White Adult Sweetness KitKat

I'm not sure what to make of the "adult" line of KitKats in Japan. When I ask my Magic 8 Ball about whether or not it is popular, it's saying that all signs point to "yes". In addition to the original less sweet semi-sweet release, there is currently a white chocolate and green tea version. On the other hand, I keep seeing this particular KitKat stacked in huge boxes and for a reduced price. Shortly after my husband and I paid full price (100 yen/$1.25) for this bar, I found it on sale for a mere 59 yen at Okashi no Machioka discount snack shop. I had seen the original version available for the same price not too long ago and I figure that the market must be flooded for it to show up in such a proverbial bargain bin. However, if it's not popular, why does Nestle Japan expand the line?

For white chocolate in particular, I'm quite pleased at the development of an reduced sweetness version as it tends to run on the cloyingly sweet side normally. I'm hoping that scaling back the sweetness will mean good things for the likes of me, though I honestly was not the one who chose this bar. It was my husband's choice. These days, he wears the pants in the family when it comes to buying KitKats. Normally, for big life purchases, we both have one leg in those pants, but I'm willing to defer to his wishes when it comes to consumer confectionary.

The main difference between this and the standard white chocolate KitKat offerings is that the filling is dark in color. I believe it is filled with finely crushed bitter chocolate cookies (like the dark portion of an Oreo cookie) rather than a super thin layer of cream, or at least that such cookies are mixed with the cream. This smells like standard white chocolate, which is to say like frosting and sugar. The first bite seems quite sweet initially, but then the filling mellows it out a bit and provides a flatter experience that mellows out the white chocolate. Overall, the mixture is far more palatable than plain most white chocolate offerings, but it lacks any serious depth of flavor. Still, as a KitKat with all of its textural delights, the balance is quite pleasant.

I would have liked this a bit better if there was some more profound bitterness to the interior of the bar, but I really have no complaints. That being said, I definitely wouldn't take this over a kinako or plain milk chocolate big bar, or even a regular milk chocolate KitKat. It's good, but not great. Note that this is a box of 3 mini bars of 69 calories each rather than two packages with longer fingers of around 100 calories. This new format is increasingly common for the standard KitKat in Japan and likely caters to the smaller snacking habits of Japanese consumers.