Product information
About
A 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.
On the pack: コアラのマーチ, koala no maachi, "Koala's March".
What you're getting
- A shell baked hollow, with the chocolate injected into it afterwards, which is why the chocolate is sealed inside rather than coating the outside.
- Each biscuit carries a printed koala, drawn from hundreds of designs: twelve when it launched in 1984, five hundred in the current run.
- Hunting 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.
- It is a small box, and it goes quickly. If more than two of you are sharing, get two.
- Allergens: contains wheat, egg, milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.
The 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.
Ingredients
The maker's ingredient list, translated from the Japanese pack. Anything after the break is an additive — the Japanese label lists those separately.
Sugar, wheat flour, vegetable oil, cocoa mass, starch, shortening, lactose, whole milk powder, liquid egg, cocoa powder, whey powder, salt, cream powder, cocoa butter
calcium carbonate, raising agent, trehalose, emulsifier (soy derived), caramel colour, seasoning (amino acids etc.), flavouring
The printed label on the pack is always the authority on ingredients and allergens, not this page — please read it in full before you rely on our summary. If you are unsure about an ingredient, contact us.
Allergens
The maker declares:
- Allergens
-
- Wheat
- Egg
- Milk
- Soy
The printed label on the pack is always the authority on ingredients and allergens, not this page — please read it in full before you rely on our summary. If you are unsure about an ingredient, contact us.
Details
- Maker
- Lotte
- Prefecture
- Tokyo
- Net contents
- One 48 g box
Our guide
How to eat it
- Chill it, or give it two to three hours in the freezer, before you open it.
- Look at each biscuit before you eat it. Every design is printed as often as every other, so repeats inside one box are normal and finding a particular koala is luck.
- Keep it somewhere cool and out of direct sun. It is not heatproof: in a hot car the chocolate will soften inside the shell, though it stays there rather than on your fingers.
In their own words
What Japanese buyers say
- What they like
Your hands don't get dirty, so it's perfect for a quick nibble.
手が汚れないので、ちょっとつまむのに最適です。
from monolog
- What they like
It's light so you can pop them in one after another, and it's fun to look at what picture each one has as you eat.
軽いのでぱくぱく食べれるし1個1個どんな絵かなと見て食べるのが楽しいです。
from monolog
- What they grumble about
Ridiculously tasty. But it's gone in no time.
めちゃくちゃ美味しい。でもすぐなくなる。
from monolog
Our tip: It is a 48 g box — small, and it goes fast. Worth opening two if you are sharing.
- What they like
We eat them showing each other the pictures, my child and I.
子供と絵柄を見せ合いながら食べています。
from monolog
- What they grumble about
It's a shame the amount inside has shrunk compared to before.
以前に比べ内容量が減ったのは残念です
from monolog
- What they like
The amount is just right, and it's delicious chilled.
量もちょうど良くて冷やすとおいしい。
from monolog
- What they like
Eaten frozen, the chocolate chills nicely and it's twice as good.
冷凍して食べた方がチョコレートがいい感じに冷やされて倍美味しくなる。
from monolog
- What they grumble about
Unlike when I was a child I only eat proper things now, so it isn't all that tasty.
子供の頃と違ってちゃんとした物しかもう食べてないので大して美味しくはないですね
from monolog
- What they like
The standard of standards! Koala's March is a snack you can't go wrong picking.
定番中の定番のお菓子！選んで買って間違いないお菓子コアラのマーチ！
from monolog
Real quotes from Japanese review sites (monolog), translated by us. We show no star rating from those sites.
The maker
Where it comes from
- Lotte
- Tokyo
Koala's March has been made since March 1984, and from the start each little biscuit carried a printed koala. There were twelve designs then. There are five hundred now.
What happened in between was not planned. Around 1988 shoppers began giving names to the koalas they thought were rare: the mayuge koala, with what looks like an eyebrow, and the appendix koala, with its scar. The names spread by word of mouth, and Lotte only gave them official ones in 2003. The company's own account of it is blunt: it was the customers who made us see what the brand was worth.
One correction it makes to its own folklore, though: the eyebrow is not an eyebrow at all. Lotte says it is the frown of a koala straining to blow a trumpet.
Product facts here are checked against the maker's own page: lotte.co.jp (opens in a new tab)
Often bought together
-
Lotte Koala's March Chocolate Filled Biscuits — 48g
$5.12
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