One Piece Bubbly Jelly DIY

 

Been a while since I've had a jelly DIY! These are always pretty fun except for figuring out how to eat them of course, because those tiny straws never cut it. This one also comes in the slightly more unique flavor of melon, which I at first haven't been a fan of but it's certainly growing on me as I try more and more melon snacks. Japan just does the flavor justice. This one also seems to come with a reusable cup, which actually worries a bit because the snacks with reusable cups I've had before haven't been good. Can this one break the mold?

Pretty simple setup this time, but also more involved than the other collectible cup DIY drinks, haing two packets. Likely this means there's a soda and jelly layer, like a DIY drink I had a while back. There's also a spoon instead of a straw, yay! No issues with trying to slurp up thick jelly, which is always a plus. The souvenir cup is nice too, but these are always so tiny that I don't know what to do with them.

Minute Maid Craftz Cherry & Peach

Now this was quiet a welcome drink to see in TokyoTreat. Not only is it not a soda once again, but the combination of flavors sounds quite vibrant and refreshing. Like the transition from the spring cherry blossoms to the summer peaches. Seems accurate for May, huh? It even has some sakura flavor in it. Even though May isn't here until tomorrow, I guess I'll be celebrating the end of spring just a little bit early.

The drink has a little lighter color than expected, and seems to resemble the peach more than the cherry. The smell is absolutely wonderful. I thought these flavors would blend together in theory, but in reality it's actually even better. The tanginess of cherry and the light sweetness of peach seem to meld into something like a sweet syrupy flowerbed, which... makes absolutely no sense. I'll get a better sense when I taste it.

The tanginess of cherry definitely comes out much more in the taste, and it's quite a shock but still works very well. If it were just the cherry, this drink might be a little too harsh, but the peach melds that tartness into something softer and more palatable. It's still quite refreshing and brings to mind a stroll through the May flowers, but with an extra little punch. Maybe that's the thorns of one of the roses. I think I would've preferred the way my smell depicted this, with a nice blend of comforting sweetness. But what Minute Maid has in actuality here is still quite good, just wish a slight unpleasant grittiness along with the nice sweet medley.

Rating: 7 - Aroof!

Afternoon Tea White Chocolate Milk Tea

I looooove milk tea. So when I saw a milk tea featured in this month's TokyoTreat I was definitely wagging my tail and running around in circles! And now it's time to try it. This is also white chocolate, which is a flavor I don't believe I've had with milk tea before, but it seems like it should blend perfectly, considering white chocolate in Japanese snacks is usually used to create a milky taste.

Unfortunately the bottle is a little smaller than some past drinks considering this little glass is the entirety of the drink! But no reason to fret over that, there's always more milk tea. It's surprisingly a brownish color despite being white chocolate milk tea, but in this case that's probably the color of the tea taking over. I'm not actually sure what kind of tea this is, maybe jasmine or black tea? Regardless it has a nice sweet, milky, earthy, and chocolate-y smell and I'm looking forward to trying it.

It's pretty satisfying to drink as I'd expect. I get milk as expected, then the robustness of the tea, which comes out very strong. The chocolate isn't the strongest flavor in the mix, which I actually quite like, as if it took over everything it would taste more like chocolate milk. In addition because it's white chocolate it blends more with the milk than clashing with it, while the tea flavor still gives it a little of the earthiness that the white chocolate needs. It's also surprisingly on the lighter side of sweetness, which is good considering it's meant to be afternoon tea, so not overbearing. I think it could stand to be a little more flavorful and maybe a thicker texture would do it wonders, but it's a very nice drink! I wouldn't mind more of these and less fizzy drinks in the boxes.

Rating: 9 - Arooooo!

Peach Coca-Cola

Quite a simplistic pick for the drink item in TokyoTreat this time around, it's Coca-Cola! But peach flavor. I can imagine this working out very well if the peach flavor is just right, but if it's too strong or too weak it won't be all that great. Of course once again I have to bite the bullet and deal with carbonation, but I'm used to it at this point.

Like most Coca-Cola, the peach version seems to take on a dark brown color, with plenty of bubbles running throughout. The scent of cola as normal is drifting up to my nostrils. The one difference here seems to be that there is a light comforting fruity sweetness added to it as well, which I'm sure is the peach. Still not sure how this will translate over to the taste.

Tasting it, the peach seems to be more on the subtle side, I get a lot of cola from this drink, but only a little bit of peach to accent it. Though the little the peach does seem to add goes a long way, as it adds a bit of well-needed comforting softer sweetness to the normally strong and harsh cola flavor. This makes it almost better than the normal Coca-Cola for me, what is normally a strong drink is toned down into a lighter but still sweet taste. As someone who normally wouldn't touch a Coca-Cola, not bad.

Rating: 7 - Aroof!

Pepsi Strawberry Shortcake

Once again, why does Japan get exclusive flavors of normally US products? It doesn't make the slightest bit of sense, unless everyone there has a refined palette like I do and wants to experience new things. But I still think this would sell very well in the states. It also is possibly mislabeled, saying it's Christmas Cola instead, and I'm not even sure what buyers would consider that to be... peppermint? Eggnog? Though from reading, it seems it was in fact offered in Japan during the holiday season.

Not even any pink tinting here, this soda is completely white in color, which I suppose could represent the cake portion of the strawberry shortcake. In turn it's also a more peculiar strawberry taste than most, where I do get more of the angel food cake taste with just a hint of strawberry. Not exactly sure what the angel food cake flavor is, maybe finally and egg?

