The tube of pellets
Meiji Choco Baby — Tiny Chocolate Pellets in a Tube, 32g
$5.49
$17.16 per 100 gYou are looking at this one
The range
Which one do I need?
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Triangles with a star
Meiji Apollo Strawberry Chocolate — Triangles, 46g
$5.49
$11.93 per 100 g -
Banana in a shell
Meiji Banana Choco — Sugar-Shelled Banana Chocolate, 37g
$5.59
$15.11 per 100 g
Product information
About
A 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.
チョコベビー, the name on the tube, if you're matching it to something you remember.
Buy 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.
What you're getting
- Taste and texture: 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.
- Worth knowing what it is: cocoa is the second ingredient, ahead of the vegetable fat, so it's more cocoa-forward than it looks for the price.
- The tube is half the point: 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.
- How small it actually is: 32 g. The pellets are about the size of a Tic Tac, and the tube is slimmer than photographs suggest.
- In summer: 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.
- Allergens: Contains milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.
Two 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.
It's a small tube: the sort of thing that rides along with a bigger order rather than travelling on its own.
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 (manufactured overseas), cocoa mass, whole milk powder, vegetable fat, cocoa butter
emulsifier, flavouring, glazing agent. Contains milk and 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.
Allergens
The maker declares:
- Allergens
-
- 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
- Meiji
- Prefecture
- Tokyo
- Made in
- Japan
Our guide
How to eat it
- There are two ways to eat it and people genuinely pick: tip the tube straight into your mouth, or take them one at a time and let each pellet melt. Plenty of people start with the second and end with the first.
- Shake a few out rather than handing over the tube: the flip lid and the rattle are what make it easy to share with a child.
Good to know
- Keep it below 28°C and out of the sun. It travels better than most chocolate while it's in the tube; a warm hand is what defeats it.
In their own words
What Japanese buyers say
What do the numbers mean?
Counts of how many reviews mentioned each thing, not a score. One review can mention several. Every quote is our translation, with the original Japanese beneath it.
- What they like
Eating them one at a time is lovely, but tipping the whole lot into your mouth at once is bliss.
一粒づつ食べるのもおいしいけど、一気にドバーッと口に入れるのも幸せ。
from monolog
- What they like
I like eating them carefully one by one at first, then once it's about half gone, going at it lavishly all at once.
最初は丁寧に1粒1粒食べていって、半分くらいになるとガーっと大盤振る舞いに食べるのが好き。
- What they like
Throw them straight into your mouth and it fills right up with chocolate.
口の中に直接放り込めば、口一杯にチョコが広がります。
from mognavi
- What they grumble about
Because they're small you tip them out into your hand to eat, so with a child's warm hands they melt straight away and the palm often ends up covered in chocolate.
小さい分ザザッと手に出して食べるので、体温の高い子供の手だとすぐに溶けて手の平がチョコまみれな事が多いです。
from monolog
- What they like
First you heap them into your palm, then you inhale them in one go.
まず手のひらに盛りそして勢いよく吸い込みますっ。
- What they like
It's small, but shaking them out with that rattle is fun, isn't it.
小さいけどシャカシャカ振って出すの楽しいですよね。
from monolog
- What they like
Choco Baby, the long-seller. I suddenly craved it and bought some. I love the rattle it makes inside the case.
ロングセラーのチョコベビー。無性に食べたくなり購入。ケースの中でカラカラ音が鳴るのが好き。
from mognavi
- What they like
Shaking it and having a few shared out — the taste hasn't changed, it's still delicious.
シャカシャカと振って少し分けてくれる味は変わらず美味しいです
from monolog
- What they like
The container is sturdy too — it doesn't get crushed when my child holds it, which is a help.
容器もしっかりしていて、子どもが持っても握りつぶされなくて助かります
from monolog
- What they grumble about
There's a good amount in there, but if you leave it somewhere a bit warm and it melts and sets again, it won't come out.
たくさん入っていていいのですが、ちょっと暖かい場所に置いてしまって、溶けて固まってしまうと出てこなくなります。
from monolog
- What they like
It has a lid, so I don't worry about carrying it in my bag.
フタ付きだからカバンに入れてても安心です。
from monolog
- What they like
The little pellets melt and the mellowness of milk chocolate spreads through your mouth.
粒粒が溶けてミルクチョコレートのまろやかさが広がります。
from mognavi
- What they like
Putting one in at a time and letting it slowly melt in your mouth, or throwing in a handful and crunching through them.
一粒ずつ口に入れて、ゆっくり口のなかで溶かしながら食べたり、何粒も口に放り込んでボリボリ噛み砕いたり。
from mognavi
- What they like
Put one in your mouth and it gives slightly — it's a softer sort of chocolate.
これは口に入れるとむにっと少しするような柔らか目のチョコレートです。
from mognavi
- What they like
I'd assumed it was cheap chocolate, harder and non-melting — but it melted so smoothly in my mouth and was delicious.
もっと固くて溶けないチープなチョコだと思ってましたが、口に入れるとまろやか〜に溶けておいしかった。
from mognavi
- What they grumble about
Choco Baby's been around forever — I ate it a lot as a child, but it's got a good deal smaller and there's less of it now, which is a shame.
昔からあるチョコベビー 子供の頃によく食べてたがだいぶ小さくなり量も少なくなって残念
mentioned in 6 of 70 reviews we readfrom monolog
- What they like
I thought of it as a children's sweet, but it's not to be underestimated!
子供のお菓子だと思っていたけどあなどれない！
from mognavi
- What they like
It makes me happy that what I ate as a child is what my child is eating now.
私が子どもの頃に食べていたものを、子どもが今食べているのはうれしいです。
mentioned in 8 of 70 reviews we readfrom monolog
Real quotes from Japanese review sites, translated by us. We show no star rating from those sites.
Often bought together
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Meiji Choco Baby — Tiny Chocolate Pellets in a Tube, 32g
$5.49
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