Glico Bitte – Matcha Chocolate
From the maker of Pocky and Pretz, is a product called Bitte. I won’t speculate on the correct pronunciation (is it bite? or bi-tay?) but what I will say is that it’s definitely caught my eye because I don’t generally associate Glico with anything other than Pocky or Pretz. Seeing something outside of that is new for me, since I don’t have much experience with anything else. I guess curry powder comes to mind, but I know they are bigger than just those few items.
The basic premise is two matcha biscuits sandwiching some matcha cream, and then dipped into chocolate. If that sounds familiar, it’s because in the West we have something called Tim Tams that has made a name for itself doing that very formula. Having had Tim Tams before, it’s hard not to compare these to that, with the exception being that there’s no matcha flavour as far as i know yet.
The texture is of a light airy biscuit and some equally light cream on the inside. The chocolate on the outside is thin enough that it helps to keep things together but doesn’t detract for anything else here. I honestly have to admit that I sort of enjoy these more than Tim Tams, but mostly because of the flavour. If Tim Tams did a green tea or matcha flavour, I suspect it would be very similar.
The matcha biscuits are very reminiscent of the matcha chocolate that they use in Pocky – it has a sweet, slightly earthy flavour to it that is reminiscent of an adult version of cookies and cream, and has a slightly floral aftertaste to it. In fact, the more I taste it, the more convinced I am that there is some jasmine tea flavour mixed in. It has a very pleasant, light floral tail to the flavour that makes me want to put away multiple in succession. Now that I think about it, if Tim Tams were to do something similar, likely that the green tea would end up being more on the sweet side and basically just be a green cookies and cream. Not saying that would be a bad thing, but I like this one as it has a more premium feel with some nice complexity to the flavour profile.
I’m actually not sure if this is a seasonal or special release, but I seldom see this or a product similar to it in my neck of the woods, so to me it’s a special occasion. If it wasn’t I would definitely get it more often. If Glico’s expertise with flavours translates from Pocky, I can see this having lots of potential. I’ll be keeping an eye peeled for more of these.
