Ahh.. Spring is now upon us, and the Japanese snack marketing gurus have unleashed their spring collection upon us. Spring in Japan is dominated by Strawberries, and Sakura. And today we are going to try Glico’s Spring Limited Edition さくら抹茶 Pocky!
And what a beautiful packaging job they did! It really brings together modern structures, with classic Japanese textures, and designs.
If you didn’t know, Sakura means cherry blossom. And most of the time, when a snack says “sakura” flavor, they usually mean cherry. Although sometimes they will really do cherry blossom flavor. Cherry blossom flavor is very light, and subtle. It is a flower after all. But the taste is very unique. Hard to express in words. It is the flavor that tells you Spring has arrived. The flavor that tells you that in late summer, you will have big, ripe cherries, but for now, you just have me. I have heard that some people do not like Sakura flavor. But I honestly don’t see why. It is just to subtle to really have a strong opinion one way, or the other. But like I said before, some products are just cherry flavored, and say “Sakura”. And some products use salted Sakura flowers which are indeed very salty.
And also if you didn’t know, Matcha is green tea powder. A beautiful earthy flavor that pairs well with many different flavors. Especially sweets like chocolate!!
I did not see any individual sized packages out there. I am sure they exist, but since this is a seasonal limited edition product, not all the stores are carrying it. And the ones that I tend to shop at only have this large size. Maybe a convenience store would have a smaller pack. This one comes with 9 individual smaller packs.
These would make great gifts to give out to friends, and family. But they would also make a great snack for yourself too! Let’s try them out shall we!
And yeah.. Wow. These are beautiful. The packaging, and the product. Simply amazing. I just want to sit here a moment, and admire these. The normal Pocky “stick” which is usually a light brown cookie color is now a soft pink color. I wonder if it tastes different?! And the chocolate is definitely Matcha chocolate. Let’s try this out, but instead of going for the top first, I am gonna try a bite of the pink cookie stick first, just to see if there is any flavor, or if it is just coloring.
Yes! The cookie has the real deal Sakura flavor! And it gets better in it’s aftertaste!! Awesome! No “cherry” or “salty”, just subtle Sakura. Awesome, let’s try the other side now, and get the mixture of the Sakura cookie, and the green tea powder chocolate!
Awsomeness!! Ahh, this is so good! The subtle Sakura, with the powerful green tea powder makes such a cool, and utterly unique flavor combination. If you close your eyes, you really feel like your experiencing spring in Japan. Glico did a great job with this one! Too bad it is only limited to Spring. These would be great all year around. But I suppose it’s best to enjoy these just like you would enjoy real Sakura. They come, they share their beauty, than they leave.