{"title":"Japanese Chocolate","description":"\u003cp\u003eJapanese chocolate is rarely a plain bar: chocolate set on a wholemeal biscuit, cocoa-dusted cubes that soften at room temperature, matcha and sakura editions that run for one season. Bourbon's \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/alfort\"\u003eAlfort\u003c\/a\u003e range has its own page.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"bourbon-alfort-mini-chocolate","title":"Bourbon Alfort Mini Chocolate — Milk Chocolate on Wholemeal Biscuit, 12 Pieces (55g)","description":"\u003cp\u003eMilk chocolate on a crisp, lightly salted wholemeal biscuit, twelve little pieces in a blue box. It's sweet, but the salt keeps it from tipping into sugary, and the closest thing you'll already know is a chocolate digestive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you've not come across it before: in Japan this is an everyday supermarket chocolate, not a gift or a special-occasion one. It's properly popular: the big share-bag version was the single best-selling confectionery in the whole country for four months running in 2025, and it's mostly adults in their thirties and forties buying it. That's the range, not this box. Office drawers rather than lunchboxes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eアルフォート, the name on the box, if you're matching it to something you saw in Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTaste\u003c\/strong\u003e: Milk chocolate over a wholemeal biscuit. Pay attention to the biscuit rather than the chocolate: it's lightly salted, and that's the bit Australians don't see coming.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTexture\u003c\/strong\u003e: The biscuit snaps; the chocolate is soft at room temperature and firm when chilled. Getting that balance right is the whole trick, and there's a name for it in Japan, the golden ratio.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHow much you'll eat\u003c\/strong\u003e: Twelve pieces sounds like several sittings. \"I'll just have a couple\" is famous last words with these: there's no resealable wrapper, because the box isn't built for one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIn summer\u003c\/strong\u003e: It will arrive soft. That's normal for this chocolate, and it's a cosmetic problem rather than a taste one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: Contains milk, wheat and soy. The same factory lines also run egg products. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you see 59 g on another Australian listing, that's the old pack. Bourbon dropped it to 55 g in early 2025 and left the barcode unchanged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTake one box if you're trying it for the first time; more if you already know you like it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bourbon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48155408204002,"sku":"SH-SNK-0001","price":6.5,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/bourbon-alfort-mini-chocolate-blue-box_897259a4-37e3-4ecd-8906-28600fcd8745.webp?v=1789258319"},{"product_id":"meiji-meltykiss-premium-chocolate","title":"Meiji Meltykiss Premium Chocolate — Cocoa-Dusted Melting Milk Chocolate (52g Box)","description":"\u003cp\u003eA small cube of Japanese milk chocolate, dusted in cocoa powder, that collapses on the tongue instead of snapping. Closer to the soft centre of a Lindor ball than to a block of Dairy Milk, but drier on the outside, and it goes in one bite. Meiji sells it at no other time of year. Buy it if you have ever held a square of chocolate in your mouth waiting for it to soften; if you want something to snap and chew, this is the wrong box.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eメルティーキッスプレミアムショコラ (me-ru-tee kissu)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMilk-forward rather than dark. There is Dominican cacao in it, but only about a tenth of the finished chocolate: what comes through is cream and cocoa depth rather than bitterness.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSoft all the way through, with a dry cocoa-powder coating. The powder is cocoa, not sugar, which is the first thing people get wrong about it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHere is the thing worth knowing: Meiji prints \u003cstrong\u003e23°C\u003c\/strong\u003e on this box, and \u003cstrong\u003e28°C\u003c\/strong\u003e on its ordinary chocolate bars. It engineers the fat to melt lower so it gives way on the tongue, and that is the real reason it is a winter-only product in Japan, not a marketing scarcity.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhich also means it is the fragile one. In an Australian summer this is a chocolate to have posted in cooler weather, or to accept some risk on. We would rather say that than have it turn up soft.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt is a supermarket chocolate in Japan: a small everyday treat, not a gift-box confection. Wrapped one piece at a time, which is what makes it easy to have exactly one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYou will see this same chocolate sold as Meltyblend and as Creamy Milk in different markets: the names travel, the product is the same line. If you are wondering because of the Rum \u0026amp; Raisin and Brandy \u0026amp; Orange boxes: those are different Meltykiss flavours, and there is no alcohol in this one's ingredients list. It does not need refrigerating either, despite looking like the kind of soft chocolate that would. Meiji asks for a cool place, not a fridge. We have not been able to confirm whether the emulsifier is suitable for vegetarian or halal diets, so we do not claim it either way.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48244641235170,"sku":"SH-SNK-0006","price":10.45,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-meltykiss-premium-chocolate-box_95c95962-3df1-4332-ad57-48c58ead0663.webp?v=1787219425"},{"product_id":"meiji-meltykiss-strawberry","title":"Meiji Meltykiss Strawberry Japanese Chocolate — 53g","description":"\u003cp\u003eSoft-centred cubes of strawberry milk chocolate, rolled all over in cocoa powder: closer to a soft truffle than to a block of chocolate. They soften the moment they are in your mouth, which is what the whole product is built around. The strawberry is sweet and properly tart, and it leads: if you would rather the cocoa was in charge, the plain Meltykiss is the one to get.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMeltykiss is Meiji's winter range, and it is an everyday supermarket chocolate in Japan rather than a luxury one. The boxes land around October and are gone by February, in Japan, them turning up is one of the small signals that winter has started. This is the strawberry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eメルティーキッスフルーティー濃いちご: the pale lilac box with the big pink snowflake. Worth matching against the one you remember, because Meiji redesigns the pack every season.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe melt\u003c\/strong\u003e: the centre gives way rather than snapping, and it is gone quickly.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCocoa powder on the outside\u003c\/strong\u003e: dusted over the whole cube, so it reads matte and dark rather than glossy.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEcuadorian cacao\u003c\/strong\u003e: that is the cacao Meiji uses for this flavour, and for the matcha box too; only the plain one is made with Dominican.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe catch: the strawberry leads hard.\u003c\/strong\u003e It is the thing people disagree about, for most it is the whole appeal, for a minority the chocolate gets lost behind it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: Meiji declares milk, soy and apple, and nothing else on Japan's 28-item allergen list. Japan's list is not Australia's, so a blank there is not a free-from answer for gluten or for nuts.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens, and it runs the other way too\u003c\/strong\u003e: Australia's chart has no apple category, so apple cannot appear in an allergen box here. Check the ingredients, not the chart; ours is the fuller list.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe winter boxes all look alike. This is the strawberry, and the others are plain chocolate, matcha and milk tea. It is a small 53 g box, which is simply the size Meiji makes it. The big mixed bags you will see elsewhere work out cheaper per gram, so if that is what you are weighing up, buy one of those: this box is the single flavour. The powder on the outside is cocoa, not icing sugar. If you are wondering whether it is the same thing as Royce' nama chocolate: Meiji does not sell it as one, and we have not found a straight comparison in either language. \u003cstrong\u003eTake warm weather seriously: Meiji says to keep it below 23 °C, and it is not sold in Japan through summer at all, on a hot day it will arrive soft, and nothing in the packaging prevents that.\u003c\/strong\u003e Opinion is split on the fridge, too: some people chill it, some say cold ruins the melt, and Meiji gives no chilling instruction either way.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48244643856610,"sku":"SH-SNK-0005","price":10.45,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-meltykiss-strawberry-box.webp?v=1787219559"},{"product_id":"meiji-meltykiss-matcha-chocolate","title":"Meiji Meltykiss Matcha Chocolate — Cocoa-Dusted Melting Cubes, 53g","description":"\u003cp\u003eA matcha chocolate Japan only sells in winter: cocoa-dusted cubes with a soft matcha centre that turns liquid almost as soon as it is in your mouth. Think of a matcha truffle, then make the middle softer. The matcha is fragrant and only faintly bitter, Meiji tunes it that way deliberately, so if you are after the sharp, astringent hit of properly whisked matcha, this is not trying to be that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a supermarket and konbini chocolate rather than a confectioner's box. What makes it worth the trip is the matcha and the texture, not the price bracket.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the box: メルティーキッス 初摘み濃抹茶 (merutii-kissu hatsu-tsumi koi-maccha). That is the name printed across the front, if you are checking it against the one you had in Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWhich Meltykiss this is\u003c\/strong\u003e: the matcha one. Meiji runs three or four flavours each winter in the same size box, so the strawberry and the plain chocolate sit beside it looking almost identical.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe melt\u003c\/strong\u003e: the reason the brand exists. It is softer than ordinary chocolate by design, and it goes from solid to liquid at mouth temperature rather than needing to be chewed.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe matcha\u003c\/strong\u003e: first-pick, the earliest leaf of the year rather than a later cutting. What you taste from that is more sweetness and savoury depth, and less of the bitter edge.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHow strong is it, really?\u003c\/strong\u003e: mild, and on purpose. This is the one thing people argue about: plenty wish it were more bitter, and almost nobody finds it too much. If you have bounced off matcha before for being too grassy or too sharp, this sits at the gentle end.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSmall, and one at a time\u003c\/strong\u003e: about 13 cubes, each individually wrapped, roughly the size of a chocolate you would eat in one bite.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA few things worth knowing before you order. The cube is not solid through: the outside is dusted in cocoa powder and the centre is a soft matcha chocolate, worth saying because English descriptions of this product disagree with each other about it. The green comes from the matcha plus a colouring made from spirulina, an algae, so there is no synthetic dye in it. There is no gelatine in it, nothing gelatine-derived appears in the ingredients, but we have not been able to confirm whether the emulsifier and flavouring are suitable for vegetarian diets, so we do not claim that either way. And if you are comparing it with Kit Kat's matcha, the difference that matters is texture: this is a soft centre that melts, not a wafer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe honest warning: heat is a real risk with this one.