I found an interesting article on the bizarre Kit Kat flavors in Japan. Take a look:
“We’ve touched on some of the more exotic Japanese Kit Kat flavors in past posts, but with over 80 flavors created to date (and more varieties hitting store shelves every year), the taste combinations that Japanese candymakers come up with are becoming increasingly bizarre.
Believe it or not, the top-selling variety of Kit Kat in Japan is soy sauce [pictured to the left]. But what may be even harder to believe is that soy sauce isn’t even close the the most unusual flavor available in Japan today.
At the moment, just 19 varieties are currently available in Japan. Here just a quick run down of some of the flavors (past and present), arranged by category:
Sweet: Berry wine, golden peach, custard pudding
Savory: Grilled corn, miso, sweet potato, jacket baked potato with butter
Beverage-inspired: Ramune soda, Earl Grey tea, caramel macchiato McFlurry
Weird: Camembert cheese, pounded soybean paste, lemon vinegar
So what’s the secret to the success of the Kit Kat brand in Japan? It turns out that the answer is part marketing and part linguistic coincidence. Kit Kat is very similar to the phrase “kitto katsu”, which is a common sentiment of good luck (the phrase literally means “You shall surely win!”). Because of this, Kit Kats have become a small good luck charm given out to students taking school entrance exams.”
To read the rest of the article, go here.
