Dars Mint

I wasn't aware of these Dars mint chocolates until they were mentioned to me in comments. Given my love of (almost) all things Dars, I headed off to a local convenience store to see if I could find them. They are new enough that not every place is stocking them, but I located a box at a Lawson's for 128 yen ($1.60).

I snapped up a box from the display case as well as a new Tirol chocolate for review later on and went to one of the two registers. One was occupied with a single customer and the other apparently free but the minute I stepped up to the register, the clerk bolted down to the other end of the counter and fussed around behind the other clerk. I patiently waited for her to return after doing whatever needed to be done. When she came back after about a full minute, the first thing she did was look at me and say, "just a minute please" and went to run off in the other direction. At this point, I figured it wasn't worth the time and I'd put the candy back and try another store. After I picked up my chocolates and went to put them back, she suddenly decided she could actually manage to do her job and accept my money for the goods on offer at the store. How gracious of her... Yeah, service in Japan is universally wonderful, except when it blows chunks as it occasionally does.

That's not a minty filling oozing out. It's water from the knife I used to cut this with so don't get your hopes up.

Getting to the Dars, the thing I love most about Dars is that it is creamy and fatty and unfortunately, that aspect is strangely missing from this. It is much firmer than usual and the chocolate is bittersweet with a good hint of mint which is neither overpowering nor too sweet. I have to wonder if the chocolate used in this is simply not milky enough for the rich, creamy feeling in the mouth that I associate with this particular brand name. Each candy, incidentally, is 22 calories so there isn't much of a calorie reduction coming along with a less creamy experience.

These are certainly nice enough. The flavor balance is good, but, as one of my commenters said, these are not my favorite mint chocolates. For a better quality experience with a similar flavor profile, I'd recommend After Eight mints. That being said, these are cheaper than those particular candies and at the moment easier to locate. The only thing I don't like about these is that they do have the aftertaste that I sometimes experience with Japanese chocolates which are on the bittersweet side. These are not the sort of thing you want to clear your palate after a meal, but rather just to satisfy a craving for mint and chocolate together. Soon after though, I need a cup of tea or to brush my teeth to wash away that aftertaste. I'm giving these a slightly grudging "happy" rating. I like them and will finish the whole box, but I'm not sure I'd buy them again.

Glico Pocky Mint

Not too long ago, I said in comments that the flavors that are exotic-sounding to foreigners like green tea, sweet potato, chestnut, sakura (cherry blossom), etc. aren't really a sign of Japan's adventurous nature with flavors, but a reflection of the fact that they have different flavor norms. Back home, we have cinnamon, mint, and peanut butter as our flavor norms. Note that I chose those three flavors because they are relatively rare finds in sweets in Japan. As if to make a liar out of me, Pocky came out with this mint flavor. I'd like to say very loudly for all Japanese snack makers to hear that they don't combine chocolate and peanut butter very often. Please make a liar out of me again.

I found these mint Pocky at 7-11 around at various other places including markets, snack shops, and other "konbini". I can't remember what they cost exactly, but for some reason the figure 127 ($1.56) sticks in my mind. There are two packs with eleven sticks in them each. Eating an entire pack (1/2 the box) will set you back 126 calories or 11.5 calories per pretzel stick.

When you open the package, you are greeted with the familiar smell of mint mingled with chocolate. The first bite is stronger on the mint than the chocolate. The bittersweet chocolate flavor only starts to settle in around the third stick and the mint cools your tongue. The pretzels are a little on the soft side, but still add a nice textural element. They do nothing, however, for the flavor. Unlike Pucca, which add a nice rye flavor to whatever they are combined with, Pocky pretzels tend to be more of a bland vehicle for the coating.

I liked these quite well, though I really could have done with a little salt on the pretzel and a stronger chocolate component. If you're thinking Girl Scout "Thin Mints" or even "After Eight" mints, think again, but if you're looking for something mild with a nice crispy texture, these will nicely fill the bill. Pocky fanatics should be delighted. As someone who is all well and good with the Pocky concept, but not really on board with any sort of aggressive relationship with them, I was happy to sample these, but I'd probably go for something more intense to get my mint on in the future.

Lotte Black Black

If you don't live in Japan and follow blogs like this one or shop from Asian importers, it may seem as if there are a lot of interesting options just waiting to be sampled when it comes to foods and snacks and that you can get to all of them given enough time. When you get here, it becomes a bit more complex because there is so much around you that it is hard to pick and choose. It's not just that there is a new KitKat every other day, but also that you're competing with traditional sweets shops selling things like bean cakes and rice crackers, and fresh snacks made in stalls (like taiyaki).

