Blind Kit Kat Taste-Testing

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Over the weekend we held a blind Kit Kat taste testing party with eight flavors. If you've been following along, you'd know I spent twelve weeks in Japan and while I wasn't working, I was collecting flavored-Kit Kats from all over the country. Having spent about $100 on Kit Kats, I decided the best way to enjoy them all was to set up a blind taste test with some friends. Prizes included a "variety pack" of Kit Kats, a box of strawberry Kit Kats, and two packages of Daruma doll and Maneki-neko origami sets. With such fabulous prizes, who wouldn't want to compete?!

The best part by far was people's guesses, there have been far more flavors and as an NPR article points out, many of them are not particulary intuitive:
Strawberry (Fukuoka)
strawberry (d), strawberry (er), strawberry shortcake (jas), raspberry (jay), blueberry cheesecake (je), strawberry (ji), blueberry (m), strawberry (s)
Matcha Green Tea (Kyoto)
subtle fish with garlic (d), matcha (er), almond (jas), tea (jay), matcha (je), cookies 'n cream (ji), almond (m), green tea (s)
Cinnamon Cookie (Kyoto)
cinnamon(d), gingerbread (er), vanilla (jas), cinnamon (jay), tiramisu (je), cumin (ji), cinnamon (m), cocoa (s)
Traditional Chocolate (America)
toffee (d), dark chocolate, coffee (jas), hazelnut, peanut (je), milk chocolate, dark chocolate (m), coffee
Toasted Green Tea (Kyoto)
seaweed (d), milk tea, ??? (jas), green tea, genmaicha (je), green tea, lemon (m), green tea
Purple Sweet Potato (Fukuoka)
tooty fruity/fake banana (d), grape, cinnamon (jas), date, red bean (je), blueberry, coffee/mocha (m), peanut butter
Wasabi (Osaka)
cuttlefish (d), wasabi, nope (jas), wasabi, wasabi (je), wasabi, cookie dough (m), wasabi
Citrus (Hiroshima)
lemon (d), lemon, orange creamsicle (jas), lemon, lemon (je), orange, raspberry (m), orange