats TokyoTreat picked for us this month:

Tirol Choco – Sakura Mochi

First up we have some Tirol chocolates with a sakura mochi filling. I’m never sure about Tirol chocolates, they’re pretty hit and miss in my exprience. Fun fact, there were sakura Tirol chocolates in the March box last year too!

Aren’t they pretty?

Unfortunately that’s about the only good thing I have to say about these! I really didn’t like them at all. The chocolate is strange at best with an oddly grainy, wax like texture. The filling has a much better texture but the flavour is awful, the best I can describe it is a fake overly perfumed cloying sweetness with a bitter undertone. A bad description I know, but in my defense I disliked these so much I couldn’t even eat a whole one. Really I’m just not sure what flavour it is trying to be. Not sakura mochi surely! (≧ x ≦)

Very disappointing as the sakura Tirol from last year were really good. These ones are just not to my taste at all, they seem lower in quality too. I…I guess I’d give them a 1/10? For presentation? I don’t want to give a zero but…they’re so bad I think I’m going to have to (ᗒᗣᗕ)

Never again!

Sequoia Chocolate – Matcha Green Tea Flavour

The first matcha item is this dainty green tea flavoured chocolate wafer. It’s a good thing I don’t do video unboxings, as I still can’t figure out how to pronounce ‘sequoia’! (≧▽≦)

The matcha flavour is great, it’s nice and strong and really cuts through the sweetness of the white cream. I thought this was one of the more bitter matcha snacks in the box, but the sweet wafer, white cream and milk chocolate base stop the bitterness being overwhelming. I love the combination of textures; thick and solid milk chocolate base, crisp and light wafers, sweet creamy filling, melt in the mouth matcha chocolate topping…it’s all just delicious!

I’m giving this one a solid 10/10. I do wish it was a little bigger, but I guess that’s just my own greed talking ^_~

Strawberry Candy Floss

A sweet and simple snack, this little pot of strawberry candy floss tones in perfectly with the pink/green theme while giving us a little flavour variety. I absolutely love candy floss but we usually only buy it if we’re on holiday or on a day trip, so to me it’s a special treat ｡^‿^｡

It’s surprising just how much candy floss is actually in this pot! It’s super compacted, it took us ages to finish this little pot. There was certainly plenty to share!

Flavour wise, this is exactly what you would expect from strawberry candy floss. I think Japanese candy floss is a little tougher in texture than the stuff you get here, it doesn’t melt in your mouth quite so quickly and doesn’t melt all over your fingers.

10/10, I’m never going to mark down candy floss!

Cola Diamond Ring

This one made me smile, when I was a child these candy rings were so popular and I still see them in the children’s sweets section today. It’s kind of cool to know they are popular elsewhere too!

Flavour wise this is just a standard cola candy, no different to what you can buy here really. It’s pretty tricky to eat without getting sticky fingers but I guess that’s adding to the childhood nostalgia feeling, right?

I’d give this one an 8/10, my inner child is happy to see it but my inner Japanese candy fan would really prefer to receive candies that are more specific to Japan rather than something I could have bought here.

Pickled Sakura Daikon

This pack of pickled daikon had me both nervous and excited, my experience with pickles consists of pickled onions (once a year at Christmas or New Year) and the pickle you get on a McDonald’s burger (which traditionally my Dad eats for me) so yeah, you could say this one is way out of my comfort zone! This pack contains two slices of daikon radish that have been pickled in a semi sour brine. Definitely not the sort of thing I’d have chosen myself, but unlike the cola ring above it certainly fits the bill of a Japan specific snack! ^_~

The radish slices are such a neon red colour it’s pretty tricky to photograph them. They’re thick, solid, cold (since apparently refrigerating gives the best flavour) and almost slimy to the touch. The smell is really, really bad…I don’t know what I was expecting but they smell like sour and bitter pickles. Appealing, right?

It’s not all bad though, after tentatively taking the worlds smallest nibble I actually thought these were pretty good! They taste surprisingly good considering the smell and aren’t bitter or sour at all. They’re actually quite sweet, with the typical vinegary pickle taste too. The texture is great, nice and crunchy and incredibly moreish. I can understand now why some people eat pickles straight from the jar, haha. I’m surprised, but I would definitely eat these again!

I’d give these a 10/10, this is the type of unfamiliar snack I love seeing in subscription boxes!

Poteco Delicious Salt

These ‘delicious salt’ ring shaped potato snacks have special packaging to celebrate Doll’s Day (which was March 3rd), how pretty!

‘Delicious salt’ sounds rather exciting, but really these are just mildly salted crisps. They’re good, but not outstanding. I’m not the biggest fan of plain salted crisps to be honest, I get the feeling these were included for their pretty packaging more than their flavour. Still, it’s a nice big pack to munch through!

