Tea's Tea Bergamot and Orange

The cherry blossom season is in full swing as I write this, and possibly swinging toward its end by the time this gets published. My husband and I paid a visit to Shinjuku Gyoen (Park) early in the season to see what was up with the blossoms there. During that trip, we both got incredibly hungry and I opted to buy their "sakura sembei" and to wash it down with an expensive bottle of Tea's Tea from a vending machine.

The sakura sembei was pretty interesting in that it had some intensive soy sauce flavoring coated with a sweet frosted shell. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't pay 150 yen ($1.76) for a single cracker of it again. I've had better sembei and had it cheaper. Still, it looked pretty, and it fit the season.

As for the tea, Tea's Tea seems to be what I buy when I'm out sightseeing in Japan. Readers with a good memory may recall that I picked up a bottle of their milk tea when I climbed Mt. Takao, and I loved it. I was hoping that history would repeat itself, but even the beauty of a well-manicured park and cherry blossoms couldn't influence my opinion of this drink such that I'd see it favorably. This was vile.

The main problem with this was that it tasted like orange Kool-aid with fake bergamot essence. Bergamot is what gives Earl Grey tea its luster, and this in no way reminded me of that particular tea. I'm sure part of the problem was that it was too sweet, but really it was bad because the orange part was just nasty and the "tea" part was almost absent. I drank about 1/3 of the bottle and poured out the rest. That's how bad it was.

Sapporo Potekaru Baked Potato Chips

I've read that Japanese beer makers are targeting female customers more because they are a demographic which hasn't yet been thoroughly explored. Apparently, Japanese men are already so thoroughly on board with beer that there's really no point in pushing them any harder. I have to imagine that Sapporo, best known for its booze, created this otsumami (food meant to be enjoyed with drinks) for women to go along with getting them loaded without  getting too fat.

The advertising for these mentions that the potatoes are from Idaho and that the oil is 72% less than conventional chips. It also says that they are so light that you can eat the entire bag. Since the whole bag (33 grams/1.16 oz.) is only 138 calories, it certainly is light on the hips. The name is a combination of "pote" for "potato" and "karu" for "karui" which means "light" in Japanese.

I tried two different kinds - black pepper and consomme. There is also a plain "salt" flavor. If you pick these up at a convenience store, they're about 160 yen ($1.84) a bag. I got one of mine for that price and the other on sale for 138 yen ($1.58) at a discount snack shop called "Okashi no Marche". At present, the consomme and salt versions are easy to find at most convenience stores (I got mine at 7-11), but the black pepper is less common. These are distributed as "limited editions" in metropolitan areas only. I don't know if this is test marketing or just another case of a product living a short life for the sake of novelty then disappearing.

The chips themselves smell like potato. The flavoring on both the black pepper and consomme is on the light side. Because pepper is a stronger seasoning, I preferred them. The consomme, which has a light dusting of orangish powder, had almost no flavor besides the potato itself.

The chips are super thin and crispy. The texture is amazingly satisfying. The flavor is what you might expect from baked potato chips. It's heavy on potato and has zero oil flavor. I've had Lays brand baked chips before and I like these better. They carry less of the flavor of raw potato that you sometimes get with baked chips.

These are good and the calorie count is amazingly good for the quantity of chips. They aren't going to stack up to the experience of eating greasy, "real" fried chips, but they will gratify a desire for a crispy, salty potato-based snack. The lightness and the texture are excellent. If you like thin chips, these will definitely light your fire. If these weren't so expensive compared to other chips (which are closer to 100-130 yen for the same serving size), I'd eat them often. The price, however, makes them not quite such a great repeat buy. That being said, I've already had them twice, and if they stick around, I know I'll have them again.

Kameda Yaki Choco Snack

Every time I go to Seiyu supermarket, I find that there is a whole world of goodies that I can't find anywhere else. Their selection is bigger, but they also seem to carry a different assortment than other markets. One of the things about snack blogging is that you keep finding every shop is a little treasure trove of unexpected finds. Even when the shops all look the same, the stock is different to some extent.

These "yaki" (grilled) chocolate snack chips grabbed my attention because they aren't fried. That usually is a cue for lower calories, though I can't say that is always the case in Japan. I can't remember what I paid for them, but I think it was something in the vicinity of 130 yen ($1.40). They are made by Kameida Seika, a company which I favor for their sembei.

These chips don't smell like much, and at first, scent and taste match one another. There is a cocoa flavor there, but it's not carried to the taste buds by much. They really need more salt and some sort of sweetener. It doesn't have to be sugar, but maybe a little more Sucralose (which is one of the ingredients already). Cumulatively, the chocolate flavor starts to build up a bit, but not in the way one is accustomed to chocolate flavor as it is delivered with copious amounts of fat and sugar. It's more of a diluted flavor reminiscent of cocoa nibs at about 10% of their power.

These chips are designed as much for their wonderfully crunchy texture and low calorie nature as anything else. The entire bag is 45 grams (1.6 oz.) is only 198 calories. You could sit down with a cup of coffee and eat the whole thing with limited guilt. As is often the case with Japanese chocolate products, they're designed more toward the bitter end than the creamy, sweet experience you get with a lot of Western chocolate.