\u003c\/strong\u003e Meiji builds it to soften below 23°C, well under ordinary chocolate, which is why Japan only sells it from about October to February. It does not need the fridge, but it does need to stay cool, and an Australian summer does not guarantee that. If the forecast is warm, order it somewhere you can bring it inside the same day, or wait for cooler weather.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48244645200098,"sku":"SH-SNK-0007","price":9.89,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-meltykiss-matcha-box-front_40eb25db-7fa7-4207-bc03-1821562a0ec0.webp?v=1787219365"},{"product_id":"bourbon-mt-fuji-alfort","title":"Bourbon Mt Fuji Alfort — Milk Chocolate on Wholemeal Biscuit, 14 Pieces","description":"\u003cp\u003eMilk chocolate on a crisp, lightly salted wholemeal biscuit, with a snow-capped Mount Fuji moulded into the top of every piece and the snow picked out in white chocolate. It tastes like an Alfort, because it is one, sweet chocolate against a wheaty, faintly salty biscuit, and the closest thing you already know is a chocolate digestive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is Bourbon's souvenir edition rather than the everyday box. Alfort itself is one of Japan's biggest sellers, the 147 g share bag was the country's best-selling confectionery item for four months running to October 2025, but that is the supermarket bag; this fourteen-piece box is made for the souvenir counter rather than the snack aisle, which is why it isn't one you'd come across in a Japanese supermarket either.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e富士山アルフォート, the name on the box, if you're matching it to something you saw over there.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTaste\u003c\/strong\u003e: Milk chocolate over a wholemeal biscuit. Pay attention to the biscuit rather than the chocolate: it's lightly salted, and that's the part Australians don't see coming.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAll fourteen\u003c\/strong\u003e: Every piece carries the mountain, and the snow on the peak is white chocolate. The ordinary Alfort has no white chocolate on it at all.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWrapped one by one\u003c\/strong\u003e: Fourteen separate wrappers, each printed with the same mountain in metallic blue. In Japan this is a box you carry back to the office and hand round, and the wrapping is what makes that work.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe pieces are bigger\u003c\/strong\u003e: Each one is about twice the weight of an Alfort Mini, so this is a fair bit more chocolate than the little blue box even before you count the extra two.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIn summer\u003c\/strong\u003e: It will arrive soft. It tastes the same once it firms up, but the moulded peak is the first thing to go, and on this box the peak is rather the point.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: Contains milk, wheat and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you've not met Alfort before: the chocolate is a slab set on top of the biscuit rather than a coating wrapped around it, which is why the moulding comes out so sharp. Does it taste different from a normal Alfort? Opinion is genuinely split, so the only difference we can state plainly is the one you can see: the white chocolate on the peak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwo things worth knowing if you're comparing listings elsewhere. It is not a limited edition, whatever you may read. It's a standing regional line that goes through the souvenir channel rather than the supermarket. And descriptions of \"two designs, twelve mountains and four sailing ships\" belong to the older sixteen-piece box, which Bourbon no longer lists; this one is fourteen, all mountains.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe two other Alforts you're most likely to have met are different products again. \u003cstrong\u003eAlfort Mini\u003c\/strong\u003e is the little blue box of twelve small pieces: we sell that one too. The \u003cstrong\u003eregular Alfort\u003c\/strong\u003e is the full-size biscuit, sold in boxes of nine and in share bags. Both of those carry Bourbon's sailing ship stamped into the chocolate; of the three, only this box has the mountain.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bourbon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48244647100642,"sku":"SH-SNK-0008","price":19.8,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/bourbon-mt-fuji-alfort-box-front.webp?v=1787298845"},{"product_id":"lotte-toppo-vanilla-chocolate","title":"Lotte Toppo Vanilla Chocolate Filled Pretzel Sticks — 40g","description":"\u003cp\u003ePretzel sticks with the chocolate \u003cstrong\u003einside\u003c\/strong\u003e the stick instead of coating the outside, so it lasts to the last bite and your fingers stay clean. It's a pretzel shell rather than a biscuit one, there is salt in the dough, along with a little sugar and 1% cocoa, wrapped around a sweet, milky chocolate filling, so you taste salt and sweetness in the same bite. One thing is worth knowing before you buy: this is the export box, made in Thailand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eトッポ (Toppo).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe filling runs the whole length of the stick, so you never hit a bare stub at the end the way you do with a coated one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJust over half the weight of what's in the box is filling, the label puts it at 53%.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis is the single-sleeve 40 g box. The Japanese one is 72 g in two sleeves, so if you have bought it there, expect a bit over half as much.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe honest caveat, and it is the one to know: this export box uses \u003cstrong\u003ecompound\u003c\/strong\u003e chocolate, cocoa powder and vegetable fat, where the Japan-made 72 g box uses real cocoa butter. Same brand, same design, cheaper recipe.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains wheat, gluten, milk and soy, and may contain lupin and egg. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA few things worth clearing up. It isn't Pocky: Pocky is coated on the outside, Toppo is filled on the inside, which is why people call it the inverted Pocky. It isn't Pepero either. That is Lotte Korea's coated stick, and the Korean version of this one is sold as Nude Pepero. Toppo itself is Japanese, launched by Lotte in Japan, even though you will see it filed under Korea elsewhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne more thing. Keep it somewhere cool and dry. That is all the pack asks for, and it is worth taking literally in an Australian summer.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lotte","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48261254152418,"sku":"SH-SNK-0012","price":2.75,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/lotte-toppo-vanilla-chocolate-40g-box.webp?v=1787986700"},{"product_id":"bourbon-alfort-chocolate-biscuits","title":"Bourbon Alfort — Milk Chocolate on Salted Wholemeal Biscuit, 9 Full-Size Pieces","description":"\u003cp\u003eMilk chocolate set on a salted wholemeal biscuit: sweet, but there is real salt in the base, and it is the salt rather than the chocolate that people remember. Nine full-size pieces, each individually wrapped. The closest thing you already know is a chocolate digestive, though the biscuit is coarser and crumbles more crisply than that suggests.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you've only met Alfort as the little blue box, this is the other one, and it isn't just bigger. Bourbon's own ingredient panels put wheat flour first here and sugar first on the Mini, and this recipe carries roughly twice the salt per gram in pieces more than twice the size. Alfort is a genuine staple in Japan: the big share bag was the country's best-selling confectionery item for five months running to November 2025. That's the range, not this bag.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eアルフォート, the name on the bag, if you're matching it to something you saw in Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTaste\u003c\/strong\u003e: Milk chocolate over a wholemeal biscuit, and it's the biscuit that surprises people. This is the properly salted recipe, and the salt is what stops nine of them tasting like nine chocolates.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTexture\u003c\/strong\u003e: A coarse, short biscuit that crumbles crisply, under a slab of chocolate thicker than you'd expect for the size of the piece.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHow many you get\u003c\/strong\u003e: Nine, individually wrapped. It used to be ten: Bourbon cut the count in October 2024, and this pack is that change. The biscuit itself didn't shrink. Bourbon cut the count, not the piece.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIn summer\u003c\/strong\u003e: It will arrive soft. The bag's own storage line is 28 °C, and an Australian summer beats that indoors. It's a cosmetic problem rather than a taste one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: Contains milk, wheat and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwo things people get wrong before they buy. The chocolate is a moulded slab pressed onto the top of the biscuit, not a coating wrapped around it. And this is not the mini box, nine pieces at about 10 g each, not twelve at four and a half.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne bag is nine pieces: a few afternoons, or one afternoon if you're not careful.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bourbon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48261574131938,"sku":"SH-SNK-0014","price":6.58,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/bourbon-alfort-9-pieces-blue-bag.webp?v=1787885653"},{"product_id":"bourbon-alfort-mini-chocolate-vanilla-white","title":"Bourbon Alfort Mini Chocolate Vanilla White — 55g","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhite chocolate with real vanilla seed, set on a dark, bittersweet cocoa biscuit, twelve pieces to a box. White chocolate usually means sweeter; this one isn't, because the biscuit underneath isn't sweet, it's slightly bitter, and it pulls the whole thing back. If you already know the blue Alfort, this is not that recipe with a paler topping on it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eアルフォート ミニチョコレート バニラホワイト, the name on the box, if you're matching it to something you saw in Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTaste\u003c\/strong\u003e: Vanilla-bean white chocolate over a cocoa biscuit. The vanilla is real seed rather than flavouring alone, and you can see it as fine dark specks in the white slab.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe biscuit is the surprise\u003c\/strong\u003e: This is where it stops being the blue box with white chocolate on it. The base here is a wholemeal \u003cem\u003ecocoa\u003c\/em\u003e biscuit, dark, toasty and not sweet, where the original Alfort Mini sits on a plain wholemeal one. Pale on dark, the reverse of the usual arrangement.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTexture\u003c\/strong\u003e: The biscuit snaps hard. The white chocolate softens in the warmth and firms up again out of the fridge.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHow much you'll eat\u003c\/strong\u003e: It's rich: two or three is a serving, and it isn't a box you clear in one sitting.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIn summer\u003c\/strong\u003e: It will arrive soft, and white chocolate shows it more than milk chocolate does. Pale streaks or a chalky bloom on the surface afterwards are cocoa butter separating out, cosmetic, harmless, and not mould.