Puku Puku Tai – Zombie Blackcurrant

Zombies are a popular genre for a multitude of reasons, none of which are particularly appealing to me, but I get why people enjoy the medium so much. Something about fending off hordes of mindless undead and having free reign to be super violent just to get by. Something about it activates the primal part of our brain I guess. Nothing like impending doom to get the blood flowing eh?

This particular flavour was a Halloween release, so I’m only a few months late to this party. I wasn’t planning on getting this at first. Not because I don’t like these little fish waffle chocolates that Meito has created, but mostly because I wasn’t thrilled about something that’s branded for Halloween. It seemed like another cash grab. Well, it could be, but this is blackcurrant flavoured. I love that flavour almost as much as I love Japanese grape flavours, so I had to jump on this band wagon. I mean, odds are it will be more of a berry, but that’s still good right?

It might be a plus for the kids that this is probably marketed to (aka not me), but this fish has two different colours on each side, similar to the berry flavour. Again, this is more of a fun little feature for the kids; I can’t imagine the two tone colour scheme of the snack is a big thing for adults. But hey, I could be wrong.

So this smells very fragrant, and while I do kind of get hints of blackcurrant, this smells more like a really sweet raspberry or blackberry flavour to me. Though if I’m being honest, I didn’t really have high expectations that this would smell or taste like blackcurrant. It’s one of those fruits that works better in some situations than others, and being the headliner as a chocolate flavour is not one of them.

Unsurprisingly, the taste is like the smell. If I think about it, I can see where someone would think this is blackcurrant. For the most part though, I feel like this is more of a raspberry, blackberry or mixed berry situation. It’s tasty, don’t get me wrong, but it’s also very sweet and more of a nondescript berry than specifically blackcurrant, which I was kind of hoping for. I guess if I really squint my mind’s eye, I can kind of sense the blackcurrant. But it’s still a bit of a stretch to call it anything other than mixed berry.

The texture is very light and airy, from the crumbly waffle exterior, to the chocolate inside. The chocolate inside is very similar to an Aero, the chocolate is aerated so there’s tons of air bubbles. This leaves a lot of surface area to give it a very interesting, moist texture as it melts in your mouth. you end up with a chocolate that melts away as quickly as you put it in your mouth. The kind of snack that is so light you kind of wish you had more.

These snacks are fairly cheap and inexpensive, and also make for a nice light pick me up. If you’re ok with the artificial flavours, then this particular flavour isn’t bad. Just don’t fool yourself into thinking this kind of strong berry flavour exists naturally for chocolates. Also, I’m willing to be good money that kids would love this.