I bought these packs of KitKat during a recent trip to Manila in orange and mint flavors. I know they’re not even close to the strange flavors that Japan comes up with.

According to this Wikipedia entry, there are 101 flavors available in Japan, with a few of them available in other countries, like boring flavors such as orange and white chocolate.

In fact, bringing home the weirdest KitKat flavor from Japan has become some sort of a quest. Though the last time I was there, I stuck to the “safe” flavors mango and purin (creme brulee).

The creme brulee flavor is my favorite. I guess it’s also because I am a huge fan of creme brulees that whenever I eat at hotel buffets, I must have it.

Here are some of the flavors I have found online:

Well, grilled corn is a favorite during matsuris (festivals) so sooner or later, they’d come up with this one. No surprise there.

I ain’t quite sure about the combo of sweet and sour though it works for dishes, but in chocolates? It reminds me of the apple cider vinegar in my kitchen.

Here are some of the fruit flavors:

Most of these fruit flavors are not really hen (strange). There are all sorts of strawberry-flavored chocolates all over. The banana one is said to be made from bananas that came from southern Japan. The Japanese are big on their local ingredients, apparently. I wonder where the pineapple came from? From the other Japan aka Hawaii? Pineapple is kind of unique but not exactly as weird as watermelon & salt. This flavor calls to mind summer but I wonder if it would be as refreshing?

If you’re a super berry fan, then this one is for you:

I’m also wondering, if you throw in all these fruit flavors together, do you get this?

And it just gets weirder…

First, what is kinako ohagi? Kinako is soybean flour that tastes like peanut butter while ohagi is sweet rice and azuki (red bean). There was even a Pepsi azuki flavor that is no longer available now.  Toasted soy flour or kinako, meanwhile, is the one that they dust over mochis. Why couldn’t they have just dusted a regular KitKat with kinako then? Red bean is different from the red bean soup flavor. Many people online have called red bean soup KitKat as “red beak soup” so I checked if I’m just guessing it wrong. But there is no such thing as “red beak” so perhaps it was a typo although many people have made a fuss on what “red beak soup” actually is. I don’t think it crossed their mind that it may actually refer to red bean or maybe they thought that it’s a bird specie’s red beak? Harhar.

I had ginger ale during another visit to Japan and it tasted… awful. I love ginger ale but in a KitKat bar, it gave me no love. Now, I’m no longer surprised at the soy sauce flavor because Korea is even coming up with a soy sauce cotton candy. But candied sweet potato and potato KitKat? Oh, and that pumpkin one is just perfect for Halloween.

There are special flavors too:

I think I’m gonna love the black sugar and maple ones. I hope they’d still be available when I visit Japan next year.

The Bretagne flavor is said to be made from Bretagne milk and Ecuadorian cocoa butter that is part of the luxurious signature editions made in collaboration with gourmet Japanese confectionary chef Takagi-san. Muscat of Alexandria is another example. They even came up with a chocolatier wine KitKat.

They also have something for the vegetarians:

For Christmas, why not some chestnuts?

And of course since this is Japan, sakura needs to have its own flavor too.

This list is not even complete yet as I couldn’t find flavors like aloe vera (wouldn’t this make you feel like eating shampoo?), aloe yogurt (!), cheese, cola and lemon squash (what the hey!), citrus pepper (some cocktail maybe?), cucumber (can I soak them in cold water and put them over my panda eyes?), exotic Kansai (described as sweet chocolate with a sour mix of orange, lemon, and passion fruit accented with ginger, ow yeah!), iced tea (hmm, this one I would like to try actually), jasmine tea (this too), lemon chocolate (said to be a Valentine’s day limited edition, which makes me wonder why… lemon?),lemon vinegar (well if there is apple vinegar, then there must be lemon vinegar), miso (did I hear someone slurp?), pepper, pickled plum, rose, sports drink (…), sparkling strawberry (what’s with the sparkling? is this wine or something?) and yes of course… wasabi.

Okay, Imma gonna take a break now and have one of those mint Kitkats. After that list, mint KitKat suddenly sounds so boring. And wait… 150 calories?!

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