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: Contains milk, wheat and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlfort itself is a staple in Japan: the 147 g share bag was the country's best-selling confectionery for four months running to October 2025. That's the range, not this white-chocolate box. Three other white Alforts are in circulation: a winter Mini, a salted-vanilla one, and a 136 g bag carrying this same flavour name, so if you're matching a pack you saw, check it reads ミニチョコレート and バニラホワイト. Unlike those, this one is a standing line in Japan rather than a seasonal release. It's the same twelve pieces in the same 55 g box as the original.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you already know the blue box, this is the one to try next.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bourbon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48269718880482,"sku":"SH-SNK-0021","price":6.16,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/bourbon-alfort-mini-chocolate-vanilla-white-box.webp?v=1787979602"},{"product_id":"bourbon-alfort-mini-chocolate-strawberry","title":"Bourbon Alfort Mini Chocolate Strawberry — 55g","description":"\u003cp\u003eStrawberry chocolate on a toasty wholemeal biscuit, twelve pieces to a box. It's sweet-tart. There's real strawberry powder worked through the chocolate and an acidity that cuts it, and the biscuit underneath is lightly salted. If the plain Alfort was a bit much for you, this is the one that fixes it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eアルフォート ミニチョコレート ストロベリー, the name on the box, if you're matching it to something you saw in Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTaste\u003c\/strong\u003e: Sweet-tart strawberry over a toasty wholemeal biscuit. There are visible grains of strawberry powder through the pink chocolate and you can feel them as you eat.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe biscuit is the tell\u003c\/strong\u003e: this one keeps the plain toasty wholemeal base, the same as the blue original, and that's what lets the strawberry stand out rather than compete. It's lightly salted too, which is the bit that stops a pink biscuit tasting like a children's one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWorth knowing\u003c\/strong\u003e: The pink coating is made without cocoa mass, where the plain Alfort's chocolate has it. It's a real difference in what you're eating rather than a colour change, and it is why this one tastes lighter on the chocolate side.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOpinions split on the strawberry\u003c\/strong\u003e: some people taste fruit and some taste flavouring, and the ingredients list has both: strawberry powder, flavouring, and something added to make it tart (an acidulant). Worth knowing which camp you're likely in before you commit to twelve.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIn summer\u003c\/strong\u003e: It will arrive soft. That's normal for this chocolate, and it's a cosmetic problem rather than a taste one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: Contains milk, wheat and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlfort itself is a staple in Japan: the 147 g share bag was the country's best-selling confectionery for four months running to October 2025. That's the range, not this strawberry box. Bourbon has put out several strawberry Alforts: a raspberry-and-strawberry one, a winter melt-in-the-mouth one, and a Kyushu souvenir box, so the barcode is the reliable way to match a pack you saw. This one is a standing year-round line rather than a seasonal release, whatever the listings calling it a limited edition say. It's the same twelve pieces in the same 55 g box as the original; if you see 73 g on another Australian listing, that figure is wrong.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne box is twelve pieces, enough to find out whether the strawberry is for you.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bourbon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48269719732450,"sku":"SH-SNK-0022","price":6.16,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/bourbon-alfort-mini-chocolate-strawberry-box.webp?v=1787980549"},{"product_id":"meiji-apollo-strawberry-chocolate","title":"Meiji Apollo Strawberry Chocolate — Triangles, 46g","description":"\u003cp\u003eLittle triangular pieces with a sweet-tart strawberry top sitting on a slightly bitter milk-chocolate base. Meiji has made them the same shape, with the same two layers, since 1969, and there's a game in the box: some boxes contain one piece shaped like a star instead of a triangle. It's a children's-shelf staple in Japan rather than a grown-up chocolate, and it's the cheapest thing on our chocolate shelf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eアポロ, the name on the box, if you're matching it to something you saw in Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTaste\u003c\/strong\u003e: Strawberry on top, milk chocolate underneath, and the two are meant to be noticed separately. Plenty of people roll a piece around their mouth to split the layers apart before eating them; there's a playground superstition that if the strawberry comes away cleanly, the day will go well.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe lucky star\u003c\/strong\u003e: Meiji mixes a star-shaped piece into some boxes. It has done since Apollo's 50th birthday in 2019 and has never announced an end. \u003cstrong\u003eWhat Meiji does not publish is how often\u003c\/strong\u003e, so anyone quoting you odds is guessing. Some people have found several; others have never seen one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWorth knowing what it is\u003c\/strong\u003e: there is more vegetable fat in it than cocoa, and the ingredients list says so in that order. The pink layer gets its flavour from real strawberry powder, plus added colour and flavouring. There's no juice or fruit pulp in it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHow big it actually is\u003c\/strong\u003e: 46 g. These little Japanese cartons photograph much larger than they are; it's a handful of small pieces, not a block.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIn summer\u003c\/strong\u003e: It will arrive soft. That matters more here than on a solid bar, because a partial melt runs the two layers together and the shape is most of the point.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: Contains milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA few things worth knowing if you're matching a memory. The pink layer is strawberry chocolate, not white chocolate: several overseas shops describe it wrongly. This is the small 46 g box, not the twelve-bag family pack that's often sold under the same name. And if you remember it as 48 g, you're right. Meiji dropped it to 46 g. Searching \"Apollo candy\" in English will find you an unrelated Korean sweet, so the box to look for says meiji and アポロ.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne box is a small handful of pieces: the sort of thing that rides along with a bigger order rather than travelling on its own.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48270460551394,"sku":"SH-SNK-0023","price":5.49,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-apollo-strawberry-chocolate-box.webp?v=1787984883"},{"product_id":"meiji-choco-baby","title":"Meiji Choco Baby — Tiny Chocolate Pellets in a Tube, 32g","description":"\u003cp\u003eA slim red tube of tiny chocolate pellets, small enough that you either tip the tube straight into your mouth or eat them one at a time. Japanese buyers do both, and several describe starting off careful and going at it properly once the tube is half gone. It's a childhood snack there, and plenty of the people buying it now are adults who grew up on it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eチョコベビー, the name on the tube, if you're matching it to something you remember.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBuy it if you want a chocolate you can eat one at a time, one-handed, out of a bag, without it marking your fingers. If what you want is a shell that cracks, take Meiji Banana Choco instead — same maker, sweets about the same size, sugar-panned rather than glazed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTaste and texture\u003c\/strong\u003e: Small soft pellets that melt smoothly when you eat them one at a time, and give a dull crunch if you take a handful at once. There's a thin glaze on them, which is what stops them marking your fingers, but it isn't a hard candy shell, so don't expect a Smartie.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWorth knowing what it is\u003c\/strong\u003e: cocoa is the second ingredient, ahead of the vegetable fat, so it's more cocoa-forward than it looks for the price.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe tube is half the point\u003c\/strong\u003e: It rattles, which people genuinely like, and the flip lid means you can shake a few out for someone rather than hand over the lot. It survives being carried in a bag.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHow small it actually is\u003c\/strong\u003e: 32 g. The pellets are about the size of a Tic Tac, and the tube is slimmer than photographs suggest.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIn summer\u003c\/strong\u003e: It holds up better than most chocolate inside the tube, but it will melt on a warm hand, and if the tube itself gets warm the pellets can fuse and stop pouring. If they arrive with a pale film on them, that's cocoa butter that melted and re-set, cosmetic, and safe to eat.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: Contains milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwo things people ask. If you last saw it years ago and wondered whether it was still around, people in Japan ask that too, and it is: it hasn't been discontinued, and it's still made. And this is the 32 g tube rather than the 102 g Jumbo, which is the same recipe in a much bigger pack and is sold here too. Some people scatter it over ice cream and love it; a couple found the flavour disappeared against something that cold, so try a few pellets before you tip the tube.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt's a small tube: the sort of thing that rides along with a bigger order rather than travelling on its own.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48270461173986,"sku":"SH-SNK-0024","price":5.49,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-choco-baby-tube.webp?v=1787985081"},{"product_id":"meiji-banana-choco","title":"Meiji Banana Choco — Sugar-Shelled Banana Chocolate, 37g","description":"\u003cp\u003eSmall banana-shaped pieces with a hard sugar shell over soft chocolate: you crunch through the shell first, and the shell is where the banana flavour sits. That shell is also why this one handles a warm bag better than ordinary chocolate does. The box itself folds into a banana, which is aimed squarely at children and works on most adults too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eバナナチョコ, the name on the box, if you're matching it to something you saw in Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTaste\u003c\/strong\u003e: Faint banana rather than a strong one, over plain sweet chocolate. There is real banana in it: banana powder is in the ingredients, and banana is a declared allergen, which flavouring alone would never trigger, but there's added flavouring and colour in there as well. Several people who say they don't like banana eat these anyway.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTexture\u003c\/strong\u003e: A crisp shell that cracks, then soft chocolate. If you know Smarties or M\u0026amp;Ms, that is the construction, and Japanese reviewers reach for Meiji's own Marble Chocolate to describe it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt travels\u003c\/strong\u003e: The sugar shell means it stands up to a warm bag and doesn't mark your hands the way loose chocolate does. It is still chocolate, though: the maker's line is to keep it below 28°C, so treat it as hard-wearing rather than heatproof.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe box is a toy\u003c\/strong\u003e: Take off the film, trace along the dotted lines with a pen and squeeze the carton into a banana shape. It doesn't say whether you're meant to empty the box first.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWorth knowing what it is\u003c\/strong\u003e: cocoa is the second ingredient and vegetable fat only the fifth, so it is more cocoa-forward than it looks.