Tirol Chocolate – Japan Regional Mix
I’ve tried a few Tirol flavours where they explore regional specialties but they usually came in a single pack with just one flavour. Imagine my surprise when I find one that has not 1, not 2, not 3, but SEVEN different ones in a single pouch! How could I not get hyped?
This is a hefty bag with 14 pieces – 2 of each flavour. There’s a few flavours here which I’ve ever tried or am not super interested in, but I sometimes get swept up in the novelty of it all and end up making impulsive purchases. So here we are. At least it makes for an interest review (I hope…).
The light green wrapper is melon – this one is a melon flavoured chocolate with a jelly in the centre. This thing is quite messy to eat in more than one bite, as the center is a very viscous and sticky melon liquid.
It’s quite sweet so probably a good idea to not mix this one with anything else. It nails the flavour of melon though. Excuse my while l chug a glass of water to cleanse my palate and try to prevent cavities from instantly forming.
Next up we have momiji manju – this is basically a rice cake with a buckwheat coating that has various fillings, this particular one with the classic red bean paste. If you’ve seen pastries that look like they are in the shape of a maple leaf, you’ve likely already seen or tried these. The chocolate is mostly solid with red bean flavour in the centre.
To try and mimic the actual confection, they throw in tiny mochi pellets. This one is alright, nothing special. Though to be honest, it’s a hard thing to capture in chocolate form, so understandable why this one is a bit of a miss.
The blue wrapper is the classic peanut in chocolate. Not just any peanut though, this one is minced peanuts strewn all about the chocolate. It’s not quite just peanuts and chocolate, there’s something extra in it that reminds me of peanut brittle somehow.
It’s not bad but it’s a tad on the pedestrian side and nothing exciting about it. It’s crunchy, and it’s nutty – there’s not much more to say about it. The flavour is pretty standard as well, nothing too exciting but not too bad either. Just sort of there.
Next up is azuki butter toast – it’s red bean paste spread on a piece of toast. Not a common thing here in the Frigid North but quite common in Asia, though usually in a different format. This one’s interesting – the flavour is very strong and distinct red bean paste – and it even has a bit of syrup to really drive that flavour home.
The flavour is spot on but the texture is equally intriguing – they threw in bits of crunchy pieces that remind me of a crispy piece of toast which I think were inventive. I like this one.
In the yellow corner we have a sweet potato pie or pastry – this one is interesting. It’s been established in the lore that I am not a big fan of sweet potato chocolate flavours. That being said, this one is not bad – the filling is the classic sweet potato chocolate that Tirol does but it’s saved from tasting like play doh because it had some sweet potato syrup to go along with it.
The syrup while a bit on the sweeter side does elevate this to something that isn’t plain or makes me want to throw it at a five year old. Elevated to something you would throw at a seven year old. Not that I necessarily condone throwing snacks at kids…
The orange one is mikan daifuku – for those unfamiliar, daifuku is a mochi that has filling. In this case it’s a mikan, or a mandarin orange. It’s basically an entire mandarin wrapped in a mochi skin. This one is pretty solid in my books – the texture is basically just a mochi filled chocolate with some mikan syrup.
It’s got that distinct citrus mandarin flavour that’s spot on, so that in combination with the chewy mochi center also makes this a winner in my books. Not a super common combination so it’s refreshing to see.
Finally, we have matcha latte – I almost feel silly even writing up anything on this since I’ve had this in almost every variation it has come in. This one is probably the most straightforward piece – there’s nothing special inside it’s just full on matcha chocolate. It’s hard to go wrong with a classic like this so why mess with it? it’s simple, but a classic for a reason. Another winner.
If I had to rank all of these, it would go a little something like this:
- Mikan Daifuku
- Azuki Butter Toast
- Matcha Latte
- Peanut in Chocolate
- Sweet Potato Pie
- Momiji Manju
- Melon
Truthfully anything beyond four is interchangeable, as I consider them either too boring or uninspiring to me to want to try again. The top two of the mikan and azuki is honestly a toss up. They were both so interesting and unique to me, on top of just tasting great, I could see myself getting both again if they were on their own. Matcha latte and peanut were good but I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to get them. They felt more like staples, good but there’s no urgency to get them.
Overall I had fun with this one, and I hope you too get a chance to try this variety. It’s certainly more fun with SEVEN different flavours than just one or two. Variety is the spice of life after all.