For much of the world, a Kit Kat is chocolate bar. A good chocolate bar, consisting of the perfect blend of crème and crispy wafer and chocolate, a perfect two-bite treat for Hallowe’en trick-or-treaters, a sweet end to a meal, or just the right midpoint between filling up to tide you over until your next meal or crunching on something just for the sake of it.
One disappointing area where Kit Kats tend to lack (at least in New Zealand) is the flavour variation, where every new release tends to be some play on caramel or mint, and very little else. One would think, with the sheer amount of resources at the fingertips of the Nestlé Corporation there would be a team of flavour scientists playing around with dozens of flavour components to come up with some new releases, but alas; there is likely some marketing team stomping on any form of innovation and only allowing what has been deemed to be safe in the Australasian market: caramel, mint, and chocolate.
Sadly, after years of constant let-downs from Nestlé Australia/New Zealand we can only say that we’re not surprised, just disappointed. After all, the only country we can really rely on for Kit Kats is none other than Japan.
When we say that Japanese Kit Kats are on a whole new level we aren’t exaggerating. In Japan alone, hundreds of Kit Kat flavours have been developed and released, both nation-wide and on a regional basis. Kit Kat Japan has established themselves not just as a sweet snack to enjoy during a sugar low but as a coveted souvenir for both domestic and international tourists looking for a cheap and easy way to bestow the spoils of their trip unto their friends and family.
Us. That’s us. We fall right smack-bang in the middle of that category, because most people are happy to get two dozen different kinds of Kit Kats than they are to get six keychains. Long gone are the days of schoolbags being weighed down by 15 different decorative pieces, and instead a trend of experiences, particularly around food and culture and trying the new and (dare we say) exotic. Kit Kats from Japan grant us all of that, giving us something that is both familiar and unique, flavours spanning fruit like grape and melon, desserts like cheesecake, classic combinations like apple and cinnamon, seasonal and regional flavours, and Japanese-specific tastes like steamed red bean buns or even the famed wasabi Kit Kat.
Our trip to Japan came with a goal of finding as many Kit Kat flavours as we could, visiting convenience stores and supermarkets whenever we passed by. By far the best places to find Kit Kats are in places that specialise in souvenirs, such as basement department stores or in tourist-heavy areas such as Nanba, Osaka, or our favourite discount store Don Quijote (Donki for short). Oddly enough some pharmacies or drugstores have them, as in Japan they also tend to stock snacks as well. You can also visit specialist Kit Kat Chocolatory stores throughout the country for limited edition or luxury flavours. Kit Kats, as the most widely consumed chocolate treat in Japan, is not difficult to find, but the hunt for regional and seasonal Kit Kats definitely is a fun challenge for big foodies.
Our Haul
We collected almost 40 different flavours during our 2019 visit to Japan. We found typical packaging formats to be 11- or 12-pack bags, which are the cheapest per piece at around ¥400-650 (US$2.80-4.70) per bag depending on where you find it, special 3-pack boxes at around ¥200-400 (US$1.40-2.80), 9-pack boxes that the sake (alcohol) flavours come in at around ¥600-800 (US$4.30-5.80) per pack, and the fanciest 12-pack boxes that are in about the ¥950-1,100 (US$6.50-7.90) range. Chocolatory Kit Kits are even more expensive yet, and will vary depending on the ingredients used.
We’ve found that the price range isn’t indicative of how good the flavours turn out, and a lot of it comes down to preference. However, that didn’t stop us from trying all of the ones we could get our hands on, with our comments on each listed below in no particular order. Note that most Kit Kats come with white chocolate, unless otherwise stated.
Dark
It’s fine. It’s dark chocolate. Don’t expect a high quality single-origin dark, it’s still pretty sweet.
Ruby
Ruby chocolate is the fourth kind of chocolate (besides dark, milk, and white) and is naturally pink in colour, first developed in 2004 and released in 2017. It has a fruity, slightly tart flavour that occurs naturally. This Ruby chocolate Kit Kat only came with 3 in a packet with another flavour. It’s milky and tastes of berries. Tasty.