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains egg, milk, soy and banana. Australia's allergen chart has no banana category, so banana cannot appear in the pack's allergen box here — check the ingredients, not the chart; ours is the fuller list.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens, one more\u003c\/strong\u003e: there is \u003cstrong\u003egelatine\u003c\/strong\u003e in it too. Not an allergen, but named outright on Meiji's list, so it isn't vegetarian and there's no halal claim on it. The list doesn't say what animal it comes from.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA few things worth knowing. It has not been discontinued: that rumour is a mix-up with a Meiji ice cream of almost the same name that ended in 2026, and this box is still in Meiji's current line-up. It is also not \u003cem\u003echoco-banana\u003c\/em\u003e, the whole banana on a stick sold at Japanese summer festivals; that is the commonest mix-up in both languages. If you remember colourful pieces inside, your memory is right and the box has changed. It is one colour now. And if you remember a bigger box, that is right too: it used to be 42 g.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt's a small box, the sort of thing that rides along with a bigger order rather than travelling on its own.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48270462746850,"sku":"SH-SNK-0026","price":5.59,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-banana-choco-box.webp?v=1787985327"},{"product_id":"meiji-almond-chocolate","title":"Meiji Almond Chocolate — Whole Roasted Almonds, 79g","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhole almonds roasted over an open flame, sealed in a milk chocolate built to carry the roast rather than cover it, so the first thing you taste is the almond's dry, hard snap. If you know chocolate-coated almonds from an Australian supermarket, this is the same idea with the balance tipped towards the nut. It is an everyday box in Japan, off supermarket and convenience-store shelves rather than a gift counter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: \u003cstrong\u003eアーモンドチョコレート\u003c\/strong\u003e (\u003cem\u003eaamondo chokoreeto\u003c\/em\u003e), simply \"almond chocolate\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt won't wreck your hands.\u003c\/strong\u003e These don't come off on your fingers. You can eat them at a desk, or one-handed in the car, without reaching for a napkin.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCheck the weight against what you have seen here.\u003c\/strong\u003e This is the 79 g box. Meiji cut it down from 88 g, and several Australian listings still show the old size.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe shine is shellac.\u003c\/strong\u003e Each piece is polished with a glazing agent: shellac, a resin from an insect. It is what makes them gleam, and it is worth knowing if you avoid insect-derived ingredients.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe honest bit: this is not quite the recipe it was.\u003c\/strong\u003e Meiji has cut back the cocoa butter and raised the vegetable fat, when cocoa prices climbed. It touched around forty Meiji products, and regular buyers in Japan noticed and said so plainly — you should hear that from us rather than find it later.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains milk, almond and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA few things worth knowing first. There is no resealable zip on it: the inner tray closes over but nothing seals, so it is a box to get through rather than one to keep half-open. It is still chocolate in an Australian climate: it handles better than most because of that coating, but keep it somewhere cool, which is Meiji's own instruction too. And if you are weighing it against the other two Meiji boxes, the difference is texture and coating rather than quality: this one is crisp under plain milk chocolate, the macadamia is soft, and the matcha is this same almond under a green-tea coating.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48289821458658,"sku":"SH-SNK-0027","price":6.03,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-almond-chocolate-pack.webp?v=1788098089"},{"product_id":"meiji-macadamia-chocolate","title":"Meiji Macadamia Chocolate — Slow-Roasted Nut, 64g","description":"\u003cp\u003eMacadamia roasted slowly in hot oil until the heat reaches the middle of the nut, then broken up and set into a milk chocolate Meiji mixes specially for it. Where the almond box snaps, this one gives: the nut is soft and crumbles rather than cracks, under a mellower, sweeter coating mixed for it. Nine to a paper box.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: \u003cstrong\u003eマカダミアチョコレート\u003c\/strong\u003e (\u003cem\u003emakadamia chokoreeto\u003c\/em\u003e), macadamia chocolate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe nut is crushed, not whole.\u003c\/strong\u003e If you are picturing one intact kernel in each piece, it is not that. Meiji uses broken macadamia, closer to two halves. If you know Lotte's version, which does use a whole nut, you will spot the difference immediately, and some people prefer theirs for exactly that reason.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSoft where almond is crisp.\u003c\/strong\u003e The slow oil roast leaves the nut yielding rather than hard: a crumble instead of a snap. That texture is the entire reason to choose this box over the almond one. Meiji once put the two head to head in a national vote of its own and they finished within about one per cent of each other, a maker's own poll rather than an independent survey, but it tells you the choice is genuinely even.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChocolate leads, nut follows.\u003c\/strong\u003e Worth saying plainly, because the picture suggests otherwise: there is more chocolate than nut in these, and next to Meiji's own almond box the macadamia plays the supporting part. If you want the nut in front, buy the almond.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt melts, and it is the softer of the two.\u003c\/strong\u003e There is no finger-proof coating here of the kind the almond box has. Keep it somewhere cool, and in warm weather the fridge until just before eating is worth doing, which is what some Japanese buyers describe.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains milk, soy and macadamia. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwo more things worth knowing. There are nine pieces in the box: it launched at twelve, went to ten, and has been nine for years now, which long-time buyers in Japan have not let go of. And like the rest of Meiji's nut range, vegetable fat stands in for part of the cocoa butter.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48289821819106,"sku":"SH-SNK-0031","price":6.03,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-macadamia-chocolate-pack_5fa281be-7385-4c03-a326-ed81a450aa86.webp?v=1788124705"},{"product_id":"meiji-almond-chocolate-matcha","title":"Meiji Almond Chocolate Matcha — Uji Matcha, 67g","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe same open-flame-roasted almond as Meiji's red box, wrapped this time in a milk chocolate blended with matcha from Uji, the tea district south of Kyoto, instead of the plain coating. The sweetness is pulled back so the tea comes forward: there is a real green-tea bitterness in the coating, and then the almond's dry snap. If you have been disappointed by matcha confectionery that turns out to be sweet green icing, this is the one that answers back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: \u003cstrong\u003eアーモンドチョコレート抹茶\u003c\/strong\u003e (\u003cem\u003eaamondo chokoreeto maccha\u003c\/em\u003e), almond chocolate, matcha.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe matcha actually lands, and there is unusual evidence for it.\u003c\/strong\u003e In February 2025 a Japanese television panel of three pastry chefs ranked this box first out of twenty supermarket and convenience-store matcha snacks. Among the Japanese buyers of this pack who comment on the matcha at all, about three in four say it comes through rather than hiding behind the sugar, which for this category is not the usual result.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDon't judge it by the colour.\u003c\/strong\u003e Some of the green in the coating comes from added colour, so the shade is not a reading of how much tea is in there. The taste is.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCheck the weight against what you have seen here.\u003c\/strong\u003e This is the 67 g box. Meiji replaced the older 58 g pack in late 2024, and the discontinued size is still on sale in Australia.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe honest bit, and there are two.\u003c\/strong\u003e The commonest complaint from Japanese buyers is that this is not different enough from the plain milk-chocolate box to justify the extra: if you only want the almond, buy that one. The second is the box itself: it is noticeably bigger than what is inside it, and the pieces roll around in the empty half.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains milk, almond and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne more thing. Like the rest of Meiji's nut range, vegetable fat stands in for part of the cocoa butter here.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48289832108258,"sku":"SH-SNK-0030","price":6.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-almond-chocolate-matcha-pack.webp?v=1788124928"},{"product_id":"glico-pocky-chocolate","title":"Glico Japanese Pocky Chocolate Sticks — 2 Packs","description":"\u003cp\u003eThin wheat biscuit sticks under a real chocolate coating, with a snap you can hear: the biscuit underneath is toasty and faintly salty, which is the half worth paying attention to. This is the Japanese-made box, and its ingredient list names cacao mass (ground cocoa beans), cocoa butter and fermented butter. Buy it if you want the Pocky you remember from Japan; if you just want a cheap chocolate stick for a lunchbox, the supermarket carries one for a fraction of this and it will do that job fine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe pack reads ポッキーチョコレート: \u003cem\u003epok-kee choco-rey-to\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNot the same recipe as the supermarket box.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Pocky Australian supermarkets sell is made in Thailand: every line of it that states an origin says so on Coles' own product pages. On the export pack whose full panel we could read, the coating is not called chocolate at all but \u003cem\u003echocolate flavoured cream\u003c\/em\u003e, built on palm and rapeseed oils with no cocoa butter in it. This one is made in Japan, which is what a returning traveller is noticing.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe recipe changed in September 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e, for the first time in ten years. It is still argued over in Japan, and people divide sharply over whether the result is better than what they remember. Worth knowing before you decide your memory is wrong.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChill it before you eat it.\u003c\/strong\u003e Cold chocolate goes hard and snaps instead of smearing, and the pack does not tell you. It is the one piece of handling advice worth having with these.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt will not enjoy a Sydney summer.\u003c\/strong\u003e Glico's own instruction is to keep it below 28°C, and there is chocolate on the outside where the heat reaches it first. In hot weather expect to want it in the fridge, and expect a hot-day delivery to arrive softer than it left.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains \u003cstrong\u003emilk, wheat and soy\u003c\/strong\u003e. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a biscuit stick, not a pretzel in the salty-knot sense. Glico prints プレッツェル on the box, meaning the thin baked wheat stick, not the twisted bar-snack kind. It is not Pepero, which is a Korean lookalike made by Lotte, and not Mikado, which is what Glico calls Pocky in Europe. Inside the box are two sealed packs rather than one open tray, which is what makes it easy to take somewhere and open one.