Friday, July 8, 2005

Green and Black Caramels

Name: Green Tea and Black Sugar Caramels
Brand: Morinaga
Place Purchased: Jbox
Price: $1.75 & $1.60 plus shipping
Size: 60 grams
Calories per ounce: unknown
Type: Caramel

I know, you must think me obsessed with caramels. But they are one of the most perfect expressions of sugar and fat. Soft, yielding, bursting with sugary flavor that lingers in the crevices of your mouth. They’re great for summer too, since they’re not subject to the temperature extremes of chocolate.

As promised, I’m ready to share my Japanese finds from my recent shipment.

First is Morinaga’s Kokutou Caramel. This is what’s known as a black sugar caramel, or probably what westerners know of as brown sugar or molasses. This caramel is darker than the milk caramels I’ve tried from Japan. It has a slightly rummy aroma and a definite molasses bite to it when chewing. It’s a really nice, smooth caramel with a good finish. There’s no molasses bitterness either. It’s not sticky, but plenty chewy with a good milky consistency.

Morinaga also makes a Matcha Caramel, which is a green tea flavored caramel. The nugget is definitely green. It smells of green tea and tastes just like green tea ice cream, with that same smooth roasted flavor and slight bitter tinge. Unfortunately after chewing for a while, it feels a little grainy and slightly bitter, like there are real ground up leaves in there. That aside, they’re quite addictive and both caramels complement each other well - so I can just alternate between the two all afternoon.

Rating: Kokutou Caramel - 8 out of 10
Matcha Caramel - 7 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:19 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry     CandyReviewMorinagaCaramel7-Worth It8-TastyJapan

Comments
  1. I believe the origials come in a mustard yellow packaging, and was probably the milk caramel version. The dark brown version is definately darker and carries a more burnt aroma (not in a bad way—kind of like stronger coffee). My dad ate these candies when he was growing up in Taiwan in the 1950’s. I think I was nine or ten the first time he bought these for me at the local Asian supermarket.  According to my dad, the wrapping hasn’t changed much.

    Comment by Ginger on 8/15/06 at 12:37 pm #
  2. I love Morinaga’s matcha caramel. I guess it’s because I’m quite fond of green tea like green tea ice cream. raspberry

    I wonder whether the matcha caramel is available in Singapore (where I’m currently based now).

    Comment by Gyle on 8/03/07 at 4:06 am #
  3. Hi there… for your info, these caramel candy (matcha flavoured included) are available at the Japanese supermart located at the basement level of Central, which is the new mall located next to Clarke Quay MRT station.

    Comment by Xinwei on 8/26/07 at 9:39 pm #
  4. This seems so cool! I wanna try it so bad

    Comment by bebe on 6/15/08 at 5:32 am #
  5. I found an English black tea flavored version of these in a store in Taiwan (these are the version that come individually wrapped in a bag, rather than a box- same candy just oblong and bicolored (dark outside, light inside like Hi-Chews).  They are very tasty, and remind of milk tea (like the kind in boba tea (bubbly milk tea) or the kind you make yourself with a caramelly note.

    Comment by Temperance on 10/07/09 at 2:42 am #
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