Banana Easter Break
It tastes of fake banana flavour or banana milk. It’s good if you like that kind of thing.
Raspberry
This one is labelled “adult sweetness” (オトナ甘さ) which is indicative of less-sweet products. It has a refreshing raspberry flavour and a fair amount of sourness, perfect for people who can’t handle things that are too sweet.
Apple
This is one of the few we’d tried that comes with milk chocolate, and we can’t say that we think it works. The apple flavouring tastes like apple juice more than a cooked apple pie filling, and it clashes a bit with the cocoa flavour of the milk chocolate. Though it didn’t taste bad, this one stood out as one of our least favourites because of how the flavours didn’t seem to gel. People who like apple juice might like this.
Peach
This fancy little Kit Kat comes in a 3-pack and smells strongly of peaches despite a very light flavour. It’s tasty for sure, even if a little faint.
Hokkaido Melon and Mascarpone Cheese
This is one of the regional flavours, though we found it in the Narita Airport (Domestic Terminal) in Tokyo. Hokkaido is famous for its melons and dairy, which is why the two flavours are paired together. You can’t taste the cheese so much but the flavour of the melon is there. Recommended for people who love their melons.
Kyoho Grape
Another specialty fruit, the Kyoho grape is a dark purple grape first produced in Japan, with bitter seeds and skin that usually means the grape is peeled before being eaten. It’s another nice, if not faint flavour, and is recommended for people who like grape-flavoured sweets.
Japanese Sake
We’re not sure what sake tastes like as we’re not big on alcoholic beverages. We’re not sure if these contain alcohol but it sure feels like they are. We know that the sake flavours have their own fans but we just happen to not be two of them.
Ume Sake (Plum Wine)
The combination of fruit and alcohol makes the flavour of the Kit Kat reminiscent of cough syrup. If you’re weird and like the flavour of cough syrup (like us) or if you like plum wines, this is a surprising Kit Kat that packs a lot of punch.
Sakura Japanese Sake (Cherry Blossom Wine)
Sakura are the famous pink cherry blossoms that are prized in Japan during spring. The flower petals are used in cooking, baked into desserts or made into jams, and also made into alcoholic beverages. Thanks to the floral and alcoholic flavours this one was confusing to us, as we aren’t huge on floral tastes or alcohol, but if you’re a fan of either we’re pretty sure this one hits the nail on the head.
Momiji Manju
Wagashi (和菓子), or Japanese-style sweets, are a must-try in Japan as they are revered as their own form of art. Momiji manju is a type of cake baked into the shape of a maple leaf and filled with red bean paste. You can find this cake on Miyajima Island just off the coast of Hiroshima. It smells roasty, with the nutty, sweet, distinct flavour of red bean paste shining through, which is the predominant flavour of the Kit Kat.
Onsen Manju
Onsen manju are red bean paste buns traditionally cooked by steaming over onsen hot springs. However they are now just the generic name of steamed red bean buns that are sold in onsen towns, or towns that make a living off the tourism brought in by hot springs. The flavour of the red bean is fainter than the momiji manju, with a milkier flavour.
Hokkaido Adzuki (Red Bean) and Strawberry
The flavour of this Kit Kat comes in two waves, first starting with a milky strawberry flavour followed by the nutty sweetness from the red bean paste. This is a delight if you like both flavours.
Ikinari Dango
Ikinari dango is a Japanese confection that comes from Kumamoto in the western end of Japan, as shown by the black bear mascot called Kumamon on the packet of the Kit Kat. The sweet consists of a slice of sweet potato, red bean paste, and mochi glutinous rice cake. If you’re a fan of sweet potato this one is definitely for you! The fragrance and sweetness of the potato really comes through, accompanied by the sweet, nutty red bean paste.
Sakura Kinako
Sakura as mentioned before is cherry blossom, and kinako is a roasted fermented soybean powder, which is not as awful as it sounds. Kinako has a roasty, nutty flavour that is very similar to peanuts, which is exactly what the Kit Kat tastes like. If you like roasted peanuts this one’s for you.
