If you happened to have been sitting at your computer all day last Thursday, constantly refreshing our site (and I’m sure many of you do), you would have noticed something odd. On Breanna’s Japanese KitKat review, the spelling of KitKat kept changing between Kit Kat and KitKat. What you couldn’t see was a feverish effort behind the scenes to research which way was actually correct. Unfortunately, it just isn’t a clear cut matter.

You see, in the United States, Hershey obtained a special licensing agreement in 1969 which allows it to manufacture and distribute Kit Kats. According to the Hershey Kit Kat page, the proper form is, in fact, the split form of Kit Kat.

However, Hershey’s arch competitor Nestle manufactures and distributes KitKat in pretty much the rest of the world. While their website isn’t terribly consistent, for the most part, and especially on their history of KitKat page, the one word form is used.

After much discussion and wrangling, we finally decided to go with whichever form is used in the country in which the bar in question is produced - in the case of Japan, KitKat. It wasn’t easy, but we think we’ve finally come to a suitable compromise. Oh, the stress of a Candy Addict’s life!

• Kit Kat articles on Candy Addict

Buy Japanese KitKats Online:

• at Jbox.com

Buy U.S. Kit Kats Online:

• at Amazon.com
• at Candy Direct
• at Old Time Candy Co

More candy articles about: kit kat, kitkat, chocolate, Nestle, Hershey

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… football cream?

Last week’s episode of The Office had a great little candy moment when Andy couldn’t quite remember the rest of the lyrics to the Kit Kat jingle. Observe:

It’s too bad Andy didn’t check online. If he had, he would have easily discovered our list of the Top 10 Candy Jingles, with useful links to the commercials on YouTube. At least he’d know that the song doesn’t advertise a brand of cat food!

UPDATE: Here’s a hilarious mashup of the real commercial and Andy.

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Japan’s 7-11 stores have jumped onto the limited edition KitKat bandwagon. It’s not surprising that they want in on this very profitable market. 7-11 has released three new flavors that you can only find in their convenience stores, which thankfully isn’t a hard thing considering how common they are. The three KitKat flavors are Banana Choco, Blood Orange, and Yubari Melon. Here’s how they rate:

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Winter in Japan is the strawberry limited edition candy time and KitKat is not one to be left out. Like last year, KitKat has come out with a special edition strawberry flavor. This year is unusual though, since it seems one is not enough. Two new strawberry flavored KitKats have been released: one that comes in a giant bag of Mini Strawberry fingers, and the other is a full bar called “Winter Strawberry”.

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Is it just me, or does this limited edition KitKat from Japan sound like an iPod accessory? Thankfully it’s not, as it would be both expensive and not a tasty candy bar.

The iStick KitKat was a summer release and unlike the other varieties, was found in the freezer section of stores. It is meant to be eaten cold. No rules apply though, you can eat an iStick at room temperature if you’d like. I didn’t eat my first one cold and I quickly found out why. The chocolate is so rich that it melts rather quickly in your hands, making one big delicious mess. Other than temperature preferences, the iStick is very different from all the other Kitkats.

The size is perfect, the in-between of a BigKat (or what they now call the KitKat Chunky) and a normal KitKat. Each finger 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide and one package comes with two fingers in it rather than one or four. The rest of the makeup of the iStick is identical to a regular KitKat, except for the top of the bar where the wafers have been removed and a layer of fudge replaces it. Yeah, you heard me. A KitKat with a fudge layer in it. I am officially in heaven.

The taste? Wow, just wow! It is incredibly chocolatey, I could hardly believe it. It’s like eating brownie batter! The fudge layer is a lot larger than the box illustration lets on. It can take up to 1/2 of the inside of this KitKat, and boy can you really taste it! The fudge and wafers balance perfect texture-wise, and the smooth chocolate coating just adds another level of bliss. The size is perfect for eating too: not to big, not too small. It’s Ddefinitely one of my favorite KitKat bars EVER! I wish they’d make something like this in the U.S., I think it’d be really popular. I give it the Candy Addict Awesomely Addictive Candy Award!

• Kitkat Japan (Breaktown) Webpage

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Spring is approaching (well, for some of us anyways) and no one understands this better than the Japanese. The cherry blossoms (sakura) will be in bloom followed by the intense and dreaded college entrance exams that many Japanese students study so hard for.

