Tirol Chocolate – Petite Mix
Part of why I enjoy following Tirol releases is because of the consistency in their sizing. It’s that same consistency that makes something like today’s product fascinating. I don’t particularly find Tirol enjoyable because of the chocolate quality, but more so the creativity they use in their fillings and such. That being said, I still feel the need to try this new Petite Mix, which flies in the face of what I’ve come to know Tirol for. Embrace change, as they say.
These sucker are 1/24th the size of a standard piece. I would wager a bet that they are referring to the bigger, individually wrapped pieces, not the smaller bagged ones. The are quite tiny. There’s five flavours here – chocolate, strawberry, melon, kinako and banana. This reminds me a lot of the Morinaga mini caramel mix, both in terms of size, and in terms of the flavours in the variety being very similar. I guess these flavours are fairly easy to emulate for smaller candies? I don’t know.
Being the size that they are, I don’t expect them to have filling or be anything groundbreaking for texture. I’ve often lamented that Tirol does a bang up job on packaging and marketing, and this is no different. There’s a nice, clean packaging going on here, and I love the 8 bit nature of the pictures. In case you were wondering, those little nut looking things are soy beans to represent the kinako flavour (roast soy bean).
Starting things off with the chocolate, there’s not much to say about it. It really is just a piece of chocolate. Mind you, it tastes less sweet than I was expecting, and a bit darker. Not that it’s a bad thing, quite the contrary in fact. I am taken aback by how strong the flavour is given how small the piece is, and how it reminds me of cheaper chocolate from my childhood.
The strawberry is also on par with what you expect from strawberry chocolate, but this is more tart and less floral than what I’m used to from generic brands. Also a tad less sweet so it’s interesting, but nothing spectacular.
The pastel green looking melon pieces also have a pretty strong melon flavour that reminds me of Melona ice cream. It’s got that pleasant melon milk flavour to it. The one downside is the aftertaste it leaves is kind of the sensation that caramels sometimes leave in your mouth, that also dairy like residue. It’s not a deal breaker, but it is kind of weird.
Kinako is not a typical flavour, but they do a surprisingly good job of capturing in this piece. The flavour is spot on, and it has a very nutty, almost peanut butter like flavour to it. Maybe it’s just me, but this is also the most complex flavour in that it isn’t just sweet or artificial. I would eat a whole pouch of these.
Banana is a bit of a let down if I’m being honest. The banana flavour is barely noticeable, and unless I told you outright it was banana, you might confuse it for something else. it’s actually disappointingly close to the melon. Artificial banana reminds me of cold medicine I had as a kid, and this doesn’t even hit that.
Overall, I’m sad to report that I can’t in good conscience recommend this to anyone who isn’t already a fervent fanboy of Tirol. The only flavour that stands out to me is the kinako. Don’t get me wrong, it probably could carry the whole pouch if they upped the ratio, but unless they sell them as their own thing, I can’t recommend getting this mix as you would be left with four other underwhelming flavours. I will say to their credit, some of the flavours do pack a lot of punch given their small stature which is impressive. Not impressive enough to recommend though, sadly.