I liked these. They reminded me of diet food back home, but in a good way. I'm not sure that they would be as appealing to others as they are to me, but texture is half the battle when for a food becoming a part of my diet. If you don't judge these by their distance from a chocolate bar, and think of them more as a much, much milder chip version of an Oreo cookie's non-creamy part, you may enjoy them as well.

Glico 80-calorie Rum Raisin Ice Milk

While researching rum raisin flavors, I came across the word A'bunadh; that is a word for a Scottish whiskey with a "rum raisin finish" (according to Wikipedia). I don't think that this whiskey had anything to do with the ice cream flavor, and I never did find out the origins of rum raisin ice cream. The only thing I did discover was that my notion that only toothless old grannies and grampies enjoyed it was dead wrong. Plenty of young folks seem to enjoy it, too, but perhaps that's because they think they're going to get loaded if they put away enough of it.

Though I'm not really a big fan of rum raisin ice cream, I decided to try this low calorie version because my only options in the Glico "calorie control" line are vanilla, chocolate with chocolate chips, green tea, and this. Though I haven't reviewed them, I have eaten the vanilla and chocolate before. The chocolate is very sub-standard. The flavor is very weak. The vanilla is also lacking in any real flavor, but does have a blandly pleasant generic dairy taste.


I went for the rum raisin because I thought it would be more flavorful than the other offerings, and boy howdy, I was right. This smells of rum and the first bite is super strong rum flavoring. As your taste buds get saturated, the heavy rum flavoring seems to mellow a bit, but it's still quite present throughout. The raisins are simply small shredded bits of raisin, so you can barely detect them either as a taste or texture. This is much more of a "rum flavored" ice cream than rum raisin.

When I ate this, I let it sit and get just so slightly melted around the edges. This makes gives you a greater sense of a creamy texture even though this is ice milk. Like the 80-calorie monaka that I reviewed before, this is made with polydextrose. It also contains Sucralose and Maltitol. For the privilege of eating 110 ml. (about a half cup) of ice milk, I paid about 150 yen ($1.68) at AM/PM convenience store. "Calorie control" certainly doesn't come cheap.

I liked this about as much as I'm going to like rum raisin as a flavor. I was pleased that this was so flavorful, but I wished that there had been actual raisins rather than the tattered remains of what looked like 2 raisins. I also wished that the rum flavor hadn't been so strong, but even a booze sissy like me didn't find it to be oppressive. I'd certainly buy this again if I found myself in the mood for this particular flavor.

Glico 80-Calorie Monaka

I've often thought it would be interesting to create a blog devoted to low calorie, diet and health foods in Japan. Of course, I soon realized that such a blog could only update about once a week, if that, because there aren't many of such products. In America, people can create entire blogs devoted to low calorie, reduced fat, and healthy foods, but I'm hard-pressed to find anything in line with their review fodder except the odd zero calorie soft drink. I realize that eating "fake" foods in order to save calories isn't the best way to approach one's diet. However, I also think there is nothing wrong with the occasional indulgence that doesn't come with a hefty calorie price tag.

All of the ice cream in Japan is very rich and fatty. I rarely find a small cup of ice cream with less than 285 calories, and many are over 300. The only exception is Glico's line of 80-calorie ice milk treats. They sell small cups (110 ml.) of green tea, chocolate with chocolate pieces, rum raisin, and vanilla for 150 yen each ($1.69). These are difficult to find, but I can locate them at Natural Lawson's and one of the Family Mart convenience stores in range of my apartment. I have never seen them at local markets.

I was surprised to find that they also carry a low-calorie monaka ice milk sandwich. It is also about 150 yen, but has only 82 ml. of ice milk. According to their web site, they offer green tea and vanilla versions of these monaka, but I've never seen them. The vanilla version has red beans on it instead of the chocolate coating that this one has. All of these are part of what Glico calls their "calorie control" line.


One thing that one has to keep in mind when eating these types of foods is that the bar has to be lowered relative to other types of ice cream and ice milk. The question isn't how this stacks up to full-fat ice cream, but how good it is as a cold confection for 80 calories. Keep in mind that the first ingredient is polydextrose, a form of soluble fiber used to replace sugar. It also contains artificial sweeteners and tofu. Some of the ingredients aren't listed, however. The chocolate and monaka are simply listed as "chocolate coating" and "monaka".

When you give it a sniff, the first thing you smell is the monaka and that is like a cake cone. The monaka is rather soft and has absorbed a bit of moisture. I don't know if it might have been crisper if it hadn't sat in my freezer for a week, but my guess is that it wouldn't. Monaka aren't exceptionally crisp even when fresh.

The ice milk has a bit of a generic dairy flavor, reminiscent of powdered milk but not in a bad way. The chocolate coating is very sparse, but there is enough of it to add flavor. If you look at the picture above, you can see that the coating is fragmented rather than a solid sheet like I got in the Morinaga Jumbo Monaka bar. Mainly, it tastes cold and sweet with some bittersweet chocolate flavor. The flavors are not strong and I really wish there was a vanilla component to the ice milk.

This was fairly enjoyable. I can say that it was definitely worth 80 calories, but it won't do if you've got a hankering for some real ice cream. It will do if you have a craving for a cold treat. I would buy this again, but I can't say that it really "wowed" me so much as simply pleasantly satisfied me.