Nestcafe Home Cafe Latte and Chocolate Latte Syrups

I mentioned in a previous random picture post that marketers are gearing up to make it easier than ever to endure the heat in Japan due to higher air conditioner settings and reduced use to keep power consumption down while the Fukushima situation continues on. One of the things that is showing up all over the place from a variety of manufacturers are packages of liquid-creamer-style tubs of syrup to add to milk for instant lattes. Though these have been around before, the variety is greater this year, the prices are fairly low, and syrups with low calories rather than sugary powders seem to be the new cold coffee order.

The Japanese describing what this is translates as "potions". That conjures (no pun intended) up an image of magical transformation. No, I'm not fooled either. I think "syrup" is a much better translation, but I'm guessing the use of "syrup" often applies to sugar-based things (honey syrup, for instance) and brings up the wrong idea to Japanese consumers. So, "potion" it be.

The coffee latte mixed with milk.

When I saw bags of these syrups on offer for a mere 85 yen ($1.06) each at Seiyu supermarket, I figured I'd go ahead and take a bite... or a sip as the case may be. There are 4 servings in each bag, so it's only about 21 yen (26 cents) per serving, though that doesn't include the 180 ml. (a bit less than a cup) of milk that you use. It's still going to be a lot cheaper than a Starbucks latte, but then that isn't going to taste like some sort of instant coffee. And that is rather what the coffee version of this tastes like. It's not a bad version of instant coffee, mind you. It's actually pretty palatable and makes for a serviceable "coffee-flavored milk".

The "chocola" latte mixed with milk. 

The chocolate latte version of this mixes up a lot lighter and tastes a lot like you added Hershey's syrup to your milk. The coffee part is extremely subdued, but makes more of an appearance as you drink more. It's as if it needs a build-up in intensity to manifest. However, you really would be just as well off adding about a half teaspoon of instant coffee and a tablespoon of Hershey's chocolate syrup to your milk. It'd cost less.

My lukewarm-sounding review to these cold beverages isn't to be taken in a negative way. The truth is that I enjoyed both of these, though the way in which I consumed the chocolate version after the first sampling was not as one might expect. I like to have a frozen banana drink composed of skim milk, frozen banana, and crushed ice with a dash of vanilla. I put this in a blender and blend it is smooth and thick. Pouring the chocolate coffee syrup into this concoction was incredibly delicious. In fact, I'd wager the plain coffee would work pretty well in this drink, too.

I'd buy these again if I wanted a cold coffee beverage and didn't have the time to chill espresso, or if I wanted to vary my frozen banana drink. They're cheap and will keep for awhile. In fact, I'd think they would be ideal for the office if you have a refrigerator and can keep a carton of milk in there. Still, don't expect much in terms of a quality coffee experience or you'll be sorely disappointed.

Pepsi Caribbean Gold

I'd read that this was going to be released on July 26 and dutifully went out to the local Family Mart to procure one. It is part of the snack reviewer's oath that one must sample high profile novelty releases ASAP. It's the same credo that says weight gain "for the cause" is to be seen as a noble expansion... taking one, two, or even three for the team is just part of the job. Incidentally, that job is currently paying about 35 cents a post and could be offering better compensation for the risks. Those risks can be quite considerable at times, believe me.

Despite my best efforts (which means I went to three different convenience stores) to procure this beverage the day of its release, Pepsi apparently was not in the mood to cooperate. I didn't find it until the 27th and found it while I was working and couldn't review it. But, here it is, Pepsi's latest attempt to capture our hearts and imaginations with a brew containing an obscure fruit that no one has ever heard of so they can't tell if it tastes like what it's supposed to or not.

A sniff of the freshly opened bottle reveals a vague fruity scent which reminds me of gum balls that I used to get from those machines that you put a coin into then crank three times for a disappointingly small number of balls. The taste on the first sip was very weak and it wasn't until a second sip that it revealed some syrupy fruity notes. This does taste like Pepsi mixed with something different, though it is hard to pin down what. The Wikipedia page for white sapote says that it can range in flavor and can taste like banana, peach, pear, vanilla, or just not much at all. I'd say that of those options, the Pepsi has vague peach and vanilla flavors, but it's really not a fair description.

At 47 calories per 100 ml. (that's 235 calories for the entire bottle), this would have to blow me away to be worth drinking it all. It really just struck me as a lighter version of Pepsi without the caramel colors and with lower acidity and with a hint of something fruity of some sort. It's pretty good tasting, but in no way worth pursuing beyond a casual purchase out of curiosity. Pepsi's variations when they are palatable seem pretty weak and when they are weird are pretty nasty. I probably won't even finish the bottle because I'd be just as happy with a Coke Zero and to be spared the sugar load.