Black Black is one of those things which has been on my radar for two decades, but I never tried it. It's a classic offering, and that probably is one of the reasons why I've ignored it for so long. It's not like it's going to stop being carried and vanish. Unlike many of the all too common seasonal or limited edition items, Black Black isn't going anywhere.

The funny thing is that I always assumed that Black Black was licorice gum, because, well, it is black. There are few sweets back home that are black and not made of licorice. The truth is that licorice is not a common flavor in Japan. In fact, I only ever see it as an imported food and my husband offered some licorice twists (Twizzlers) to students and they were decidedly so-so on it. I've read that the plant that licorice is derived from is part of traditional herbal medicine ("kampo") in Japan. It could be that the flavor is associated with illnesses rather than treats.

As soon as I broke the seal on my pack of Black Black, I knew this was no licorice gum. A very strong mint flavor wafts out of the pack. The flavor is intensely spearmint and it was actively unpleasant for me during the first 3 minutes of chewing and remained almost bitter for over 7 minutes of chewing. It is one potent chew.

The main draw of Black Black may or may not be the intense flavor and long-lasting nature of the minty chew, but I'm guessing part of what keeps it selling is the inclusion of caffeine. The Japanese are pretty nuts for caffeine-spiked stimulants, and this seems like it's just another delivery system for the third most popular legal drug of choice in Japan. For the record, alcohol is the most popular one, and nicotine is the second.

Frankly, I thought this was disgusting. It was too intense and tasted like chemicals. I couldn't believe that the flavor became bitter as time went by rather than simply mellowing out. I chewed it for about 10 minutes because I felt I should give it a chance. I wouldn't buy this again and have no expectation that I'll chew even a second stick. Besides the fact that it tastes gross to me, it contains sugar (though is only 8 calories per stick) and I don't like the idea of chewing on something saturated with sugar. Oddly, it also has Erythritol, Aspartame, and L-Phenylalanine in addition to sugar so it's also spiked with artificial sweeteners. I guess there's something to object to for everyone in this gum.

This was just "bleecch". I can't imagine anyone would chew this gum for any purpose other than to extract a stimulant from it or to wipe out a case of absolutely lethal halitosis (which I don't suffer from, fortunately). I'm sure Black Black has its fans. I'm just never going to be one of them.

Plus X Grape Mint Gum

In Japanese business, there's a concept called "plus alpha". This means that an additional service is added on to whatever the usual package of services is offered. I'll note for those who have not lived in Japan that "plus alpha" is said in English, not in the Japanese equivalent of those English words. So, most Japanese people know what "plus" means even if it is written in English.

This grape mint gum says "plus X" which makes it sound as if something extra has been added. Lotte's web site says that the branding using "plus X" is specifically targeted at young people as a way of making gum made with Xylitol (a sweetener which helps strengthen tooth enamel) seem "fun" and "cool". I guess they feel that the whole idea of gum that is good for your teeth is too square for the likes of Japanese young people so it's hipper to make it vague by saying "plus X". Of course, I'm not sure how "fun" you can make tiny pieces of gum.


Lotte also mentions that the price of this gum is set at 100 yen (about $1), though I'm not sure why that should be so special. A lot of individual packs of gum are in the same price range, though there are some pretty expensive big plastic canisters of gum for around 500-800 yen (about $5-$8). Each pack has 14 pieces and if you chew the whole thing, it's only 37 calories. The pieces are rather sloppily wrapped in textured foil which is too big for the size of the gum. Perhaps Lotte is recycling packaging from more generously proportioned gum or they like the look of a product swaddled in foil.


The gum is similar to Chiclets in the U.S. though they are perhaps a little bigger. The pieces have a candy coating and don't have any scent at all. When you bite into it, you're hit by a faint grape flavor then by a very odd mixture of mint and grape. The mint is stronger than the grape, though they do tend to mix into a bit of a funky combination for a short time until the flavor peters out. The grape dies off entirely after about a minute and you're left with an almost bitter mint flavor. The flavor doesn't last all that long and the piece size is so small that even a conservative gum chewer might need 3 pieces to satisfy herself.

I'm not a serious gum chewer, but if I were, I wouldn't buy this again. It's not only that grape and mint do not make a great pairing, but also that the flavor doesn't last long and the gum isn't especially a great chew. I can't understand why fruit gum in Japan seems to be often paired with mint since that's not a particularly tasty combination. It could be that gum is mainly used to freshen breath and mint is seen as necessary for doing the trick. At any rate, I wouldn't recommend this.