Baby's first Sakuraco box
Expendable income means I finally got to try something I've been wanting to do for years, and that would be getting a Sakuraco box! I guess this doubles as my first post on this blog but I'm less excited about that and more about my BOX.
In case you don't know what Sakuraco is it's a Japanese thing where you get a lovely box of snacks, a guide to go WITH the snacks explaining both the food themself and some of Japan's history, and a piece of tableware.
All included images are from the Sakuraco website, as their photos do a much better job showing these snacks and my shitty little phone camera ever could.
Every month has a new box and this month's box is Mt. Fuji themed. Ramblings about my experience with my box under the cut, and the snacks are talked about in the order I tried them.
Matcha Genmaicha: As I predicted my own tastes, I had to add sugar because I can't have just plain tea. I did try it beforehand though! Either way it's very nice. It's described as 'brown rice tea with matcha' on the little package it's in and I can certainly both smell and taste it. Shockingly the brown rice is stronger in both senses than the matcha, which is wild to me as someone who is used to matcha being an up front flavor. It's very pleasant to drink but I'll be so honest I love it for the smell even better, it's so nice and calm. The aftertaste lingers in your mouth but it's not unpleasant at all, you can really taste the rice in said aftertaste too. This tea also pairs so well with the snacks it comes with.
I do also want to say, I'm not a huge tea person. But this was a cup of tea I happily finished along with everything else I ate.
Ako Salt Agemochi: When I opened the bag for these bad boys the smell was very strong, I'll be honest for a moment I recognized the smell as something far less pleasant than a snack but after a few more sniffs, it's just a nice sea salt smell. Leaning more sea than salt I think. It's a very light and crunchy snack and I like it a lot, shame the bag isn't bigger than it is. The salty ocean flavor is something I really like and these guys deliver with it, though I wish they were saltier. Personal preference, not anything wrong with the snack. I looooove salt.
Mt. Fuji Biscuit: The biscuit is nice and crunchy and vanilla-y to a degree. Though that could possibly be my associating 'plain' flavors with vanilla to be honest. The milk cream between the cookies is nice and smooth, both work together really well to make a sweet treat that's not too sweet. That'll be something I note for most of the sweets though if not all of them. None of them are too sweet.
Mt. Fuji Kohakuto: Fucking amazing. Sorry, I love these. I'm so sad I only get 6. A crisp, crunchy sugar coating in the shape of Mt. Fuji easily gives way to extremely tasty apple jelly. I have to say with the fruit flavors in this box, none of them are misses for me. Apple, grape, melon, strawberry. Peak. I thought the sugar coatings would be thicker and harder to chew through, pleasantly surprised to see that's not the case. Though I don't think I'd complain either way, it's just the thin outer shell gives room for MORE tasty jelly. You can taste more subtle notes of the apple on the outer sugar layer if you don't immediately crunch down, but it's just so fun TO crunch.
Mt. Fuji White Chocolate Crunch: I'm not normally a fan of white chocolate because often I've found it's made too sweet compared to other chocolate where the cacao balances out that sweetness. But this is lovely. Sweet, creamy, and vaguely nutty? It's awesome. The texture is like a less sticky rice crispy treat and it's very satisfying to chew.
Mt. Fuji Chocolate Crunch: Fucking awesome. Same texture as the white chocolate version of course, but this one has a more intense cacao flavor in it too. It only gets more intense as you start to finish it and the aftertaste hits in my opinion, and I love that. I'm a chocolate fan so this one's a complete W for me.
Chocolate Crown Melon Wafer: Y'know, I didn't expect chocolate and melon of all flavors to work well together but they do! Sweet, mellow melon flavor balances out with the closer to bitter but also very flavorful chocolate. Neither overpowers the other, and it's very pleasant and smooth in combination. 3 thin wafers with 2 layers of cream between those, I like it a lot.
Plain Crown Melon Wafer: The melon flavor is much stronger here than in the previous wafer without the chocolate to keep it in check, though that's not a bad thing. Where the chocolate and melon had a nice partnership in the other wafer in this one melon's allowed more of a solo act, just as tasty as the other wafer.
