Pocky – Sakura Matcha

I haven’t had Pocky in a while, and I saw this product at my local grocery store so I figured why not. This flavour has been in my neck of the woods for a while, because I’ve seen it on shelves on and off for at least the past few years. Why it’s taken so long for me to bother to try it is well…it’s always there. You know how when certain shelves are always stocked with a product to the point that you kind of tune it out and don’t really notice it? I have that with Pocky for some reason. I guess that’s the price you pay for being so ubiquitous on snack shelves.

There’s 8 smaller packs in here. Each pack seems to have about 6 sticks each. This makes it great for sharing with others, or doing portion control if you somehow don’t end up doing multiple packs in one sitting like some people may do. Not mentioning names here. No judgement.

The chocolate on these is a thin layer, and is what carries most of the flavour here. The matcha chocolate is less on the earthy and bitter side, and more on the sweet side. It’s similar to the ever common matcha Kit Kat where the chocolate takes on a sort of cookies and cream quality. Not quite as sweet, but relatively simple and generic flavour. The sakura on the stick doesn’t really carry much flavour, so realistically it’s just for colour. It would feel more accurate to just call this matcha Pocky.

The texture is a fairly light, snappy biscuit stick covered in a thin coat of chocolate. The layer of chocolate is a thin dip, and thin enough that it doesn’t affect that nice, clean snap of the stick as you bite it. The stick itself is very light and airy, and has a good balance so that the sweetness comes more from the chocolate, rather than the stick. Something about the way it snaps and sort of melts in the mouth quickly makes it very addictive and you may find yourself 6 sticks deep before you realize it.

This is pretty typical form for Pocky, and while the packaging makes it seem exotic or unique, it mostly just feels like typical form since matcha is a staple flavour for them. That being said if you enjoy Pocky and the price is right (which it was for me), then by all means go out and get these. You won’t be disappointed.