Tirol Chocolate – Hojicha and Matcha

I’ve had both hojicha and matcha flavours by Tirol. The hojicha flavour was found wanting, and the matcha is great each time. Seriously. I’ve had at least three different variations of the matcha flavour from Tirol, and they’re all great. My favourite being the matcha mochi. This looks to be the same matcha mochi, though the bottom half looks like it’s white which may indicate this is matcha latte mochi, which I don’t imagine will be too different. Unlike the previous hojicha latte flavour that has a biscuit in the middle, this one has what looks to be a marshmallow, so I’ll see if that changes things at all.

Despite being a bit worse for the wear for the long travels it took to arrive to me, the pieces are still fairly intact. Let’s start with the hojicha. Similar to the previous piece, it has a white base, with the earthy brown colour for the rest of it. It smells like a slightly earthier green tea.

The center indeed has a marshmallow to it, and what appears to be some sort of syrup which I imagine is tea syrup. The marshmallow is quite soft, and doesn’t have much chew to it but along with the syrup and the general flavour of the chocolate, combines to make for a surprisingly light, tasty treat. Hojicha is generally lighter in taste, and has less caffeine because it goes through a different process than matcha. The roasting tends to result in less caffeine than matcha, so it’s a good tea for relaxing. Or so I’ve heard.

Add to that the latte flavour on the base, and you get a very smooth flavour overall. The whole chocolate comes together both flavour wise and texture wise to be very light and pleasant. A big reason why this works, and the original hojicha didn’t is because the original one I tried had a biscuit center, and it doesn’t really give the impression of a light, mild tea. I don’t generally like marshmallows but in this case it is well served by the flavour and syrup.

I almost feel like I don’t need to try the matcha flavour, because I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. I don’t know whether the bottom latte flavour will make any difference. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t have that much impact on my standard go to flavour. In fact, I’m not sure it has flavour at all.

This tastes almost exactly like the regular matcha mochi flavour. It’s got a strong matcha flavour that some might find bitter, but I find it works great. The sugar in the chocolate helps to even it out, so it’s not just leaving a chalky after taste in your mouth. The mochi is the real star here, and gives it a really nice bouncy chew to make this the perfect snacking chocolate square.

I was actually surprised by the hojicha flavour, and found it more enjoyable than I thought. The matcha never disappoints, so overall I’d say this mix is a win. If I had to choose between getting the standard matcha flavour that’s much more readily available or this, I’d probably pick this since there’s more variety and novelty to it.