Not having any knowledge of the Japanese language (spoken or written) means I'm usually buying these things based on:1. Pictures on the packaging
2. Prior knowledge of a product
3. The mandatory English-language ingredients label on the back (there's usually a cursory translation of the product).
I picked up this candy thinking it was some sort of red bean/green tea chewy candy. That was only partially correct.
What I got was a hard candy that was all creamy matcha flavour. It was like a green tea Werther's Original. Yarg.
I don't know if a different texture or a more pronounced red bean flavour would have helped make this more palatable to me, but I definitely found this lacking. Plus, the Werther's-iness didn't help (I hate those things).
I'm sure part of the problem is that I prefer the sweet, citrusy "green tea"-type flavours typically found in American candy to the more authentic matcha flavour produced here.
I shared these with co-workers who had similar feelings.
The one area in which this candy completely delivered for me was the "Cute" aspect. Check this out:
It's a dog made of candy!
A candy dachsund and a candy shiba inu? Love!What it is:
A 1/2" cube of matcha-flavoured hard candy
Who should buy it:
People who like matcha; people who love pictures of dogs made out of candy
Who shouldn't buy it:
People (like me) who don't like creamy matcha flavours; people (again, like me) who hate Werther's Originals
Cost: I think this was around $2 at Mitsuwa; being too dumb to tell that this wasn't chewy before I bit in to it? Priceless.