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48296513863906,"sku":"SH-SNK-0040","price":5.1,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-pocky-chocolate-red-box.webp?v=1788499355"},{"product_id":"glico-pocky-gokuboso","title":"Glico Pocky Gokuboso Thin Chocolate Sticks — 2 Packs","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe same chocolate as the red box, on a stick with about half the cross-section, so there is more chocolate against less biscuit, and it snaps harder rather than softer. Thin here means firmer, not more delicate: the opposite of what the word sounds like. Buy it if the chocolate is the part you care about; if you want something to get your teeth into, the red box is the thicker of the two, and people who compare them do split over it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe pack reads ポッキー＜極細＞: \u003cem\u003egok-oo-boso\u003c\/em\u003e, meaning \"extra fine\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAbout 30% narrower, not half as thick.\u003c\/strong\u003e Glico's \"about 1\/2\" is footnoted on its own page as a \u003cem\u003ecross-sectional area\u003c\/em\u003e ratio, and half the area works out to roughly seven-tenths of the width. English pages about this product tend to call it thinner and leave it there. The difference is smaller than \"half\" sounds, and still enough to change the eat.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMore chocolate against less biscuit.\u003c\/strong\u003e That is the whole difference, and it is why the same chocolate can read stronger here without being a different recipe. Some people taste it as more chocolatey and some taste it as identical: both are describing the same change from opposite ends.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe Australian supermarkets don't have it.\u003c\/strong\u003e Coles and Woolworths both range Pocky, and every line of it that states an origin says Thailand. None of it is this. Glico does not export the thin one under any name.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt will not enjoy a Sydney summer.\u003c\/strong\u003e Glico says keep it under 28°C, and the chocolate is on the outside where the heat gets to it first.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains \u003cstrong\u003emilk, wheat and soy\u003c\/strong\u003e. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is not a different flavour from the red box. The chocolate is the same chocolate and only the texture changed; the difference is the ratio and the snap. Glico prints プレッツェル on the box and Japanese buyers use the word too: it means this kind of thin baked wheat stick, not the twisted salty knot, so the quotes below calling it a pretzel mean the biscuit. Unlike the red box it has no fermented butter in it, which Glico adds to that one only.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48296514060514,"sku":"SH-SNK-0041","price":5.1,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-pocky-gokuboso-white-box.webp?v=1788499844"},{"product_id":"glico-pocky-tsubutsubu-ichigo","title":"Glico Strawberry Pocky Tsubutsubu Ichigo — 2 Packs","description":"\u003cp\u003eStrawberry cream with freeze-dried fruit through it, coated twice onto a wholemeal \u003cstrong\u003ecocoa\u003c\/strong\u003e biscuit stick. What is underneath is chocolatey and slightly bitter, and the fruit reads sharp rather than sweet against it. It is the only strawberry Pocky Glico builds this way. Buy it if you want a strawberry snack that tastes tart; if you are after the soft pink sweetness of the supermarket strawberry Pocky, this is not that, and the difference is not subtle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe pack reads つぶつぶいちごポッキー: \u003cem\u003etsoo-boo-tsoo-boo ee-chee-go\u003c\/em\u003e, roughly \"bitty strawberry\", after the pieces of fruit in the cream. Glico prints プレッツェル on the box, meaning the thin baked wheat stick rather than the twisted salty bar-snack kind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe strawberry is real, and that is the question people actually ask.\u003c\/strong\u003e It tastes like fruit rather than flavouring: there is a genuine tartness to it, and pieces you can feel against your teeth.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThere is also added colour, something to make it tart (an acidulant) and flavouring in the list\u003c\/strong\u003e, and both things are true at once. The colour is beetroot-derived rather than a synthetic dye. Where anyone does read it as artificial, it is the \u003cem\u003esmell\u003c\/em\u003e they mean rather than the taste: the aroma is the sweet-shop part of it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe biscuit is cocoa, not plain, and among the strawberry Pocky, this box is the only place Glico does that.\u003c\/strong\u003e It is a bitter base under a sweet cream, and the contrast is what makes it work, though the cocoa is subtle enough to miss.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt is not the box Coles sells.\u003c\/strong\u003e The strawberry Pocky Coles sells is made in Thailand, Coles states that on its own page, and Glico's export listing for it describes a plain wheat stick with strawberry powder and artificial flavour, no fruit pieces. Same brand, same pink, different product.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt is not sweeter than ordinary Pocky.\u003c\/strong\u003e Whatever the pink box suggests, the cream is the sweet part and the biscuit under it is not.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt will not enjoy a Sydney summer.\u003c\/strong\u003e Glico says keep it under 28°C, and the cream is on the outside.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains \u003cstrong\u003emilk, wheat and soy\u003c\/strong\u003e. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a permanent line in Japan rather than a winter special, so it is not going anywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48296514158818,"sku":"SH-SNK-0042","price":5.45,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-pocky-tsubutsubu-ichigo-pink-box.webp?v=1788500388"},{"product_id":"glico-pocky-almond-crush","title":"Glico Pocky Almond Crush Chocolate Sticks — 2 Packs","description":"\u003cp\u003eChocolate-coated pretzel sticks with coarsely broken roasted almonds pressed all over the coating, on a wholemeal biscuit made with almond praline. Almond sits third on the ingredient list, ahead of the milk and the cocoa, and you can taste that, though whether it tastes more of nut or more of chocolate genuinely divides people, and the crunch comes from the nut rather than the biscuit either way. Buy it if you want the nut to be the point; if you want a straightforward chocolate stick, the plain red box is the one you want, not this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eアーモンドクラッシュポッキー: \u003cem\u003ea-mon-do ku-rash-shu pok-kii\u003c\/em\u003e, the name on the blue box.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFourteen sticks, seven in each of two sealed bags.\u003c\/strong\u003e Worth knowing before you buy, because it is the one thing about this box that disappoints people, it goes faster than the size of it suggests, and the count has not changed since 2019. The two bags are genuinely useful though: open one, keep one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe crunch is the almond, not the biscuit.\u003c\/strong\u003e Coarse broken pieces rather than a dust, so you get a proper hard bite against the snap of the stick. The chocolate covers most of the stick and leaves the top bare, which is the whole reason Pocky exists.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReal chocolate, and a wholemeal stick underneath.\u003c\/strong\u003e Cacao mass (ground cocoa beans) and cocoa butter are both on the list, and the pretzel is made with wholemeal flour and a little almond praline: it has a definite bready, savoury note under the sweetness rather than tasting like a plain sugar biscuit.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt divides people on sweetness, and that's worth knowing.\u003c\/strong\u003e The same milk chocolate tastes too sweet to some people and too faint to others, opposite complaints about one coating. Which way it goes depends on what you came for, and there is no consensus to hand you.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTry it out of the fridge.\u003c\/strong\u003e Chilling firms the chocolate and sharpens the snap. Handy here for a second reason too: this is a chocolate-coated stick and it is not built for a hot letterbox. Keep it below 28 °C, which is Glico's own instruction.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains \u003cstrong\u003emilk, wheat, soy and almond\u003c\/strong\u003e. This is the only Pocky we sell that carries a tree nut. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne thing to clear up before you order: this is \u003cstrong\u003eAlmond Crush Pocky\u003c\/strong\u003e, not the Almond Pocky some people remember. That was a different line, sold from 1971 to 2003 with brief revivals in 2009 and 2011, and Japanese buyers mix the two up as often as anyone else does. And this is the Japanese domestic box; the almond Pocky Australian supermarkets range is a different pack under a different name.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48296843804898,"sku":"SH-SNK-0043","price":5.45,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-pocky-almond-crush-blue-box-front.webp?v=1788500655"},{"product_id":"glico-pocky-koi-fukami-matcha","title":"Glico Matcha Pocky Koi Fukami — Uji Green Tea, 2 Packs","description":"\u003cp\u003eA matcha Pocky where the matcha is in the biscuit as well as the coating: the stick itself is green, with matcha worked into the dough, under a chocolate made with stone-milled matcha. It tastes clearly of green tea rather than of green-tea flavouring: more sweet-edged than bracing, though the matcha does deliver for most people. It is the approachable one of the two matcha boxes we sell. Buy it if you want matcha you can eat a whole bag of; if you want the richer, thicker-coated version, the two-layer box is the one, though be warned that its own buyers split on whether it is actually as astringent as its name claims.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eポッキー＜濃い深み抹茶＞: \u003cem\u003ekoi fukami matcha\u003c\/em\u003e, roughly \"deep, rich matcha\". Matcha is powdered green tea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTwo kinds of matcha, not twice as much.\u003c\/strong\u003e You will see this sold in English as \"double the green tea\". It is a mistranslation: 二種の抹茶 means \u003cem\u003etwo kinds\u003c\/em\u003e. One is ground on a stone mill and goes into the chocolate; a second, more bitter one is kneaded into the biscuit. Glico names Uji matcha. Uji, near Kyoto, is the region Japan most associates with it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe biscuit is green, and you taste the matcha in it.\u003c\/strong\u003e It snaps like any other Pocky; what changes is that the bitter edge comes up through the stick instead of sitting only on the outside.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHow strong is it, honestly.\u003c\/strong\u003e The matcha delivers for most palates, and a real minority find the pack promises more than it gives: the word that falls short is \u003cem\u003ebitter\u003c\/em\u003e, not \u003cem\u003ematcha\u003c\/em\u003e. If you read matcha desserts as usually too sweet, you will probably like it. If you drink your matcha unsweetened, temper your expectations.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt is a spring seasonal in Japan\u003c\/strong\u003e, run once a year since 2017 and not made the rest of the time. What is on the shelf is what there is until the next run.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThere is caffeine in it\u003c\/strong\u003e, as there is in any real green-tea product. Glico declares it on the pack, which it does not do on most Pocky.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains \u003cstrong\u003emilk, wheat and soy\u003c\/strong\u003e. The same production line also runs egg and peanut products. