Green Tea Kit Kat

I've seen these floating around in many Asian markets around town as of late. Although I was curious, the import aspects of them made them pricey (a bag for about $12!) so despite my civic duty to report back on the more interesting snacks I've come across, I decided to pass until they became more affordable. Little did I know, fate would hand deliver these to me.

The Attraction:
One day I went into work and found this pack waiting for me on my desk. The intern that worked in our department was leaving after serving his term and decided to get us all a pack as a thank you gift. Had I known he would be showering us with snacks, I would have pushed for a full time hire. (Not totally true, but not completely false). It's no secret that I am fond of sampling regional variations of snack items that I've come to love (Oreos, potato chips, etc.), so it was a natural fit for me.

The Review
I was so excited to finally have a chance to taste this new flavor! Better yet, to sample it without shelling out a king's randsom for it. Let this serve as a notice to snack companies abroad; when and should you release a new flavor or even just a new snack in general, offer samples to the public! Who wants to commit to buying a huge box of something not knowing if you'll like it or not! Even if it wasn't a price issue, there's the "waste" issue. I still have a box of Kellogg's Special K serial in my pantry from over a year ago when my Mom gave me it thinking I would like it. Too boring to eat, too wasteful to throw out. Now what do I do? I digress...

I take the pack home after work so I can thoughtfully access the product in privacy. One of the first things I notice is how the packaging seems "taller" than the typical Kit Kat package. Can it be that instead of the standard 4 sticks per pack of Kit Kat they released the green tea flavored version with 5-6 sticks! My head was going to explode....I felt like I found money! Well, I should have known it was too good to be true; the sticks were wrapped in packs of 2 and turned sideways. They were about 75% the length of a US Kit Kat stick. That times 3 packs made them less then 4 whole conventional Kit Kat sticks you would get in a US package of Kit Kats! Let me get this straight, you pay an arm and 2 legs AND you get less product!? Someone has to die for this.....

The Sweet:
After I let the wave of outrage pass, I opened the wrapper and indulged. For a moment, I forgot what I was upset about; the smoothness of the chocolate with the flavor of green tea washed over me. I know it sounds like a cliche, but it felt like it was right out of a cheesy romance novel or better yet a bubble bath advertisement, yet that's how it felt. All was forgotten and forgiven at the moment. The green tea chocolate seems to be made from a white chocolate base and then flavored with the essence of green tea. Missing is the sometimes bitter after taste associated with green tea...and that's a good thing. I wanted to save a pack so I can have it one more time before I completed this review....it never made it.

The Bitter:
Price, price, price! I jumped on Amazon just now and it looks like you can now get a bag for about $6, but you may have to wait for a month to get them to your doorstep. The other big gripe, portion sizes. It seems like Nestle only offer these in the smaller sizes that I noted earlier. If there's one thing that annoys the mess out of me is the small portion size vs. the cost. It's reminiscence of a boutique product....and I hate that.

Conclusion:
As a product, Green Tea flavored Kit Kat works and works big. Flavor-wise, other than if you have a strong distaste for white chocolate in general, it's a wonderfully done item. Not too sweet, the flavor works just right where the green tea doesn't overwhelm you. Hard to find a complaint there. Where there are areas to improve upon is the pricing and sizing. Perhaps I'm just spoiled by having the accessibility to a $1 Kit Kat whenever I want and feeling irked at the idea of ponying up more than double that for a smaller portion of essentially the same product. Well, maybe that's the thing; it has the same name, same signature Kit Kat crunch, but they seem worlds apart. Whereas the traditional Kit Kat seemingly has a very "earthy" vibe, the green tea version rings of exotic-ness and has a refined air to it. A refinement that will make your taste buds sing and hopefully lessen the sting in your wallet.

Video of the Week
I'm going to start posting links to videos that may be of interest. (at the minimum to me).
This week's video features a gal in Korea that apparently can eat huge sums of food and documents it all live.

*Thanks to my pal Grace for introducing me to this freak of nature

I have a bunch of mixed emotions about this; she's cute, which is a plus, but she can eat more than me, which I'm not quite sure is a turn-on or turn-off just yet. She still manages to eat lady-like even though she eats as much as a linebacker. Imagine going out with a girl that ate like this on the first date. Her plumbing must get a crazy workout.