Tirol Choco Present Box – チロルチョコプレゼントボックス

This box is the same size and shape as other Tirol variety boxes, with the special feature being that it comes with a label on which you can write a message and stick to the inside of the lid. This is presumably a Valentine’s Day product, although it’s not as heavy on the pink as most of the gift chocolates I’ve seen around. The selection of 20 pieces includes Biscuit, Coffee Nougat, Almond, Milk and the slightly rarer Hot Cake.

Hot Cake isn’t a new Tirol but it isn’t always available so it’s a good idea to snap some up if you ever come across them. The flavour is specifically described as ‘hot cake butter & maple’ and this is nicely represented in the structure of the candy, which has biscuit topped with a layer of syrup coated in golden-yellow chocolate with maple syrup flavoured chocolate on the base – like a tiny pancake with butter dripping down the sides and　syrup pooling at the bottom. Delicious. It delivers on scent and taste too, there is a strong maple aroma and the chocolate has buttery and syrupy flavours. The biscuit center is not really reminiscent of a hot cake but it provides a nice crunch.

Kit Kat Chunky Royal Milk Tea – ロイヤルミルクティー

Along with Tirol chocolates, Kit Kat is another thing I like to look out for, because the flavours change quite regularly, and new Kit Kat chunky varieties are rare. Lately I found some new Kit Kat minis too so it was a good time for hunting~

As you can see the chocolate coating is generously thick and appealingly shiny. The pale colour confused me a little, as you would expect a milk tea-based sweet to be a darker, milky-brown colour, which could easily have been achieved. However the scent is unmistakeably milk tea and it smells delicious. The taste too hits you in the same way as when you drink: first you get the creamy sweetness from the milk and sugar followed by the slightly herbal aftertaste of tea.

I tend to eat like a rabbit and gnaw away the outside of my chocolates and when I tasted the wafer center on its own it was strangely bitter. Not unpleasant but curious. Perhaps it’s there to balance the sweet tea and make the flavours more complex. In spite of the mystery center I loved it and hope that Royal Milk Tea is here to stay.

Tirol Choco Hinamatsuri – チロルチョコ ひなまつり ひな壇に変身！

What with Hinamatsuri approaching of course the canny people at Tirol have made sure to launch their own contribution into the sea of pink, white and green confectionery coming out in time for the festival, and they’ve done it in style with this cute box that transforms into your own hinadan (tiered doll stand).

I’ve never seen this product before but it doesn’t claim to be new so it may have been around for a few years. The box is the standard size for a boxed selection and contains 20 pieces, each featuring a picture of a male or female doll in traditional festival dress. Anyone who has played Project Zero or similar Japanese horror games may have been freaked out by rows of dolls in the past but these charming characters on their pink, cherry blossom patterned stand look harmless enough. The stand requires just a few folds and tears along the dotted lines to assemble so would be great fun for kids.

Hinaarare (pink/red) – Milk chocolate containing puffed, toasted rice. As is always a risk with cripsed-rice products, the cereal had become a little stale and while there was still a toasty flavour to it, it wasn’t as crunchy and light as it could have been.

Ichigo Vanilla (green/purple) – The Neapolitan colour scheme is appealing and the flecks of strawberry in the middle layer look promising but it fails to deliver on flavour. The scent and taste are neither vanilla nor strawberry and the candy is just quite sickly sweet. The pastel pinks will definitely appeal to young girls but as a chocolate it’s nothing special.

Biscuit – This chocolate, which goes on the top shelf, is the same as the biscuit Tirol I reviewed before, except it comes in the larger size that is usually sold individually. Being larger there is a lot more milk chocolate around the outside which is a bit too much for me, but it’s nice to have some different sizes in the pack.

Meiji Horohorone Dolce Torokeru Raisin White – ホロホローネドルチェとろけるレーズンホワイト

I first encountered this product last autumn when Meiji released an apple-based version, and immediately fell in love with the packaging:

The pale lilac box of this new addition to the line is equally attractive and has a luxurious look about it that makes this feel more indulgent than your average mass-market candy. Inside the pretty box are 8 individually wrapped pieces, about 40kcals each. They look like tiny profiteroles but the outside is actually a dense flaky coating, like a cross between pastry and chocolate, that crumbles to powder almost as soon as you bite into it, revealing a center of raisin enrobed in creamy white chocolate.

