Japan Candy Box September 2016

A year ago I was lucky enough to receive a box from Japan Candy Box. I do love trying new kinds of food and this wasn't any different.

You can read more about the experience here.

This year I was invited by Blippo Kawaii Shop, who owns Japan Candy Box to do a review of their latest box. Of course, I said yes because ... candy!

The Japan Candy Box is a subscription kind of a box which contains 8-10 unique Japanese snacks and candies. They change from month to month and I'm reviewing the September box. 

It costs between $18.20 to $19.90 a month. It depends on how long you subscribe. Also, the shipping is free which is always a bonus with such boxes. It's not the cheapest box out there, but it's quite a unique concept and a box which should every Japanese enthusiast try at least once ;). 

In the span of a year, they have improved their boxes a lot. I am really digging the print on the cardboard and the "Tips".

This box consists of 10 different brands of snacks which I was really excited to try. Let us begin!

#1 Kracie Dodotto Octopus Eggs DIY Kit

Yummy gummy octopus eggs, anyone? This yet another crazy and funny DIY set from Kracie will blow you away by it's uniqueness! Mix two different liquids in two separate dishes, and by using the squeezy octopus dropper, suck in the liquid and drop the eggs in the other candy liquid by squeezing the octopus! Now you have yummy grape-flavored octopus eggs that can be eaten with a fizzy candy pulver also included in the package. Surprise your friends with this adorable octopus egg dessert! So funny and gummy!

This is the set that I was the most excited about. The step by step instructions were quite easy to understand and I enjoyed creating the candy. The end result was this fluffy creamy candy (looked sort of like a yogurt) with colored sugar specks inside. Delicious! 

#2 Kabaya Mixed Fruit Bottle Candy

This bottle by Kabaya includes small but tasty hard star shaped candy balls! The bottle has three different flavored candies inside: apple, grape and orange! The bottle is illustrated with funny animal picture! So cute and sweet!

These candies were hard and cute. I like the container as it's easy to use and to put away. The flavors are grape, apple, and orange but I liked the best the apple flavor. The candy wasn't too sweet as it's usual in our Western versions of hard candy, so I am pretty impressed. Not my favorite, but it was fine.  -

#3 Calbee Vegetable Snacks

Calbee is famous for their exciting snacks! This set includes a package full of different flavors of tasty vegetable snacks. Try for example the delicious flavors of bell pepper, carrot and tomato. Bring these treats to a movie night or offer them at your next party - so tasty and cute! No extra fat or oil added, so these delicious snacks are healthy too!

I think that these look fun because of the heart shape. I tried all the flavors and I liked the most the bell pepper flavor. One thing I noticed is that they aren't really salty. Here it's usual that chips or similar snacks are extremely saturated with salt, but these were lovely. I want to repurchase them.

#4 Kanro Pure Mini Gummies

Japanese people love sour candies! These juicy sour gummies by Kanro are made from 100% fruit purée with no artificial colors or flavors! The cute snack sized packages contain 4 different flavours:

apple, grape, lemon and strawberry. The fruit gummies are covered with sour powder and will make you make faces while eating these candies! Choose your favorite flavor or try them all with your friends and family!

I was expecting these candies to be less sour and more ... I don't know. But the sugar and crystals have a nice sour taste which I liked. What I didn't like is the flavor of the candies. They are grape flavored but to me, they mostly taste like must (the "juice" you get when you squeeze fresh grapes that are to become wine). 

#5 Tohato Caramel Corn

Tohato has made these famous caramel corn treats since 1971 and they are popular for a reason! The light delicious taste of caramel and the crispiness of the corns together make these a perfect snack for any occasion! The set includes 4 packages and each package includes a funny instruction on how to enjoy these goodies - PakuPaku, munch at your snacks; MoguMogu, chew a mouthful; PoiPoi toss and Perori, eat up! Try out these funny Japanese snacks with your friends and family!

Are you a fan of peanut puffs? Well, I am and I was shocked when I tried these. They are sweet but with a smokey aftertaste (because of the caramel). I didn't enjoy them, but my kid loved them. 

#6 Doraemon Ramune Squash Soda Bubble Gum

Ramune is a popular citrus flavored soda drink in Japan. Now you can enjoy this famous beverage in a form of gum! This sweet package features the beloved Doraemon character and contains 5 individually wrapped bubble gum bars. Keep these yummy bars to yourself or have a blast with friends by blowing big gum bubbles together!

