May 27th: Kit Kat Lemonade & Cola

Kcal 100 Fat 5.8g Carbs 11.3g (per 18.0g Kit Kat)

The hot summer time in Japan is coming about again soon so if you are thinking of putting in a J-list order soon I would get on it rather sharpish. In an attempt to remind you all of the crazy confections they have going on over there, my pal Peter @J-List has sent along another batch of goodies for me to review on the site. I almost take it as a given these days, that when I receive any package from these guys, there will no doubt be the latest flavour Kit Kat somewhere amongst it - I wasn't wrong! The flavour (or flavours I should say!)on offer this time was this double pack of Lemonade & Cola. This was a limited edition released a few months ago, and was the first dual flavoured Japanese Kit Kat package I had come across.

The total pack was divided into two separate two-finger bars that each weighed 18.0g each (your standard two-finger supermarket Kit Kat size!!). Both variants came presented in a rather groovy looking box that did a highly efficient job of indicating the Lemonade & Cola flavour with it's bright branding and use of on-pack pictures. Inside the bars were easily identifiable by the colour of their foil wrappers - Lemon of course the yellow one, and the cola unsurprisingly the red. Opening both up it soon became apparent that these were not going to be the Kit Kats notable for their 'real' or true tasting credentials - they smelt particularly sweet with strong suggestions of both lemon and cola.
Taking my least favoured flavour first I initially started with the Lemonade flavour, though it was long before I was experimenting trying little bits of each at the same time :D The reason I have chosen not to rate these flavours individually is because they would have been given the same scores each, as they delivered exactly the same sort of flavour experience. Both bars had a grounding of milky sweetness from the outer white chocolate, which I thought worked well for each variant. In both bars, the wafer in the middle of each bar acted as a nice savoury counter-balance to the very overt kiddie sweet like flavourings of both the cola and lemonade. Indeed, both the lemonade and cola influences were very reminiscent of other sweets - the cola bottles from Haribo Starmix and Bassetts Lemon Sherbets should give you some sort of idea what the flavour delivery was like. As you can imagine the delivery of the flavours in this manner was highly sugar based, so I can see how a four finger version of one of these flavours might have proven to be very monotonous and sickly. The idea of having two different flavoured smaller bars proved to be a good one - there was just about enough differentiation between the two to keep my tastebuds from being affected from the cola/sugar and lemonade/sugar overload, and I ultimately enjoyed the whole experience.

Overall I think this is going to be one of those flavours of Kit Kat that really splits opinion. Being someone that loved sweets like Haribo when I was younger I found these to be a nice little nostalgia kick and I enjoyed the cola bottle and lemon sherbet like experiences dished out by both the different bars. I wouldn't say these were flavours you would like to eat everyday, far from it, but as a one-off occurrence I was more than happy with what these bars delivered. Some will think that both the cola and lemonade influences are very artificial tasting, and I wouldn't dare argue with them as they are certainly right in that respect. If expectations are suitably set at enjoying the kids sweets like experience though, I see little reason why these wouldn't be Kit Kats you would really enjoy. Like so many of the Japanese products these were a real pleasure to try if only for the experience rather than any grandioso taste pleasure.

8.2 out of 10