The filling is a little sparser than the image on the box suggests, but the outer layer is dense and buttery so the sweet isn’t too dry at all. As you might expect from a raisin-based candy, these contain rum but the alcohol taste is only faint and gives way to warm vanilla and  fruity flavours. The text inside the lid recommends enjoying this during a moment’s relaxation and I think it deserves to be eaten slowly, even if it’s only while watching TV~

Tirol Choco 27 Piece Variety Pack – チロルチョコ２７個入バラエティパック

This selection bag is always on sale but usually one flavour gets swapped out, to keep things fresh. In the past the mix has included a ‘raisin sando’ and ‘lemon cheesecake’ chocolate but the current addition is the ever-popular coffe jelly. With each chocolate being around just 33kcals you can try one of each flavour and still not consume as many calories as in an average chocolate bar＾＾

Coffee Jelly – The bitter jelly’s rich coffee flavour is complimented and enhanced by the only slightly sweeter dark chocolate around the base, while the thin layer of white chocolate on top offsets the stronger flavours. The jelly’s consistency is soft and smooth, like turkish delight, and not chewy like the centers of mochi-themed Tirols. Turn over before eating in order to get the benefit of the white chocolate.

Strawberry Jelly – The scent is perfumey, not like the watery, earthy-sweet scent of real strawberries, yet immediately evocative of strawberry nonetheless. The center has the same smooth texture as the coffee jelly. The pink chocolate layer is strawberry flavoured and although sweet it has a slightly more delicate flavour than the creamy milk chocolate and sugary strawberry jelly, which helps to balance out the overall sweetness of the candy.

White & Cookie Crunch – This chocolate is very similar to Hersheys Cookies ‘n’ Creme in concept but the thicker block makes for a more satisfying bite. The ratio of cookie to chocolate is high, so that the very rich, sweet white chocolate is easily countered by the generous distribution of slightly salty dark chocolate cookie pieces. Bitten it has a satisfying crunch and crumble. This is my favourite from this selection as it is the perfect combination of flavours and textures which means that one is never enough.

Bis(cuit) – This is probably the most basic of the selection. The chocolate lacks sheen and isn’t as creamy or sweet as the coating of the milk Tirol. The biscuit is like a nice or rich tea biscuit, quite dry and without distinctive flavour, serving primarily as a texture contrast to the chocolate. It is my least favourite of any Tirol selection and yet it is often the most numerous. However, I forgive Tirol because the packaging is so cute I like to see it in the mix.

Milk – This sweet combines three chocolate flavours: the base is plain, the outer coating is milk and the center is white chocolate of the very pale, rich variety like the filling of a Kinder bar, due to the addition of cream. The center is very sweet but it is so smooth that it has melted and blended with the other flavours before it can become cloying. Also it contains cream cheese, which gives it the faintest salty and yoghurty aftertaste that offsets the sweetness perfectly. Definitely better to let it melt in the mouth than bite.

Coffee Nougat – This is (as far as I know) the original Tirol flavour and one that is always available as a single, larger square in conbinis and supermarkets. The coffee flavour doesn’t have the bitterness of the coffee jelly but does come through, although it takes a back seat to the sweet milk chocolate and is more like instant coffee. The nougat is nicely chewy and has a good mouthfeel. Altogether this is a delicious chocolate but it won’t provide the hit that a coffee-lover seeks.

Almond – For a small, cheap sweet this has a surprisingly complex combination of flavours and textures. The chocolate is sweet milk but the almond inside is caramelised meaning that when you bite into the chocolate it releases a toasty smell of roasted nut which combines with the salty caramel taste and just perceptible crunch of the burnt sugar coating to make for a highly satisfying mouthful.

Bonus: Shingeki no Kyojin ｘ Tirol  – 進撃の巨人✕チロルチョコ

I will update this rubbish photo soon…

Saw these in Lawsons the other day and picked up a couple of cases (to be honest I didn’t intend to, I just wanted the chocolates so I could put the wrappers in my collection but it’s all part of the deal and the tins are pretty nice) There are 10 different cases and 30 different chocolate designs featuring Eren, Mikasa, Armin et al (some characters appear on more than one design). The chocolates come in three of the existing flavours: Milk, Coffee Nougat and Biscuit. For around 450円 you can choose a tin and any 12 chocolates. I managed to pick up 17 different ones but I’ll have to go back for the other 13 and feel like a massive nerd sifting through them all to get the right ones – yay!