I am not the biggest fan of chewing gum but I am always open to trying new things. These gums are individually wrapped with Doraemon drawings (?) and have very gentle taste. Not too sweet and slightly of some sort of lemons? They were nice. 

#7 Popin' Cookin' Oekaki Animal Candy Land DIY Kit

Kracie DIY sets are a fun and interesting way to make your own sweets. This is a Do-It-Yourself set for creating your own multi-colored soda-flavored gummy animals. Mix the materials to create your own color combinations! Each set comes with 4 different moulds such as penguin, panda, rabbit and giraffe etc. The package includes all the necessary ingredients, tools and instructions - just add water and creativity. This set is great fun for children and adults alike.

The thing is that I wanted to try these in like forever. Now I finally had the chance and I can say that I do like the idea of creating them, but a bit less the steps it takes to get to the candy. 

The kit comes with three colors and two gum/soft candy pastes. The colors don't really have any flavor but the gum pastes are tasty. I liked it but the hassle was just too much. 

#8 Coris Soft Centered Grape Gum

These soft grape flavoured gum balls have a soft cola paste centre. The bubble gum balls come nestled in a small plastic tray. Beware! One of the three tasty bubble gum treats is actually a super sour flavour sweet in disguise. Try your luck!

Soft grape flavored gums that don't have much of flavor. One of the three comes with a sour center and since I didn't get it (I tried 2) I guess my kid did. Hah! A fun idea, but I wish it would have a better flavor. 

#9 Coris Gum Gum Chewing Gum

Coris does not only make delicious Horadekita DIY kits, but yummy chewing gums also! This package comes with 5 little boxes of colorful and funny chewing gum. The 5 boxes come in 5 different flavors - apple, banana, grape, fruit mix and soda. Chew some gum!

These were cute small chewing gum with nice flavors (I am not sure which ones, but I did enjoy them). Sadly you can't create a nice bubble with them and they loose the flavor pretty quickly. But otherwise it's a nice sort of a gum. 

#10 Lotte Pokemon Ramune Candy

Lotte Pokemon Soda (ramune) 5-Pack Candy has 5 amazing flavors, each having their own individual Pokemon character and bag. Now you can enjoy either pineapple, melon, cola, soda or grape flavors. The candies are round and super tasty - just place one in your mouth and the candy will start to fizz. Exciting!

You know what seems to me? That the theme of this box was yet again grape. With a little variation. I don't know what I am not a fan of grape flavored candy. Maybe one, but more than one? Nah, won't happen. Anyway, I didn't know this was a Pokemon so I was quite surprised to learn about it. The candies have little flavor and remind me of those energy candies that you can buy in stores. 

GIVEAWAY

If you are a fan of Japanese Candies and snacks you can enter to win your very own Japan Candy Box!

The giveaway is open internationally and the winner will be picked by the company organizing it (Blippo) on 9th November.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Japan Candy Box - August 2015

Hey,

I was so excited when it was set that the Japan Candy Box will be my sponsor for a review (and giveaway which can be found here). I am a huge fan of anything Asian and especially Korean and Japanese. And I always dreamed of trying some of the more known Japanese sweets. Ah, a dream came true!

The day came, I got the box in the mail. It went through customs and thus it was pretty much beaten up (they really don't know how to open a package nicely), that's why I am not showing you the box today. I got extremely happy but decided to wait for my kid to get home, so we could start the tasting together. I mean, I wanted to see his reaction ;).

The moment came. I opened the box and squealed with joy. Oh, everything looked SO CUTE! 

 More after the jump (this post is very picture heavy)

The Japan Candy Box is a subscription kind of a box which contains 8-10 unique Japanese snacks and candies. They change from month to month and I'm reviewing the August box. 

It costs between $18.20 to $19.90 a month. It depends for how long you subscribe. Also, the shipping is free which is always a bonus with such boxes. It's not the cheapest box out there, but it's quite a unique concept and a box which should every Japanese enthusiast try at least once ;). 

I got 10 candies in the August box and even if they came packaged in a small kind of a box, there are plenty of them to feast on. 

I will review each candy separately, just over the pictures. I decided to go with separate pictures instead of one big mess of them (merged) because it's easier on the eyes and you can see how pretty they are. 

First are the Moominvalley Biscuits. These are the first that caught my eyes. A lovely blue package with the well known Moomin character. We did have the cartoon here back in my "younger" days. 

The biscuit is a dry kind of a biscuit and the taste is nothing new to me. It tastes like the "Albert cookies" we have available in Slovenia. Yummy but nothing extraordinary (except the shape and package). I did like the taste and my kid also enjoyed it. 