Samurai (Kinako and Black Sugar)
Black sugar is a dark sugar that has a lot of molasses, and is typically associated with the thick, dark, rich syrup that comes with pearl milk tea (i.e., boba). People who like milk tea might enjoy this, but the flavour of the dark molasses and the roasted soy powder made it taste a little like stale coffee.
Strawberry Tiramisu
Tiramisu normally doesn’t have strawberries, so we aren’t sure if a strawberry tiramisu means that the fruit replaces the other flavouring components or if they’re in addition to. In attempting to break down the components of a tiramisu the flavour scientists seemed to have recreated it a little too literally, resulting in a cheesy flavour from the mascarpone and slightly bitter from the coffee and alcohol. Definitely not one of the better flavours.
Mint Yoghurt
This flavour surprisingly tastes a lot like the famous Indian drink yoghurt lassi, with a touch of tartness, coolness from the mint, and a hint of spice from what seems to be cardamom. It takes you on a ride for sure, and it took us a couple of goes to decide that we liked it after all.
Peach Mint
This Kit Kat has a slightly stronger peach flavour than the first peach Kit Kat we had, and the cooling sensation of mint-flavoured sweets. Together it reminds us of cold peach ice tea.
Tokyo Banana
Tokyo Banana is a brand of confectionery from Tokyo, though you can now buy it all over Japan. It’s like a fancy Twinkie, consisting of a soft, banana-flavoured cake in the shape of a banana with a banana custard cream inside. This Kit Kat comes with milk chocolate and tastes of milk chocolate and banana pudding or banana-flavoured custards. It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you’re a fan of banana pudding, this could be for you.
Salt Lemon
Salt and lemon is a really popular flavour combination for sweets in Japan, especially for summer because of the refreshing and revitalising power of the acid and the salts in replenishing lost electrolytes (or something like that). The sweetness of the white chocolate is cut by both the sharp lemon and the salt. It’s delicious, but it may not be for everyone as it is an unusual combination of flavours for some.
Okinawa Sweet Potato
Purple sweet potato, also called beni-imo in Japanese, is famously associated with the islands of Okinawa in Japan. These sweet potatoes are often eaten roasted and can be incorporated into desserts, with a sweet, fragrant, creamy-earthy flavour. If you’re into purple sweet potato, taro, or Filipino ube desserts, this is definitely a great flavour to go for.
Miso
Miso, a strong, salty, fermented soybean paste, is typically associated with salty foods because of how savoury its flavour can be. Recent trends have included adding just a touch of it into desserts like brownies or cookies to offset the sweetness of baked goods, but in the case of Kit Kats, the strength of the bean flavour makes it questionable as an addition to dessert. It’s fun to try, but not a flavour we’d come back to.
Almond & Cranberry-Topped Sticks
If you want to go a little fancier, there are single-stick bars of Kit Kats that have the addition of chopped almonds and cranberries on the surface of the bars. The roastiness of the nuts and the tartness of the cranberries makes for an excellent addition, elevating the simple chocolate bar regardless of the chocolate flavour.
Strawberry & Maple
This is one of the special-edition Kit Kats that we only found in the Chocolatory store we visited. If you like strawberry-flavoured things, this one is for you! The maple is not so strong but it does have a nuttiness to it, the layers of flavour adding a level of complexity that other Kit Kats don’t have.
Butter
An unusual flavour for a snack that isn’t popcorn. Though it lacks the strong obvious butter flavour that you might find on cinema popcorn, it does have a milky, creamy finish to it.
Pistachio Raspberry
This lime-green Kit Kat has a delicious tartness from the raspberries and ending notes of pistachio. It’s one of the better Kit Kats by far, with layers of flavour and each one hitting the nail right on the head with its accuracy. If you like pistachio and raspberries, this one is for you.
Hojicha
The lesser-known cousin of the famous green tea powder matcha is hojicha, which is a roasted green tea. It has a toastier, less vegetal flavour than matcha, with notes reminiscent of something like cereal. While matcha is a beloved dessert and drink flavour, hojicha has its own equally vocal fanbase, which we are definitely part of. This is a delicious Kit Kat, and recommended for those who like tea.