Parents of these students express their support buy buying them chocolate in the form of Kitkats! They do this because the the name of Kitkat in Japan “Kitto Katsu” translates to “you shall surely win/be victorious”. The Japanese love plays on words and puns, so of course they see KitKat as a very auspicious chocolate bar. Nestle (who makes KitKats in Japan, not Hershey) noticed the increased demand for the candy and has happily complied. They even released a limited edition Sakura Kitkat last year especially for the occasion.

• Japanese KitKats are Good Luck Article
• Japanese Kitkat Website

More candy articles about: candy, sweets, kitkat, kitkats, Kit Kat, Kit Kats, Japan, Japanese, good luck, chocolate

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These Japanese Kitkats are mini finger bars produced by Le Patissier Takagi. They’re the latest in “specialty” KitKats from Japan, following the “Wine” and “Noir” flavors from last winter. Each finger is about 1 3/4 inches long which is perfect for snacking, sharing or a quick treat.

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Ahh, Japan, the land of seasonal treats! The pumpkin, so revered by the Japanese as the quintessential autumn vegetable; it can be boiled, roasted, baked, steamed, and mashed up with pounds of sugar and turned into a seasonal candy!

I was recently in Japan, and a friend casually let it slide that pumpkin-flavored KitKats were available in stores, which of course then turned into a quest to find them. After searching through candy aisles at various convenience stores (amazing candy selection at Japanese convenience stores!) and supermarkets, I finally found them at, yes, a convenience store! The happy pumpkins on the package led me to believe these were for Halloween, which is not really celebrated in Japan, but hey, if there’s a chance to produce and market new goods, why not?

First, the aroma–the KitKat doesn’t smell particularly pumpkiny. It gives off a slightly fruity scent, kind of like how those raspberry-filled Russell Stover candies smell. I thought the KitKat might be orange in color, but it looks like an ordinary KitKat. One crunch in, and, well, it doesn’t really taste like pumpkin, either. It does have a less chocolately taste than a regular KitKat with perhaps a hint of uh, je ne sais quois. I find that the pumpkin-flavored KitKat is neither delicious nor repulsive. Maybe if I stare at a pumpkin while eating the KitKat, it will taste more like pumpkin?

• Nestlé Japan web site
• Buy Japanese KitKats at JList

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(picture from Wikipedia)

These are also know as Kit Kat Crispy Monogatari and according to this ebay auction, they are limited edition and just came out in Japan earlier this month. They are essentially Kit Kats without the outer chocolate coating and according to Wikipedia, are a newer version of Kit Kat Crispy Sando (Sandwich).

Other than that, I can’t find much more info on it. It’s not listed in the Japanese Kit Kat store, and neither JList nor Asian Food Grocer are selling it. I did find some more pics of it on Flickr and one of them said “it’s a KitKat without the chocolate coating and with mango cream instead of that bizarre fake peanut butter”. Another one of the Flickr pics says the top of the box (possibly the bottom of the one pictured above) says “KitKat has put off its chocolate!”

• ebay auction
• Kit Kat on Wikipedia
• Multiple Flickr pics
• Japanese Kit Kat site

More candy articles about: candy, sweets, kit kat, kitkat, nestle, chocolate, naked, japan, japanese, new products, limited edition

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Yes, another Limited Edition Kit Kat. I swear I could probably have a whole site devoted to just Kit Kat and that would keep me busy.

I first heard of this Kit Kat variation when David at Way Awesome reviewed it - he wasn’t impressed and I wasn’ t going to go out of my way to get one. The other day though, I was in the local dollar store and they had them there (2/$1.00) and I couldn’t resist so I snagged one.

At first sniff, it really does smell like a milkshake - I’m not even sure how to describe what a milkshake smells like, but this did remind me of a milkshake. Upon tasting, it has a good, slightly malty flavor. It does say on the wrapper “Crisp Wafers in Extra Creamy Malt Milk Chocolate”. The chocolate seems a bit more milk chocolatey than usual too. You know, I think I like this better than regular Kit Kat. Of course, I really like malt flavor, so that was to be expected.

It’s a “Limited Edition” so it probably won’t be around long, so I suggest grabbing one if you like malt-flavored chocolate. When I had finished the Milkshake Kit Kat, I wanted more. I guess that says it all.

• More Kit Kats on Candy Addict
• Hershey’s Kit Kat page
• Comprehensive Kit Kat page at Wikipedia

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