Glico Matcha Pocky Koi Fukami — Uji Green Tea, 2 Packs

A 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.

ポッキー＜濃い深み抹茶＞: koi fukami matcha, roughly "deep, rich matcha". Matcha is powdered green tea.

What you're getting

• Two kinds of matcha, not twice as much. You will see this sold in English as "double the green tea". It is a mistranslation: 二種の抹茶 means two kinds. 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.
• The biscuit is green, and you taste the matcha in it. 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.
• How strong is it, honestly. The matcha delivers for most palates, and a real minority find the pack promises more than it gives: the word that falls short is bitter, not matcha. If you read matcha desserts as usually too sweet, you will probably like it. If you drink your matcha unsweetened, temper your expectations.
• It is a spring seasonal in Japan, 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.
• There is caffeine in it, as there is in any real green-tea product. Glico declares it on the pack, which it does not do on most Pocky.
• Allergens: contains milk, wheat and soy. The same production line also runs egg and peanut products. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.

Three things to clear up before you order. First, we sell two matcha Pocky and their Japanese names differ by one character. This is 濃い深み: koi fukami, "deep", and the other is 濃い渋み, koi shibumi, "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 cream; 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.