Random Picture #72

Click for a bigger picture. Note that many of these are yogurt and fruit combos, though all of them have so much sugar in them that they can hardly be considered healthy for such inclusions.

Displays of gelatin (what is called "jelly") in Japan are being beefed up because of the hotter than hell summer and weaker than a new-born kitten air conditioning. At first, I thought this might be all about fooling people into thinking tossing one of these tubs in the refrigerator and gulping down a slithery bit of gelatin coolness would make them forget that they'd sweated an embarrassing huge web spot on their shirts, but I'm starting to believe otherwise. The shops themselves aren't exactly showering us with cool relief which means that their chocolate stores have a good chance of melting in 82 degree F./28 degree C. settings. It's far safer to stock jellies than to stock other sorts of sweets in the summer.

Plecia Great Mont Blanc

All things mont blanc draw me to them. The Pied Piper would have nothing to offer me, but the Hamlin baker could lead me to my doom with a lovely mont blanc. Something which resembles a small mont blanc pizza with only 318 calories, scarcely more than a real pizza of the same size (14 cm. in diameter). Of course, I'm not sure if this is a "proper" mont blanc, because it doesn't have mountains of piped chestnut paste lying on top of it. However, according to Wikipedia, it just means that there is pureed sweetened chestnuts and whipped cream, so even this flat version should qualify.

I found this for 275 yen at Inageya supermarket while my husband was inspecting the beer options. There's a section next to the butter which offers "fresh" (as in not designed to have a long shelf life) sweets which often lures me to it with its wiles but rarely pries my hard-earned yen out of my wallet. The problem is partially the cost, but also the calories. Most of the treats are fatty delights, filled with rich pudding, whipped cream, and small amounts of cake. Also, frankly, there are a lot of cake shops around Tokyo which offer fresher, prettier options with less environmentally wasteful packaging.

This is a simple thin layer of yellow cake smoothly covered with a whipped cream base and with some ribbons of chestnut cream on them. I didn't expect too much, really, but I was incredibly impressed in the end. It's not too sweet, has a much better chestnut flavor than I expected based on the chestnut to cream ratio, and had a serviceable sponge cake at the bottom. I found it incredibly delicious, and ate the whole thing at once when I'd originally planned to just eat half of it.

This is my second product from Plecia, which specializes in these types of refrigerated cakes and sweets. They draw me because they have tasty lower calorie treats with a lot of whipped cream, and that is something I find hard to resist.

Meiji Mango Chocolate

This is a chocolate party that I am more than fashionably late in attending. In fact, I'd say I'm showing up just about as the hostess is clearing away the dishes and shooing out the final round of guests. The fact that I waited so long to pick up a bar of this chocolate is a reflection of how many other things were more interesting than this rather than a lack of desire to try it. The fact of the matter is that fruit-flavored chocolate is very common in Japan and if I sampled every one of them, I'd have time to write about little else.

All of that being said, mango isn't the most common of such pairings, though mango is currently the fruit-flavored darling of Japan. Dried mango was talked about for its health benefits a year or two ago (I can't keep track of when these food fads start, I've got blog posts to write!) and since then you see mango everywhere and in everything. One thing I can definitely say about Japan is that where the media leads, the people follow with a vengeance. Someone once said eating bananas in the morning would help you lose weight and there wasn't a banana to be found for awhile. I still know women who eat a banana every morning for breakfast based on this (mistaken) notion.

Getting back to mango, and this chocolate in particular. It is a thin layer of mango-flavored chocolate in the center sandwiched between two milk chocolate layers. The mango flavor is very strong and on the sweeter side. The chocolate is fairly overpowered and doesn't really have a strong effect on the overall taste. I wonder if its main effect is to mitigate some of the cloying nature of white chocolate based fruit flavoring rather than to mix and pair with the mango.

All of that in no way says this is bad. It's actually pretty tasty. I think it could have been a little better had the chocolate played a bigger role (or have been a bit darker), but it's still good. I wouldn't say I'm over the moon about it, but I am enjoying slowly eating the bar one or two squares at a time. This is definitely not the sort of thing you're going to wolf down all at one go though. If you're a mango fan, this is worth a try, but perhaps not something worth tracking down at all costs.