Green Tea
Like the Raspberry-flavoured Kit Kat, this green tea one has “adult sweetness”, which is indicative of a sweet with lower sweetness. We also found that this one has a fainter flavour in general, so it’s recommended for people who aren’t keen on anything that is strongly bitter or very sweet.
Dark Green Tea
This dark green tea has a darker colour than the other green tea flavour, which is also reflected in its flavour. This is less sweet and bitterer than the first, so it’s definitely recommended for matcha aficionados.
Power Green Tea
The packet of this final green tea Kit Kat says it contains added polyphenol, a micronutrient that typically is associated with bitter flavours, and lutein, a compound that’s found in dark green, leafy vegetables, indicating that this is the strongest matcha Kit Kat in the lineup. If you’re a die-hard matcha fan, this is the one to go for if you can find it. It has a lingering bitterness similar to drinking a cup of matcha (straight, without sugar or milk!), which is definitely not for everyone.
Salt
Salt seems like an unusual flavour for a chocolate bar, but it’s not uncommon to be used to offset the sweetness of desserts. In this case, one of the layers of crème between the wafers has a saltiness to it that balances with the white chocolate. It’s not for everyone, but it is delicious.
Pudding
Japan loves their pudding, which is similar to a flan in that it consists of an egg custard with a caramelised sugar sauce. It has a toasty flavour that mimics the burnt sugar layer of a flan, and a light, milky egginess that you’d find in a custard. It tastes a little artificial, honestly, but more in the sense that it tastes like a packaged pudding mix than a real pudding made from scratch. Not at all in a bad way, it’s definitely suited for Japanese tastes!
Cheesecake
There are a number of cheesecake-flavoured Japanese Kit Kats, such as the strawberry cheesecake one and one where the Kit Kat itself is baked to give a burnt cheesecake flavour. This one tastes oddly like cheese – not quite the creamy, tangy flavour of cream cheese, but rather almost savoury, a bit like a cheddar. It’s strangely salty, so it wasn’t for us, but it might be enjoyable for others.
Mont Blanc
A mont blanc (literally, white mountain), is the name of a mountain in the Alps, but also a the name of a French dessert consisting of sweetened chestnut puree piped in a pile to imitate the Mont Blanc mountain. This dessert is popular in Japan, but if you’ve never had it before you might find this flavour a bit strange because of the combination of the savoury chestnut flavour and the vaguely alcohol-ish addition. It’s not for everyone.
Apple Cinnamon
The packaging of this one seemed to indicate a Halloween-seasonal flavour. If you’re expecting American-level apple and cinnamon flavouring, you’d be in for a shock – this is mild at best, tasting mostly like a cooked apple pie filling, but only very slightly. It’s not bad, just not very strong.
Maple
This one strangely doesn’t taste very strong, only very slightly nutty and faintly of maple syrup. It certainly smells stronger than it tastes.
Cherry Blossom
We’re not huge on floral flavours having been disappointed by sakura-flavoured things before, but this Kit Kat tasted strangely like cinnamon.
Peach Parfait
Parfaits are really popular in Japan, with towering constructions of jelly, cake, cream, yoghurt, fruit, and any combination of toppings put on the menu sometimes more as a marketing scheme than anything else. This Kit Kat tastes like peach Lipton ice tea, so if you’re into peachy flavours, this one is for you!
With literally hundreds of flavours out there to try, Kit Kats in Japan are a great way to gather souvenirs and bring home a taste of Japan to all your friends. The flavours will continue to change with the trends, seasons, and regions, so this list, while huge, is definitely not exhaustive. We’d recommend Japanese Kit Kats to anyone looking for a unique twist on a familiar chocolate bar, and a look into Japan as a culture of food, technology, and innovation.
If you’re thinking of visiting Japan we highly recommend getting a Japan Rail Pass and pocket WiFi for stress-free travel! You can check out our post on choosing the best JR Pass for you, or click here to purchase a pass on the JRPass.com website. Purchases made using our affiliate link won’t cost extra, but we earn commissions which help to support us as small creators.