Muscat Konjac Jelly: Light, juicy, just the right amount of bite. This jelly is fucking delicious. They're wrapped individually and each also have some juice to go along with it, only adding to the juicy & refreshing thing this has going on. All of these are in a summer-themed box so they're all meant for summer but I think this one is a strong contender for the one that feels the most like a summer treat, to me at least.
Sakura Shrimp Kakimochi: This one isn't as salty as the Agemochi, which I should have expected considering those ones have salt in the name but y'know. Anyways, while this one is salty it also has a sort of sweet undertone with it, all of course mixed with the shrimp flavor. It doesn't give into your teeth as easy as I'd expect, but there's still a nice snap + crunch going on when you do get a bite. Light and airy on the inside, but still packing awesome taste.
Shizouka Green Tea Cookie: So many things at once. Bitter, smooth, creamy, sweet, earthy, floral. There's a lot going on flavor wise with this cookie. That's of course, because matcha is just Like That. There's a lot going on in it for me to be honest, mix that with the sweetness and cream of a little cookie and you have this. I will admit I'm not the biggest fan of matcha so I won't pretend this is my favorite thing in the box, but it is tasty. The bitterness kind of gets to me at times, but I still think it's good. And it pairs awesome with the lighter tea.
Amaou Strawberry Dorayaki: I'm used to dorayaki having red bean which I'm not super huge on, but this is much better in my opinion. 2 soft pancakes (with emphasis on cake because they're closer to that) with a good portion of vibrant strawberry filling in between. It's quite sweet, but in this colorful and fun way.
Nori Wasabi Arare: I am an avid lover of both wasabi and nori so I was excited for this one. I was kind of sad we only got 2 rather small ones of these but I had a little bite of one of them and realized why. This thing punches you with wasabi. It's not too strong for me, but it certainly surprised me that's for sure. When they say wasabi they meant that shit. If you don't like the quick heat sensation that stuff like horseradish and wasabi gives you you don't like this but it's a win for me. The crunchy rice cracker with nice and salty nori flavor aren't lost to me either.
Matcha Friand: Where the matcha cookie had more bitter notes of matcha this one focuses more on the earthy and floral flavors of it, paired with the sweetness of the cake and I think some kind of nuttiness in here too? Of the 2 matcha baked goods this one's my favorite of the too and I would want to have this again. Even as someone who's not super huge on matcha. It's that good. I'm glad this cake is relatively big because I'm gonna enjoy every little crumb.
Mt. Fuji Jelly: So this thing fell apart when I tried to get it out of it's plastic, oops! It doesn't look like a mountain anymore but it's still tasty. It's much softer than the konjac jelly with basically no bite to it at all, instead a very liquid-y jelly you just kind of scoop up and slurp. Like sweet, slightly thick soup. It's apple cider flavored and that definitely pops here, I taste not only apple but the very vague taste of other flavors you often have in said cider. Okay so actually, I tried the white peak part of the jelly. That part has more of a bite to it like the konjac, and I think the flavor is more intense too. But both parts are really fucking delicious and I've enjoyed this jelly immensely.
Mt. Fuji Dish: This one isn't a snack, but I couldn't not include it when getting a piece of tableware with every box was part of the reasons I chose to go with Sakuraco over other japan snack boxes. The dish is stunning with the classical Great Wave off Kanagawa look, but with a much darker and starry night sky in the background. I'm a sucker for night sky designs so I'm extremely happy to have this plate and I look forward to hopefully using it for more snacks. It's nice and hefty too, you can feel the quality.
If you got this far, wow. First of all thank you for reading my rambling! And secondly I just want to clarify no, I'm not sponsored or anything if it might seem like it. This is just the raw excitement of someone who's wanted a Sakuraco box since they were a child and finally got to get one with their own income.
And thirdly if you liked this uhhh. Comment maybe? Reblog? Tell me what parts you liked best or what you'd want to try! I'd love to talk more about food with anyone also interested!