Drinking a bit of this soda reveals a very similar flavor. The strawberry is subtle but I think after all the strawberry in this box I actually prefer it to the punch-in-the-face strawberry flavors of the others. This also meshes better with the existing cola flavor, providing a lighter note in there to balance out the flavors. The strawberry seems to just be the proverbial garnish to top it all off. While I would not normally drink Pepsi, this is way more refreshing and light than I'm used to, to the point where I don't even mind the bubbles that much. It's not sure to be my go-to drink, but Pepsi did a very good job of creating a flavor that is a bit different than the usually heavy soda flavor.

Rating: 8 - Rowf!

Kracie Popin Cookin Taiyaki

These look like quite the varied batch of snacks to make! The star of it of course is the taiyaki, a fish shaped pastry kinda like a waffle, with the filling of your choice (in this case chocolate). From there other Japanese desserts seem to be included: strawberry daifuku, a cup of ramune, and mitarashi dango, which appears to be soy sauced glazed mochi. And it uses the microwave, which is different. Not sure if that's because the products are meant to be eaten hot or because the microwave cooks the various powder/water mixtures.

Calpico Mini, Original, and Lychee & Mango

In a world full of carbonated soft drinks, it's refreshing to see one that isn't, especially as a pup bothered by bubbles. Therefore I really hope these are good! I'm particularly excited about the lychee and mango flavor, because I love lychee and have never seen it in combination with mango before, but am intrigued. Not sure what original could be...

The original drink sure has a weird flavor. It's solid white in color, and I'd almost liken the scent to toothpaste? It has a bit of a bright fruity smell too, maybe it's the same flavor as that other white stuff I can't distinguish. One day I'll get to the bottom of this flavor...

The drink tastes no different. Though in liquid form it makes a little bit more sense. It's milky tasting, with a little bit of an indistinguishable fruity taste to it. It has enough to sweetness too to rough out the taste edges a bit. As this was a mini one, after taking a few sips to my surprise I was already done! Not anything mind-blowingly good, but great for a quick refreshment.

Rating: 7 - Aroof!

Immediately the smell from the lychee drink was much more pleasant and much less confusing. Pretty much has a pure lychee smell. Like the original drink it's also white, guess that makes sense, but expected it to have an orange tint from the mango.

After tasting it I'm definitely a fan! The lychee seems to be just what this drink needs, and the mango provides a nice counterpoint to the more subdued sweetness with a little bit of tang that hits me close to the end of each gulp. Although as the drink goes on those flavors seem to diminish sadly, and it becomes a little one-note... But still worth it for that initial shot of lychee goodness and refreshment.

Rating: 7 - Aroof!

Gabunomi White Cola

Well, as I am not a fan of carbonated drinks, this cola does not particularly excite me. Although I am slightly impressed that the cola is white instead of the normal brownish color, but nothing that a little food coloring can't accomplish right? Or maybe white food coloring isn't a thing. Who knows. Maybe if I tolerate the fizz, I'll like the flavor.

The drink at least has a very strong cola smell, maybe stronger than most other colas out there. It's basically the same flavor as the gummy that was included in this Japan Crate. As for the taste, the cola flavor rings through and it's very good! Enough to make me tolerate the fizz. It doesn't go overboard on the sweetness either like one might expect it to, which makes it... actually pretty refreshing to drink. Not bad for a carbonated drink, sometimes those just make me thirstier. But nope, this is a pretty good go-to when I'm panting.

Rating: 8 - Rowf!

Orangina Cassis Orange

I must admit, I've never been the biggest fan of orange juice. It's tolerable enough, but sometimes it's not sweet enough or the pulp gets in the way or I'd rather just have grape or apple juice. But this isn't just any orange juice, it's cassis and orange. And I know about as much about cassis as you probably do. Apparently it's a black currant, considered a super food, and has a sweet tangy flavor. Will it be an orange juice that finally appeals to me?

DIY Minions Furifuri Shake

Okay I should give this a 1 just for the Minion but I won't. Like seriously, if you're going to put up a cute goofy creature on a package it should be me! I get into plenty of trouble but can give puppy eyes with the best of them. I'd sell way more DIY shakes than this yellow abomination. But hey, I guess it kinda makes sense since this is a banana flavored shake. And as my 2nd DIY item, I'm pumped to give this a try, because as much as I love eating I love making and playing with food just as much! Oh yeah and milkshakes. They make me feel like a cat lapping up milk (how disgraceful), but they're so good.

November Japan Crate Odds and Ends

Aruff! Hi everyone, this is my first blog post so thank you all for reading as I begin this journey. I have quite the appetite, especially for new and out there stuff, and like any good boy I want to share all my food adventures with you.

But before we begin I'd be amiss if I didn't talk about the Japan Crate that just arrived a few weeks ago, and that would be my first Japanese candy box, the November Japan Crate. I started off getting a three month subscription and we'll see where things go for there. I'm all for whatever gets me the yummiest snacks at the best value.

Now since I've already scarfed up most of the snacks in here I won't do a full review for everything, but I'll give mini reviews for ones that I ate long ago.

Kagikko Chocolate Key - This one's pretty self explanatory - it's a bunch of chocolates arranged in a key shape. Why? I have no idea. It seems there are a bunch of these out there all in different shapes. The candies themselves tasted exactly like M&Ms, maybe a bit smaller. I ate them almost immediately because nobody eats just one M&M. Cool idea to arrange them in a shape I guess, but I wish the candy itself was more unique?

Rating: 3 - Rrr

Rilakkuma Gum - Okay first of all this packaging is ADORABLE! I love how cute Japanese packaging can be and this one certainly made me whimper in adoration. The gum itself surprisingly had a ridge shape to it, but once in my mouth it behaved like any other gum. It had a nice cola flavor which at first was pretty strong then it lost flavor quickly, which is kind of sad. I suppose I'm used to Extra.

Rating: 4 - Boof!