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThree things to clear up before you order. First, we sell \u003cstrong\u003etwo\u003c\/strong\u003e matcha Pocky and their Japanese names differ by one character. This is 濃い\u003cstrong\u003e深み\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cem\u003ekoi fukami\u003c\/em\u003e, \"deep\", and the other is 濃い\u003cstrong\u003e渋み\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cem\u003ekoi shibumi\u003c\/em\u003e, \"astringent\", built in two chocolate layers over a cocoa biscuit and more thickly coated. Second, the matcha Pocky Australian supermarkets range is a different, smaller pack made for export, and its own retailer describes the coating as a green tea \u003cem\u003ecream\u003c\/em\u003e; this box's ingredient list names cocoa butter. Third, Glico has quietly made this box smaller twice since 2019 and most sellers still list an older, larger pack. This is the current one. Keep it below 28 °C and out of direct sun; it is chocolate on a stick, and a hot letterbox will show.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48296844001506,"sku":"SH-SNK-0044","price":6.1,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-pocky-koi-fukami-matcha-box-front.webp?v=1788500817"},{"product_id":"glico-pocky-two-layer-matcha","title":"Glico Matcha Pocky 2-Layer Uji Green Tea — 2 Packs","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe premium matcha Pocky, and the only one built in two chocolate layers: a \u003cstrong\u003ecocoa\u003c\/strong\u003e biscuit is coated in a thick matcha chocolate, then wrapped again in an aerated, mousse-textured chocolate. You get a hard snap and then something that gives way and melts, which no other Pocky does. The matcha is genuinely strong, and the coating is noticeably thicker than the single-layer box's. Buy it if you want the good version rather than the everyday one; if you want something you can eat a whole bag of without thinking, the single-layer box is the easier buy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eポッキー2層仕立て＜濃い渋み抹茶＞: \u003cem\u003enisou shitate\u003c\/em\u003e, meaning \"made in two layers\". Matcha is powdered green tea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTwo coatings, not two biscuits.\u003c\/strong\u003e Layer one is a dense matcha chocolate straight onto the stick; layer two is whipped with air until it is light. You can see both in cross-section if you snap a stick.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe biscuit is cocoa, not matcha.\u003c\/strong\u003e That is the real difference from the other green box: the bitterness under the coating here is cocoa, and it is what keeps a thickly-coated sweet stick from cloying.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt is properly rich, and that part holds up.\u003c\/strong\u003e It sits clearly above ordinary matcha Pocky for the people who eat a lot of both. What splits opinion is the \u003cem\u003eastringency\u003c\/em\u003e the name promises: it tastes milder than billed about as often as it delivers. Rich, yes. Bracing, not reliably.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTwo layers you can see; two flavours you may not taste.\u003c\/strong\u003e The cross-section is unmistakable, but whether you actually taste the mild matcha and the sharper one as two things in the same bite is genuinely disputed. Worth knowing before you pay for the construction.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt carries caffeine\u003c\/strong\u003e, as any real green-tea product does, and this is the only Pocky we sell where Glico declares it on the pack, with more of it than the single-layer matcha box.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt is a limited run\u003c\/strong\u003e: Glico sells it until it is gone rather than stocking it year-round.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains \u003cstrong\u003emilk, wheat and soy\u003c\/strong\u003e. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThree things before you order. We sell \u003cstrong\u003etwo\u003c\/strong\u003e matcha Pocky whose Japanese names differ by a single character. This is 濃い\u003cstrong\u003e渋み\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cem\u003ekoi shibumi\u003c\/em\u003e, \"astringent\", the two-layer one; the other is 濃い\u003cstrong\u003e深み\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cem\u003ekoi fukami\u003c\/em\u003e, \"deep\", single-layer with matcha in the biscuit, sweeter and easier going. The matcha Pocky Australian supermarkets range is neither: it is a smaller pack made for export, and its own retailer describes the coating as a green tea \u003cem\u003ecream\u003c\/em\u003e, where this box's ingredient list names cocoa butter. And take the storage seriously on this one in particular: the outer layer is an aerated chocolate, the softest coating of any Pocky we stock, and Glico's instruction is to keep it below 28 °C and out of direct sun.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48296844493026,"sku":"SH-SNK-0045","price":8.3,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-pocky-nisou-shitate-matcha-box-front.webp?v=1788501071"},{"product_id":"meiji-kinoko-no-yama","title":"Meiji Kinoko no Yama — Japanese Mushroom Chocolate, 66g","description":"\u003cp\u003eA crisp little cracker stem with a chocolate cap, shaped like a mushroom. The cap is two chocolates, one cocoa-forward, one milkier, and the stem is a dry, lightly salted cracker, so the chocolate does the sweetness and the stem does the crunch. Buy it if you want chocolate with a crisp, dry bite; if you want a soft cookie under your chocolate, this is the wrong box, its rival Takenoko no Sato is the one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: きのこの山, \"Kinoko no Yama\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt has a famous rival, Takenoko no Sato, the bamboo-shoot cookie. Japan has voted on the pair twice, and the mushroom took the last round.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe stem is a baked cracker: lighter and drier than a biscuit, with a little salt in it. That contrast with the chocolate is the whole idea.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe box is 66 g. If you remember a bigger one, you're right. Meiji cut it from 74 g in 2025.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChocolate travels badly in an Australian summer: the caps can arrive soft. Keep it under 28 °C, and chill the sealed box until a cap snaps rather than bends.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: milk, wheat and soy. There is no egg in this recipe. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48307130564834,"sku":"SH-SNK-0046","price":5.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-kinoko-no-yama-box-front.webp?v=1788501247"},{"product_id":"meiji-takenoko-no-sato","title":"Meiji Takenoko no Sato Chocolate Cookie Snack — 63g","description":"\u003cp\u003eA crumbly little cookie wrapped in two chocolates, a cocoa-forward layer and a milkier one, shaped like a bamboo shoot. It's the cookie half of Japan's most famous snack pair: it crumbles softly where its mushroom rival's cracker snaps. Buy it if you want a proper cookie under your chocolate; if you're after a crisp, drier bite, or you need to avoid egg and nuts, this is the wrong box, and Kinoko no Yama is the one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: たけのこの里, \"Takenoko no Sato\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMeiji has run three national elections asking Japan to pick between this and its mushroom sibling. This one won two of them.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYou buy this one for the cookie, crumbly and buttery-tasting, with the chocolate wrapped right around it rather than sitting on top.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe box is 63 g. If you remember a bigger one, you're right. Meiji cut it from 70 g in 2025.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn an Australian summer it travels soft. Keep it under 28 °C, and a spell in the fridge brings it back: the chocolate firms up and the crumbly cookie reads sharper against it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: egg, milk and wheat, plus almond, soy and macadamia: there is almond paste in the cookie. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48307132137698,"sku":"SH-SNK-0047","price":5.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-takenoko-no-sato-box-front.webp?v=1788506037"},{"product_id":"meiji-takenoko-no-sato-strawberry","title":"Meiji Takenoko no Sato Strawberry \u0026 Chocolat — 61g","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe strawberry version of Japan's bamboo-shoot cookie: the same crumbly Takenoko no Sato cookie under a two-layer coat of sweet-tart strawberry chocolate and a mellower chocolate. The strawberry is bright and a little sharp, not lolly-sweet; there's real strawberry powder in the recipe. Buy it if you like strawberry chocolate; if you'd rather have the plain chocolate original, this is the wrong box. Takenoko no Sato is the one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: たけのこの里いちご＆ショコラ — \"ichigo\" is strawberry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIf you know Meiji's Apollo, the little strawberry-and-milk-chocolate cones, this is that flavour idea wearing a cookie. We stock Apollo too.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA recurring flavour, not a permanent one: it has come and gone since 2020 and is in an active run now. If you like it, don't assume it'll be here next season.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe sharp edge is deliberate: there's a food acid in the recipe (an acidulant), so it finishes tart rather than sugary.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe cookie underneath is the same crumbly one as the plain box, and it stays crisp under the double coat.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe box is 61 g, a touch smaller than the plain box's 63 g.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: egg, milk and wheat, plus almond, soy and macadamia: the same six as the plain Takenoko no Sato, with almond paste in the cookie. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwo boxes are easy to confuse: Meiji also sells a \u003cem\u003ekinoko\u003c\/em\u003e (mushroom) strawberry version, a different product on a cracker stem. This is the bamboo-shoot cookie one. Like the whole family it travels soft in an Australian summer; keep it below 28 °C and out of hot cars and sunny parcel boxes, and some fridge time firms it back up.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48307133219042,"sku":"SH-SNK-0048","price":5.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-takenoko-ichigo-box-front.webp?v=1788512301"},{"product_id":"lotte-sasa-rich-uji-matcha-woven-chocolate-69g","title":"Lotte Sasa Rich Uji Matcha Woven Chocolate — 69g","description":"\u003cp\u003eA chocolate built from about 1,350 thread-thin lines, woven into a sheet and cut into pieces, so it snaps instead of breaking. Three chocolates go into the weave: matcha, bitter and white. Matcha is green tea ground to a powder, and this one uses matcha from Uji, the tea-growing area near Kyoto. Buy it if you want matcha you can eat like chocolate; if you want a strong, bitter, tea-forward hit, this is the wrong box.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: 紗々 芳醇抹茶. The name is said \u003cem\u003esasha\u003c\/em\u003e, and 紗 is the word for a thin, sheer woven cloth, which is exactly what the chocolate is made to look like. The plain chocolate box is the original of the range; this is the matcha one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEach line is about 1.5 mm wide. You can hear it break, and then it comes apart on the tongue rather than melting in a lump.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow much matcha you taste divides people. Some get a rich, grown-up tea flavour; others find the white chocolate takes over.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEach piece is wrapped on its own, so the box is easy to hand round at work or take to someone's house.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKeep it somewhere cool, each piece is a thin woven sheet, not a solid block.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains milk and soy. Made on equipment that also handles egg and wheat. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf matcha KitKat is your reference, this is a different thing: there is no wafer, and the matcha is mixed through the chocolate rather than coating it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lotte","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48311744069858,"sku":"SH-SNK-0050","price":9.8,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/lotte-sasa-rich-uji-matcha-box-front.webp?v=1788513112"},{"product_id":"morinaga-amaou-strawberry-koeda-44-sticks","title":"Morinaga Amaou Strawberry Koeda Chocolate — 44 Sticks","description":"\u003cp\u003eKoeda means \"twig\", and that is what these are: short, knobbly sticks of chocolate you eat four at a time. This winter version is made with strawberry powder from Amaou, a Fukuoka strawberry. It tastes like strawberry milk. Buy it if you want that; if you want fresh fruit, this is the wrong box.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: あまおう苺の小枝.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eForty-four sticks, sealed four to a bag in eleven small bags, so an opened box does not go stale on you.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe crunch inside comes from crushed biscuit.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Amaou name is where the strawberry comes from, not a flavour you can pick out.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt is sweet rather than cocoa-bitter.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe sticks do not melt easily in the hand, so they travel well in a bag.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKoeda is a household name in Japan. That is the range, running since 1971, not this winter box, which comes back for one run a year.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe strawberry divides people on whether it tastes tart at all, some find a sweet-sour edge, others none.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Morinaga","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48311746101474,"sku":"SH-SNK-0052","price":8.8,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/morinaga-amaou-strawberry-koeda-box-front.webp?v=1789296907"},{"product_id":"meiji-milk-chocolate","title":"Meiji Milk Chocolate — Japanese Chocolate Bar, 50g","description":"\u003cp\u003eJapan's everyday milk chocolate, and the bar Japanese home bakers melt down for cakes and truffles. It tastes the way a supermarket milk block tastes, sweet and smooth, but the cocoa comes through instead of getting lost under the milk. Buy it if you want the Japanese original rather than an Australian stand-in. If you want something darker and less sweet, its black sibling is the one, though that bar is milder than its name suggests, and if you are after something genuinely bitter, neither of these is it. It was the second best-selling chocolate in Japan on the national purchase-volume ranking for January to March 2025, and the ranked pack is this 50 g bar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: 明治ミルクチョコレート\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt turns 100 on 13 September 2026. Meiji first sold it in 1926 and has sold it ever since.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMade without vegetable fat. The fat in it comes from the cocoa bean: cocoa butter, plus the ground bean itself, which the label calls cocoa mass. Its black sibling, which we also stock, does contain vegetable fat.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStill made to Japan's full chocolate standard. In 2024 Meiji cut the cocoa in around forty of its products far enough that they dropped below that standard; this bar was not one of them.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt melts smoothly rather than sitting on the tongue, and it breaks up by hand without a knife.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis is the bar Japanese recipes are written around, and they are written in bars rather than grams: most call for between two and five. Almost everything else in them is normal supermarket stock.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens, and one thing the label does not settle:\u003c\/strong\u003e it names a flavouring without saying what that flavouring is made from, so this is not a bar we can call vegetarian.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere is no cocoa percentage for this bar, none has ever been published, so any figure you see quoted for it is somebody's guess. It is an eating bar rather than a couverture, the kind of chocolate made to be melted and re-set at controlled temperatures: fine for melting into cakes and truffles, which is exactly what Japanese recipes use it for, but not a chocolatier's coating chocolate. One practical thing before you order: Meiji's own storage limit is below 28 °C, and a Sydney summer runs well above that, so it is worth thinking about when you order rather than after it arrives.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48322040398050,"sku":"SH-SNK-0061","price":3.4,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-milk-chocolate-50g-front.webp?v=1789349058"},{"product_id":"meiji-black-chocolate","title":"Meiji Black Chocolate — Mild Japanese Dark Bar, 50g","description":"\u003cp\u003eMeiji's dark bar, and the honest thing to say first is that \"Black\" oversells it. It is bittersweet rather than bitter, the cocoa is there without the sharp edge of a high-cocoa bar, and it snaps crisp, sharper still straight from the fridge. Buy it if you find most milk chocolate too sweet but do not actually want a bitter bar; if you want something genuinely bitter, this is the wrong one and a 70% or higher is what you are after. It was the 14th best-selling chocolate in Japan on the national purchase-volume ranking for January to March 2025, and the ranked pack is this 50 g bar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: 明治ブラックチョコレート\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt was not one of the Meiji bars whose cocoa was cut back in 2024.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt does contain vegetable fat, third on the ingredient list, where the milk bar has none. Both are still full chocolate, but it is a difference you could otherwise only find by reading a Japanese label, so we would rather say it than let you discover it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChill it and it snaps cleanly, and that crispness is one of the things people mention most about it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJapanese bakers use it two ways, in place of the milk bar, or together with it. Meiji's own recipe notes say it cuts the sweetness and deepens the colour.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens, and one thing the label does not settle:\u003c\/strong\u003e it names a flavouring without saying what that flavouring is made from, so this is not a bar we can call vegetarian.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere is no cocoa percentage for this bar, none has ever been published, so any figure you see quoted for it is a guess. It is also not the same thing as Meiji's Chocolate Effect range, which is the genuinely high-cocoa line and is sold separately. It is an eating bar, not a couverture: the kind made to be melted and re-set at controlled temperatures. Fine for melting into cakes; not a chocolatier's coating chocolate. One thing that surprises label-readers: it carries slightly more fat and slightly more energy than the milk bar, not less. One practical thing before you order: Meiji's own storage limit is below 28 °C, and a Sydney summer runs well above that, so it is worth thinking about when you order rather than after it arrives.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48322043838690,"sku":"SH-SNK-0062","price":3.29,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-black-chocolate-50g-front.webp?v=1789351862"},{"product_id":"glico-pocky-choco-mint","title":"Glico Choco Mint Pocky — Mint Chocolate Sticks, 2 Packs","description":"\u003cp\u003eChocolate-mint Pocky: a cocoa biscuit stick under pale blue-green mint chocolate. The biscuit is faintly bitter, and the mint is gentle and cool rather than sharp. Buy it if you like mint chocolate but usually find it too strong; if you are after a proper cooling hit, there is not much of one here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eチョコミントポッキー: \u003cem\u003echoko-minto pok-kii\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA summer-only run in Japan.\u003c\/strong\u003e It is made for the season and stops when the run stops. What is on the shelf is what there is until next summer.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe biscuit underneath is cocoa, not plain.\u003c\/strong\u003e Faintly bitter rather than sweet, which is unusual under a mint chocolate. There is a faint saltiness in the stick too.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe mint is milder than the colour promises.\u003c\/strong\u003e It is a soft, cool mint rather than a sharp one. If you have had a chocolate-mint that made your mouth go cold, this is not that.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe colour comes from algae.\u003c\/strong\u003e The only colouring in it is spirulina, which is blue, and the sticks come out a pale blue-green rather than a clear mint green. The first Japanese write-ups called this one the blue Pocky.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt will not enjoy a Sydney summer.\u003c\/strong\u003e Glico's instruction is to keep it below 28 °C, and the chocolate is on the outside where the heat reaches first. In warm weather it softens, and a hot-day delivery can arrive softer than it left.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains \u003cstrong\u003emilk, wheat and soy\u003c\/strong\u003e. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYou will find Japanese shopping pages marking this one discontinued. That is a seasonal run ending, not the product going away: it has come back nearly every summer for over a decade.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48322836594914,"sku":"SH-SNK-0063","price":7.37,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-pocky-choco-mint-box-front.webp?v=1789352157"},{"product_id":"glico-pocky-coconut","title":"Glico Coconut Pocky — Chocolate Sticks, 2 Packs","description":"\u003cp\u003eCoconut Pocky: chocolate-coated biscuit sticks with crushed coconut set through the coating, so you get pieces of it rather than just the flavour. The coconut is dry and crisp against the snap of the stick, and the chocolate is on the sweet side. Buy it if you want the coconut to be the point; if coconut is not your thing, this is the wrong box. It is in the chocolate and in the biscuit both.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eココナッツポッキー: \u003cem\u003ekoko-nattsu pok-kii\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFourteen sticks, seven in each of two sealed bags.\u003c\/strong\u003e Say it plainly, because it is a small box and it goes faster than the size of it suggests. The two bags are the useful part: open one, keep one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe coconut is real, and you feel it rather than just taste it.\u003c\/strong\u003e Crushed pieces are set into the chocolate instead of a flavouring, so there is a dry, crisp rasp against the snap of the stick.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThere is coconut in the biscuit too.\u003c\/strong\u003e Glico works coconut powder into a wholemeal stick, so it is not only on the outside. Fair warning: the wholemeal is not something you will notice as a flavour. It is a build detail, not a selling point.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA summer-only run in Japan.\u003c\/strong\u003e Glico has made it nearly every year since 2012 and stops when the run stops. What is on the shelf is what there is until next summer.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt will not enjoy a Sydney summer.\u003c\/strong\u003e Glico's instruction is to keep it below 28 °C, and the chocolate is on the outside where the heat reaches first. In warm weather it softens, and a hot-day delivery can arrive softer than it left.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains \u003cstrong\u003emilk, wheat and soy\u003c\/strong\u003e. