Having recently reviewed a Meiji assortment, it seemed appropriate to follow up with this second installment, a further introduction to some of the popular confectionery giant’s most well-known creations. Aimed specifically at young children, Petit-assort is a selection of five matchbox-sized packets of candy which feature cute characters and simple counting/picture spotting puzzles on the back. 
The varieties included in the selection are, from left to right: Marble (strawberry), Coffeebeat, Choco Baby, Apollo and Marble (milk chocolate). All these products are also available in various other forms, for example, Marble can be purchased in a small tube the size of a Smarties packet, Choco Baby comes in a rectangular plastic container similar to that of Tic-tacs, and Apollo is usually packaged in a larger box, about the size of a pack of aspirin.
All five lines are also to be found in large tubes of the kind that chocolate companies often release around Christmas in England, and there are even novelty jumbo versions too.
But enough about the various packaging options and on with the review, beginning with Marble:
I reviewed the standard milk chocolate Marble previously when writing about Meiji’s eight variety selection pack, so here I’ll only cover the strawberry version. Brightly coloured and with a nice shiny smooth shell, these fragrant morsels look very appealing. They both smell and taste strongly of strawberry milk, though there is a faint hint of acidity somewhere in the background that gives them a genuinely fruity note. The white chocolate centers are a little on the waxy side (as opposed to being creamy) but have a good dairy flavour. I have bought Petit-assort numerous times and I’m pleased to say that there is always a good mixture in the two Marble packets, with usually at least one piece of each colour.
Next, Coffeebeat. This is one of my favourite Meiji lines and without a doubt my favourite item in this assortment. Similar to Marble, Coffeebeat consists of milk chocolate in a crisp sugar shell, but due to their rounder and more compact coffee bean shape they feel denser and there is more resistance to the bite. Furthermore, the coating has a more lustrous finish, so that each tiny piece looks almost look polished. The shell has a refined sugariness to it, yet the chocolate inside, although sweet, is redolent of rich ground coffee. Here sugar and coffee coexist, which is not the case in many such candies, where the mild milkiness of the dairy dilutes the complex coffee notes. That is not to say that they are particularly bitter or acidic; there is just the right blend of coffee in this chocolate.
Following on with Choco Baby, perhaps the most interesting candy in the mix, as I’ve never seen anything like it elsewhere. I’ve always found the shape rather odd, as the sweets resemble the little pellets of pet food I used to give my hamster (both before and after the hamster ate them…), yet the glossy surface and milky cocoa scent are very appetising. Eating Choco Baby is an enjoyable experience, as you can savour two or three grains at a time, or eat a small handful and allow them to coalesce into a sticky, milky-sweet mass. Unlike Marble and Coffeebeat, these candies don’t have an outer shell; the whole piece is made up of the same chocolatey substance, which has a firm, fudgey consistency.
Lastly, Apollo, whose adorable hat-wearing bunny wins the award for cutest mascot. The conical chocolates depicted in the box-art are a vibrant bubblegum pink, whereas in reality the colour is a paler milky pink. The flavour of the strawberry chocolate is like that of the Marble, except that there are no overtones of tartness, making Apollo the sweeter of the two. The milk chocolate base is sugary, with only faint notes of cocoa, and somewhat oily, meaning that the melt is not as silky as it could be. With no hard shell to protect them, the Apollo tend to get the most tarnished, and there are also a few visible air pockets around the seam between the milk and strawberry chocolate, though of course none of this affects the flavour.
I’d say that I prefer this to the other Meiji selection, even though it contains fewer varieties, because some of the biscuit-based snacks in the eight variety pack were somewhat bland and dry, and the mixture was too heavy on milk chocolate. I should state that this is a relatively cheap product and as such is made with accordingly low-cost ingredients, so the chocolate isn’t always great. However, I feel it offers a good range of textures, shapes and flavours to keep things interesting, and has the advantage of being a single-serving pack, which can be an important factor for consumers living alone who don’t want to buy their candy in bulk.
If by any chance you’re put off by the Coffeebeat, as it seems many people have an aversion to coffee chocolates, you can always look out for the individual miniature boxes from Petit-assort, which are sold separately at Daiso, allowing you to pick and choose to suit your tastes.
7/10
Meiji Petit-assort 5pcs 274kcal
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