The next we have the Meji Yan Yan Biscuit Sticks which looked familiar to many similarly available products in my home country. The packaging lets us know it contains chocolate and some sort of bread sticks inside. I liked the bread sticks because they weren't salty or didn't have much flavour to them so the combination with the chocolate was fantastic. The chocolate tastes a lot like hazelnuts and for a moment or two it brought me back into time, to my childhood. I was ecstatic! A taste I know from my childhood. I can't pinpoint what exactly it is, but I loved it! GREAT! 

I thought I knew exactly what I was tasting when I bit into the Tohato Anpanman Caramel Corn, but I soon realised I didn't even read the package. Of course it's so distractingly cute I kind of just forgot to do so. Well, these are corn flips except sweet. The taste is pretty much caramel with an aftertaste of corn flips. It's very interesting, but I was unexpecting is. The kid loved it and I think he ate them all. For me, it was interesting. 

Oh, the so darn cute Rilakkuma Cookie sticks  are exactly that. Cute sticks that come in an even cuter package that comes in a cute box that taste like plain vanilla cookies. I was expecting more a classic pocky flavour but these were a surprise. The scent is very milky and the taste is buttery. A more buttery version of our Albert cookies. But a cuter one- 

Kracie Tsunagete DIY Chain Candy is a lovely DIY set about which I was very excited. I love everything DIY and these looked fun. Except they aren't as fun as they look and are better to be eaten than to be watched or worn. They came in two shapes a C shape and an A shape. Both in different colors. The A shape is a light blue color and tasted a bit like bubble gum, nothing too definite about it. The C shape is orange and it tasted like the Maoam candy we have here, but firmer. 

 The next ones are the extremely sour Shigekix Super Sour Grape Gummies. I was so happy to try what is very sour in Japan. And I wasn't disappointed. They are very very sour. The kid spits it out the same moment he got the candy in his mouth. But I liked them. These are actually small gummy candy covered in sour powder. The taste is well, grape. Exactly the taste you think it has. Like grape juice. Or artificial grape, just less sweet. 

  

Then we have some candy that looked like something I could buy in my country. Well, I am talking about the Puccho Watermelon Chewy Candy. These are a bit hard when you first bit them but after some chewing they get softer. Not very soft, so there's that to be considered. The candy comes individually wrapped in silver foil and the foil has some characters (?) drawn on them. They are filled with a watermelon flavoured paste. The kid loved them. I? Not so much. The candy was a bit plain for me. But I am the minority in such thinking ;).

Oh, the ones I'll dream about are the Bourbon Petit Choco Filled Cookies. Do you see a theme here? anything that has chocolate in it, it's instant love for me. Hilarious. 

No, but really these are out of this world. The biscuits are delicate and crunchy and have a similar taste to the sweet ice cream cones. Inside they are filled with some milk chocolate cream and they are D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S. 

The next candy is a widely known candy (we have similar ones here) by Yaokin Sour Grape Paper Candy. It is a regular sour sugar coated candy strip and the more you chew it, the sourest it becomes. I liked it and the kid did so too. It is the same grape flavour as before. Really, grape flavour is fine, but it hardly has any nuances. 

And for the last one, here's another DIY or more mix it yourself kind of product. I'm talking about the Kracie Neru Neru Nerune DIY Candy. The packaging looks intriguing and I couldn't wait to get my hands on some glassware and water. I checked the instructions and hoped it doesn't say anything about hot or cold water because I couldn't read it D:. 

The mixing is quite fun. First you take 200ml of water and pour in it powder 1. In another cup, you take 20ml of water and pour powder 2. Then you mix the smaller liquid into the bigger one. Stir well. You take another cup, add in 10ml of water and add powder 3. Pour it into the big mix. And you're done. The taste? Grape. Seriously, was this box grape themed? :P It is also slightly carbonized and has a tingly feeling on the tongue, like a soft drink, just less. The kid loved it, but I wasn't too excited about it simply because of the grape flavour. 

  

In the end, I got worried because mine did have switched colors :P.

I am very happy that I got to try this box of Japanese Candy. Each one of them did taste quite differently (except the Moomin biscuits and the Rilakkuma Pockeys and three grape flavoured things). I enjoyed this a lot and found it a great bonding experience with my kid. 

I do recommend trying this box if you are into candies or sweet snacks because they are interesting and some flavours are unavailable to us, European people (ahem, Slovenian people ok). 

This product was sent to me by the company itself or its PR. For more information please do read my Disclosure Policy. My opinion is always honest.