Simple question. Where can you buy the big gift set of every Kit Kat flavor in KIX airport? We're flying Peach back to Seoul, which I know is T2. Any luck there? Or do I need to scour T1 (Pre-Security, naturally) and the Aeroplaza?

Sorry I don't have the answer to your question. But does anyone else think that Maccha KitKat tastes nothing like maccha?

However, there's also the Ito Kyuuemon version of Maccha KitKat which actually has far superior maccha taste to it. It's hard to find those, and I don't remember where I last got one. You're supposed to be able to get those in Kyoto, but I know I ate them elsewhere.

I recently tried a KitKat for the first time in several years and found that it tastes nothing like KitKat.

EDIT: And I was right. (Apologies for the link to the Daily Hate):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...lth-drive.html

I've asked about the different kinds of powdered tea used on specialised tea forums, I don't understand at what point konacha becomes matcha and there seems to be a wide rainbow between them.

It's not an answer I've been able to find in English, and none of the self described tea connoisseurs new anything about (or had much interest in) the topic.

My take is that KitKat use some kind of powdered green tea to flavour their main products but whatever that tea is, it is not the matcha I know and love, and, considering what it takes to grow and harvest matcha, I am not even a tiny bit surprised about that. I'm sure this is true for the vast majority of commercial scale products labelled as matcha flavour in Japan.

Ito Kyuuemon ltd edition is a tie in with Itoh Kyuemon - a confectionary company who specialise in green tea flavoured products: http://www.itohkyuemon.co.jp. I'd never heard of them before and now I have, thanks to the KitKat tie in, more specifically I know who they are now because they are at least partly responsible for matcha kit kats having a better taste than usual. How these tie ins work, if Itoh Kyuemon are partly subsidising the increased cost of the higher grade powdered tea, if they supply it themselves, etc... I truly have no idea.

In short, I do not know what it is that is being used in mainstream confectionary and labelled as matcha. If anyone knows anything about the vast array of tea powders that inhabit the spectrum between sushi shop konacha and tea ceremony matcha I'd love to find out more.

P.S. Couldn't bring myself to write 抹茶 as maccha - too much like an offering from a certain burger chain.

I've never come across a gift set with assorted flavours but I've read about something similar in another thread last year.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japan...l#post20659720

KitKat's (or rather Nestl� Japan's) online shop website mentions two special packs of 12 minis each at 840 yen. One for eastern Japan and one for western Japan.

According to the website they can only be bought via mail order. Not available even from Shokoku Gotochi Plaza at Tokyo Station?
http://www.tokyoeki-1bangai.co.jp/sh...b3&per_page=20

BTW there is a new KitKat Store in Ikebukuro. ^

I saw a blog where a girl bought a GIANT 30 flavor box at the Osaka airport. For the record, I checked EVERY shop landside at T1, Aeroplaza and airside at T2. Came up empty handed on the big box. Of course, they have the standard flavors - cinnamon, green tea, green tea cherry blossom, strawberry and strawberry cheesecake.

Which Osaka airport?

I think "Osaka airport" is ITM, not KIX.

Sorry, Kansai airport. Yes, there's also Osaka International, but my use of Osaka was casual in that 98% of the people will automatically think of KIX when they think of Osaka. Then there's the FlyerTalk 2%.

There you go again.

Do you mean this?
http://manilagawker.blogspot.co.uk/2...-1-kitkat.html

Sounds similar, but not exactly the same, as what's described here.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20659720-post5.html

I have no idea either how involved these shinise tea shops are in the making of these matcha chocolates bearing their logos. I just know that the Ito Kyuuemon type was far better than the regular matcha Kit-kat.

There're other shinise tea shops collaborating with other chocolate companies. Like this one:
http://www.kabaya.co.jp/campaign/ind...se_view&pk=118
Not a fan of Kabaya chocolates usually, but this one is really solid. Got these in Japan last spring and loved them, but unfortunately I couldn't find them at all anymore on my two trips back home since.

The two of my favorite maccha-flavored chocolates that you can find in konbinis all over Tokyo right now are:
http://mognavi.jp/food/744358
http://catalog-p.meiji.co.jp/product...129/11456.html

The ultimate maccha-flavored chocolates, though, are nama-chocos. There're different companies making nama-chokos out there, but my favorite is the one by Monloire. To me, this is the king of all maccha chocolates.
https://www.monloire.co.jp/?mode=cat...t&lct_id=L0001

I know the Azabu Juban branch of Mon Loire very well.

If you are ever in Kyoto between September and May, then the Ujicha Shoro from this store http://www.marukyu-koyamaen.co.jp/en.../goods_08.html are incredible. Makes a Pierre Herme matcha macaron taste vile in comparison. Isn't chocolate and the tea taste is divine. It could be that there is a slightly better matcha sweet somewhere, but a better houjicha taste is completely unimaginable to me.

In my limited consumption of green tea-flavored sweets, I find that there is a "mattcha" -associated candy flavor that bears little resemblance to actual green tea- in ice cream, kit kats, and frappucino-type drinks. Are there more "authentic"-tasting ones? I liken it to banana and strawberry candies- tasting almost nothing like the fruit.

Not sure how to answer, reason is that most "matcha"* candy is blended with milk fats, vegetable fats, cocoa fats and (usually) vanilla. Perhaps the question for you is "do you think matcha milk tastes of matcha?"
If one thinks of matcha in the same way as actual cacao, most chocolate candies are the equivalent of Hershey or Cadbury milk chocolate rather than an intense true dark chocolate.

The Ujicha Shoro I found to be quite true tasting, certainly with the matcha and spectacularly so with the houjicha version. It could be because the azuki bean paste the tea powders are blended with don't interfere so much with the taste as the usual cocoa, milk and vegetable fats.

I'm assuming there is a whole field dedicated to understanding the difference in the tastes we perceive from matcha and other powdered green teas when they are combined with fats and when they are combined with water (not to mention temperature, steeping time, distribution of air, etc, etc, etc... Just reminded myself of how complicated it all is and how very little I know!)

*most of the "matcha" candy is unlikely to be prepared with genuine matcha.

Gotcha