I feel I should have something a little more festive to review at this time of year, but I brought these home for my sister in England so it’s what we’ve been eating over the Christmas holiday. I briefly reviewed some green-tea flavoured Pocky before, but Wagokoro is a deluxe version focused on typical Japanese ingredients that comes in a larger box containing four servings of six sticks, as opposed to the usual two packets of eight or so.
With their thicker chocolate coating studded with crumbs of Uji matcha cookie, these pieces feel heavier and more substantial than the standard Pocky, though the basic biscuit is the same. The pale, leaf-green colour reminds me of pea-flavoured savoury snacks rather than matcha, but there is certainly a matcha scent and delicate flavour to them, as well the light taste of powdered milk that resembles rich tea biscuits, and a hint of saltiness.
Smooth and creamy but not too rich or sweet, the milk chocolate is of good quality and melts slowly in the mouth. The triple texture combination of chocolate, cookie fragments and biscuit works wonderfully, especially as the brittle crumble of the biscuit stick is very different to the firm crunch of the matcha cookie pieces.
Despite the emphasis on the green tea element of this product, the aroma was subtle and I found myself enjoying the texture of the cookie crunch over its flavour. I’m not usually a fan of biscuits but the addition of cookie crumbs to the chocolate gave the pieces a more satisfying bite and interesting consistency, which I really enjoyed, and I’d certainly be tempted by any further additions to this luxurious line.
7/10
Pocky Wagokoro Uji Matcha Cookie Crunch 107kcals per six pieces
The Sweet Japan Blog 