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCoconut is not classed as a tree nut in Australia or in Japan, and this pack declares no nuts of any kind, but if coconut itself is a problem for you, the ingredient list is printed on the box.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48322838921442,"sku":"SH-SNK-0064","price":7.37,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-pocky-coconut-box-front.webp?v=1789352283"},{"product_id":"glico-pocky-salted-caramel-winter","title":"Glico Salted Caramel Pocky — Winter Edition, 2 Packs","description":"\u003cp\u003eA winter-only Pocky: buttery caramel chocolate over the biscuit stick, with fine grains of salt scattered across the surface. It is sweet and rich, and the salt is what keeps it from being too much. Buy it if you like salted caramel; if you want the clean snap of the plain red box, this one is a good deal richer than that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e冬のきらめきポッキー: \u003cem\u003efuyu no kirameki\u003c\/em\u003e, \"winter sparkle\". The sparkle is the salt.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eYou can see the salt.\u003c\/strong\u003e Fine grains sit on the surface and catch the light. Every so often you bite one and get a small crunch of salt against the caramel, which is a different thing from a sweet that is merely salted.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThere is real butter in it, and you can taste it.\u003c\/strong\u003e Browned butter goes into both the chocolate and the biscuit, at just under one per cent of the coating. What comes through when you eat it is butter rather than anything specifically browned: worth knowing so you are not hunting for a flavour that does not arrive.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRicher than the plain red box.\u003c\/strong\u003e This is Pocky as a treat rather than a snack. A whole bag in one go is a lot of sweet caramel.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA winter-only run in Japan.\u003c\/strong\u003e It is made for the season and not restocked after it. What is here is what there is until next winter.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt will not enjoy a Sydney summer.\u003c\/strong\u003e Glico's instruction is to keep it below 28 °C, and the chocolate is on the outside where the heat reaches first. In warm weather it softens, and a hot-day delivery can arrive softer than it left.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains \u003cstrong\u003emilk, wheat and soy\u003c\/strong\u003e. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGlico sells two winter Pocky side by side and they are easy to mix up, which matters for one reason: if you go looking, you will find news of a Glico recall of a winter Pocky in Japan in December 2025. That was the other one, the cocoa-dusted Fuyu no Kuchidoke. This box is not on Glico's own list of affected products.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48322842099938,"sku":"SH-SNK-0065","price":6.33,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-pocky-fuyu-no-kirameki-box-front.webp?v=1789352828"},{"product_id":"lotte-koalas-march-chocolate","title":"Lotte Koala's March Chocolate Filled Biscuits — 48g","description":"\u003cp\u003eA hollow little biscuit shaped like a koala, with chocolate sealed inside it. The shell is crisp, and because the chocolate sits inside rather than on top, it stays off your fingers. Buy it if you want a small sweet to share or hand to a child; if you are after a proper chocolate biscuit, this is the wrong one, the chocolate is a centre, not a thick layer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: コアラのマーチ, \u003cem\u003ekoala no maachi\u003c\/em\u003e, \"Koala's March\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA shell baked hollow, with the chocolate injected into it afterwards, which is why the chocolate is sealed inside rather than coating the outside.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEach biscuit carries a printed koala, drawn from hundreds of designs: twelve when it launched in 1984, five hundred in the current run.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHunting for the rare designs was not a marketing idea. Shoppers in the 1980s named the ones they thought were rare themselves — the eyebrow koala, the nosebleed koala — and Lotte adopted the game afterwards.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt is a small box, and it goes quickly. If more than two of you are sharing, get two.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains wheat, egg, milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe chocolate inside is set, not runny. It is sealed inside the biscuit, so when it softens it stays off your hands and out of your bag, which is why this travels where a chocolate-coated stick does not, though it is not heatproof. And this is the 48g box sold in Japan: the Koala's March on Australian supermarket shelves is a different pack in a different size, made for a different market.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lotte","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48323754066146,"sku":"SH-SNK-0066","price":5.12,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/lotte-koalas-march-chocolate-48g-box-front.webp?v=1789352979"},{"product_id":"glico-pocky-two-layer-cacao","title":"Glico Pocky Two-Layer Cacao Chocolate Sticks — 2 Packs","description":"\u003cp\u003eChocolate-coated biscuit sticks with two coatings instead of one: a dense layer first, then a softer whipped layer over the top, so you taste them one after the other. The stick underneath is cocoa rather than plain, and the whole thing is noticeably thicker and heavier in the hand than an ordinary Pocky. Buy it if you want a thicker Pocky with a proper chocolate hit; if you want the light, easy red box, this is the wrong one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: ポッキー2層仕立て＜薫るカカオ＞. The words in the brackets read \u003cem\u003ekaoru kakao\u003c\/em\u003e and mean \"fragrant cacao\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSome of the cacao is Peruvian\u003c\/strong\u003e, picked for a flowery smell you get before you bite.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe stick is cocoa, not plain biscuit.\u003c\/strong\u003e It is baked to taste of cocoa on its own, rather than being a neutral thing to carry the chocolate.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt is thicker than a normal Pocky\u003c\/strong\u003e, which is the first thing Japanese buyers say about it: they reach for words about weight and heft before they mention flavour.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt melts easily, and that is the catch.\u003c\/strong\u003e The outer layer is soft by design. Keep it somewhere cool, and don't leave it in a hot car, the pack asks for below 28°C.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains milk, wheat and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Two-layer\" means two coats of chocolate, not two biscuits: the stick itself is single. It is a small box: two sealed bags with a few sticks in each, so treat it as a treat rather than a share pack. Sweetness is held back compared with the red box, though not everyone reads it that way, one buyer's review simply calls it sweet. And it is not a seasonal: this one stays in the range.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48330494804194,"sku":"SH-SNK-0071","price":5.49,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-pocky-two-layer-cacao-box-front.webp?v=1789353733"},{"product_id":"glico-pocky-cacao-60","title":"Glico Pocky Cacao 60% Bitter Chocolate Sticks — 2 Packs","description":"\u003cp\u003ePocky made with a properly bitter chocolate: cacao is the first thing on the ingredient list, ahead of both the flour and the sugar, on a cocoa biscuit stick instead of a plain one. The sticks are thicker than ordinary Pocky, and the same length. Buy it if ordinary Pocky is too sweet for you but a block of dark chocolate is more than you want; if 70% dark is already your everyday chocolate, this tastes milder than what you are used to and is the wrong one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: ポッキーカカオ60%.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCacao comes first on the ingredient list, ahead of the flour and the sugar.\u003c\/strong\u003e That single change is what the whole product is.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe stick is cocoa, and darker than you expect.\u003c\/strong\u003e It is baked deep brown all the way through, not the pale biscuit under a normal Pocky, and it tastes of cocoa on its own.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEach stick is thicker\u003c\/strong\u003e, at the same length as a normal Pocky, so a small bag has more in it than it looks.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\"60%\" describes the chocolate, not the whole stick.\u003c\/strong\u003e The coating is a 60% cacao chocolate; the biscuit underneath is a biscuit. So it is bitter, but it is not a 60% dark chocolate bar.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eKeep it below 28°C\u003c\/strong\u003e, which is what the pack asks for. It is chocolate on a thin biscuit, and a hot car will finish it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains milk, wheat and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOne thing worth knowing:\u003c\/strong\u003e it contains inulin, an added plant fibre. If fibre supplements upset your stomach, this one has some in it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHow bitter it tastes depends entirely on what you are used to, and Japanese buyers split cleanly along that line: people coming from ordinary Pocky say it is far stronger than \"60%\" led them to expect, while people who already eat high-cacao chocolate call it mild. Both are describing the same box. It is also worth knowing that Glico quietly made the bags smaller in 2024: the sticks themselves are unchanged, but there is less in a bag than there used to be.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48330497949922,"sku":"SH-SNK-0072","price":5.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-pocky-cacao-60-box-front.webp?v=1789354014"},{"product_id":"couque-dasses-chocolate","title":"Sanritsu Couque D'asses Chocolate Biscuits — 12 Pieces","description":"\u003cp\u003eA thin, crisp butter biscuit with a layer of chocolate cream between two halves, twelve of them, each in its own wrapper. It snaps when you bite it, and the chocolate is a thin, mild layer rather than a rich filling. Buy it if you want something light to have with coffee; if you want a proper chocolate hit, this is the wrong biscuit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: \u003cstrong\u003eクックダッセ チョコレート\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThin and crisp: it snaps between the teeth, then goes powdery as it breaks up.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe chocolate is a thin layer rather than a filling. It is more sweet than cocoa-rich, and sugar sits at the top of the cream's ingredient list.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEat it cold if you can. It keeps fine in the cupboard, but the colder the biscuit is, the harder it snaps.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA mild, everyday chocolate rather than a rich one. The flavour is light and doesn't hang around after you swallow.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTwelve pieces, wrapped one at a time, so the rest stay crisp once you've opened one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains wheat, egg, milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThey are brittle, so expect a cracked one or two in the box. Made by Sanritsu, in Shizuoka. A Korean biscuit sells under an almost identical name and it is a different product; ours is the box printed 三立製菓, Sanritsu's name in Japanese, so that is the mark to match if you shop around.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sanritsu","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48331064017122,"sku":"SH-SNK-0073","price":5.61,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/sanritsu-couque-dasses-chocolate-pack.webp?v=1789354194"}],"url":"https:\/\/shintop.com.au\/collections\/chocolate.oembed","provider":"Shintop Trading Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}