I’d give these a 7/10, wonderful packaging but slightly dull contents. There are much better flavours for Japanese potato chips than regular salt!

Harvest Rich Matcha Chocolate Sandwich

TokyoTreat included a cheese version of these biscuits a couple of months back and honestly they weren’t my cup of tea at all. Matcha is a far more superior biscuit flavour than cheese though, right? ^_~

The pale green biscuits are even prettier in person, they have sugar crystals on them that sparkle in the light (´▽`人)

I liked these a lot more than the cheese filled variety. The biscuits are sweet and crisp, they remind me of Nice biscuits (although I may just be imagining the hint of coconut!). The creamy filling adds a delicate matcha flavour, but the sweet biscuit is still dominant. They’re really good, I definitely eat them again!

I’d give these a 10/10. One of the milder matcha flavours in the box but the only best biscuits!

Waku Waku Animal Soft Candy DIY

The DIY candy kit this month lets you make cute strawberry and lemon flavour animal shapes. Not me, since I seem to have lost mine! Oops. I guess this is what happens when you set something aside to do ‘later’ than come back to do it almost a month later. Sorry!

Pie No Mi – Green Tea Flavour

Pie No Mi are little pastry puffs filled with chocolate (matcha flavoured chocolate in this case) that are so insanely delicious they made my all time favourite Japanese snack list instantly. I seriously love these things so much! I’ve already bought the regular chocolate version to try too, I can’t wait! ｡^‿^｡

Look at those perfect golden pastries! (✧▽✧)

What made me fall in love with these is the quality, you really can’t tell these are prepackaged as they have all the look, feel and flavour of freshly baked pastries. The pastry is light, sweet and super flaky while the matcha chocolate is firm, creamy and full of sweetened, not in the least bit bitter matcha flavour. The ratio of pastry to filling is just perfect for me too. I’m so happy to find a new favourite!

As I’m sure you can guess these get a 10/10 for me, I just love them!

Animal Land Gummy – Grape

There haven’t been so many gummies included in our boxes lately, I’m not sure why! Perhaps we’re simply making the most of the chocolate season while it lasts? In any case these cute little grape gummies are a welcome sight in this gummy mad household ^_~

Aren’t the designs adorable? I love the little sheep! There is supposed to be one larger gummy in the pack, I think the penguin at the top is a little larger? Maybe? I don’t know!

The grape flavour is artificial but quite mild and enjoyable. I’m slowly coming around to artificial grape candies (well, mild ones like these at least). There aren’t many in the pack sadly but at least we got a good variety of animal shapes!

I’d give these an 8/10 for being adorable and fun.

Peach Caramel Corn

Tohato Caramel Corn is another one of my favourite snacks, we’ve had this peach variety before (strangely enough from last years TokyoTreat March edition) and it’s one of the better ones we’ve tried. This bag features a lovely Doll’s Day design, very pretty!

I think the two toned corn puffs are very pretty too ｡^‿^｡

The flavour is sweet and fruity, with the peach coming through well. I think the peach variety has a more realistic fruit flavour than some of the other fruit varieties Tohato produce. Sweet corn puffs aren’t the norm here in the UK and I’ve seen a lot of people put off at the idea, please don’t be. It really works well!

I’d give these a 10/10, they’re light and refreshing and feature super cute packaging. What’s not to love?

Sakura Chopsticks

I’m impressed TokyoTreat found a pair of chopsticks that is such a perfect match to the pink/green theme! It’s wonderful to see physical items in subscription boxes, especially when it’s as useful as this one is. It’s nice to have something left once all the snacks are eaten ^_~

The ends of the chopsticks feature ridges that make it easier to pick up/grip food, a useful addition indeed! The design is very cute and doesn’t seem like it’s going to peel off in the wash.

I’m not an expert on chopsticks by any means but these ones seem great quality and are certainly very pretty. 10/10 for this pretty and practical addition!

Sakura Sakuranbo Royal Milk Tea

Our drink this month is a sakura flavoured milk tea from Coca Cola’s tea franchise Kouchakaden. I’ve never tried bottled milk tea so was very excited to try this one!

The first thing that got me was the texture, it was a lot thinner than I expected. I guess from the opaque colour I expected this to be thicker/creamier, which is silly in retrospect as adding milk to a cup of tea doesn’t exactly thicken the texture. The flavour was surprisingly complex and changed from one mouthful to the next, so is unfortunately hard for me to describe. There was a nice cherry flavour but realistic rather than artificial and very mild, in fact you’d be hard pressed to identify this as a ‘cherry’ drink. The milky tea flavour was for the most part the dominant flavour, with sweet, floral, almost perfumed notes and some more bitter green notes coming through. I can honestly say I’ve never tasted anything like it, even though this is far from the first sakura drink I’ve tried. It’s delicious though, very refreshing!

