Tirol Chocolate – Taiwan Dessert Mix

Taiwan is known for many things, most of which are food and drink based. Apart from the more obvious and more commonplace items like pineapple cakes and bubble tea, lemon cake and mango shaved ice are just as popular and tasty, though probably a tad more seasonal.

You may be wondering, why is Taiwanese shaved ice so special? Apart from all the delicious fruits (usually ripe mangoes) the shaved ice itself is usually very fine and has an almost fluffy texture to it that melts in your mouth instantly. The varieties I’ve had at least, have the ice itself made from flavoured ice and condensed milk. Unlike the snow cones and shaved ice that is common place in western culture, it relies less on pouring on syrup for flavour. This gives you a more even tasting experience throughout, without “bald spots” that are just ice with no flavour. It’s not an easy process though, and most shaved ice places have special machines just to make that style of dessert. It’s real tasty stuff.

The lemon cake is a little less exciting, at least for me. While the lemon cake was certainly tasty, it wasn’t mind blowing or anything that unique that I’d feel the need to go out and get it. It’s basically what you’d expect from a typical lemon cake, but with more zest. Maybe I’m just not much of a tart, but I don’t enjoy sour much but lemon flavours in general don’t a peel to me. Pun intended.

The lemon cake piece is pretty much what you’d expect – it’s lemon flavoured chocolate with bits of lemon cookie inside. Rather than a typical biscuit style though, they have actual cake like pieces with small bits of what seem to be candied lemon peel, which is a nice touch.

The lemon flavour is quite strong and prominent, but it’s not the kind that leaves a burn on your tongue. It’s more of a sweet lemon like flavour, without any tart or peel flavour of a strong extract. The cookie pieces are very crumbly, and kind of leave a mess. But if you like chocolate covered cookies, this is basically that. Like a sweet lemon shortbread cookie. For some reason it makes me think of Christmas…

The mango shaved ice piece is where things get interesting. The outer chocolate layer encases a mango syrup centre, with small mango candy pieces, which kind of remind me of pop rocks, sans the fizzing and popping. If you experience any popping or fixing while eating this, you may want to consult your physician.

The texture ends up being like chewing into shaved ice, but more so like the western style of ice rather than the fluffy Taiwanese style. Not sure how you would emulate the Taiwanese fluffy ice though, so it’s still a good attempt. Thankfully the candy pieces aren’t particularly hard, and don’t end up sticking to your teeth so the overall experience is still quite pleasant.

The flavour is very strong mango, and has a very pleasant taste throughout. It has that rounded, all encompassing sweetness you expect from Indian mango varieties. Sweet sassy molassy! I am all over this piece. If they sold a pack of just this mango shaved ice flavour, I’d be stocking up on these. Sure, they’ll probably give me cavities in a heartbeat, but they’re so tasty they are worth it.

As a mix though, this is a fairly balanced pack. The mango is awesome, but the lemon cake is kinda of just…eh. Take it or leave it. Given the option though, I’d probably get this again just to get me some of those sweet mango pieces.