I’d give this one a 10/10, this is by far the most interesting drink TokyoTreat have sent in the time we’ve been subscribed (and they’re sent many an interesting drink, believe me!).

Why can’t Coca Cola produce more exciting drinks here in the UK?! Oh yeah…because the UK market is so set in their ways that nothing but regular/diet sell well enough to stay in production…(how dull we are).

Dars Uji Matcha Flavour

Dars chocolates are apparently one of the most popular chocolates in Japan, they’re certainly included a lot in Japanese snack boxes! This pack is made with premium Uji matcha, yum!

The chocolate itself isn’t overly sweet but just sweet enough to compliment the bitterness of the matcha filling. As you would imagine from the ratio of green to brown the matcha is the dominant flavour here, which is in no way a bad thing as it’s great. You get 12 of these chocolates per box, which is plenty given how rich they are!

I’d give these a 10/10 for their great matcha flavour, these chocolates really embrace the slight bitterness of the matcha rather than cover it up with sugary sweetness. Bitter doesn’t have to equal bad when talking about matcha after all!

Sakura Konpeito Candy

Ahh this one is just too cute! Konpeito is a delicious and colourful crunchy sugar candy, I’m really surprised that despite being subscribed to various Japanese snack boxes since 2015 this is the first time I’ve seen it included in one. I always wish more traditional snacks could be included along with the new releases, I think it’s so much more interesting getting a mixture of both.

Aren’t they so pretty? They’re not sakura flavoured (is konpeito ever flavoured?), they’re simply coloured in various shades of pink.

The flavour is quite simply sugary sweetness while the texture is interesting, with a coarse sugar core covered by layers of smooth and crunchy sugar. Lots and lots of sugar! They’re quite nostalgic for me, they remind me of when I used to crunch my way through the sugar cubes I was supposed to be feeding my horses (sorry horses).

I’d give these a 10/10; they’re cute, they’re colourful and while they may not be the most exciting flavour, the texture makes these a fun and interesting snack. I want some blue ones next! (≧◡≦)

Sakura Saku Latte Candy

Last but by no means least is a big bag of sakura shaped hard candies. If you hadn’t guessed from my header photo, I tend to love sakura shaped hard candies and these are no exception!

How awesome are these wrappers with their motivational messages? I love this so much, especially since they include both Japanese and English messages. Yay! Why can’t all candy be cute and include positive messages? Let’s face it, if anything can give me motivation in life it’s candy.

The flavours (from left to right) are as follows:

Cafe Latte- I found this the strongest flavour in the pack, with a super realistic coffee flavour. It tastes just like the milky, sugar loaded iced coffees you would buy from a coffee shop…but in hard candy form! Great flavour, also the only flavour that tastes like coffee. I assumed they would all have a coffee undertone but nope, at least not one I noticed.

Strawberry Latte- this one surprised me with it’s sharp yet sweet strawberry flavour, I expected it to taste like a standard strawberry candy but it tastes more like the syrup you’d use to make a strawberry milkshake. Is that the same syrup they use to make a strawberry latte? I have no idea, I’ve never seen or had one! There’s a yummy milky flavour in there too. Delicious!

Green Tea Latte- the green tea flavour is quite mild and very sweet, again with that lovely milky flavour coming through. The theme for these candies seems to be death by sugar, they’re all so super sweet!

Banana Latte- I didn’t like this one at all. After the strawberry candy I figured this would might taste like the syrup you’d use to make banana milkshakes, but no. It’s very strange, a lot of artificial banana flavour (probably my least favourite flavour for anything), some slightly burnt caramel and a totally out of place aniseed flavour. Maybe this is what a banana latte tastes like, I don’t know nor do I care to know (≧ x ≦) the rest of my family enjoyed it though, they like odd banana candies. Weirdos.

Overall I’d give this pack a 10/10. Ignoring the banana (which was clearly a matter of personal taste) the flavours are great, very sweet but great quality. A surprisingly unique and interesting bunch of hard candies!

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Finally I’m finished! It has taken me over a month to write this post, seriously. I’m just so flat at the minute (╥_╥) sorry if the quality isn’t as good as usual. 

Overall I thought this box was well balanced and had a great variety in terms of both flavour and types of snacks. I love that we got a couple of more traditional snacks along with the new releases too. It’s always hard to pick a favourite when there’s so many great items but the stand out items to me were the Pie No Mi and the Sakura Saku Latte Candies.

Thanks for reading, assuming things continue on an upward trend rather than downward I’ll be working away to get the rest of my April boxes (of which we have eaten nothing yet!) done over the next few weeks. Bye for now! (＾▽＾)／