These little tablets are my white whale, my accidental entry into a deep love for Ramune-style candy. For my fellow Americans, these are basically Smarties—powder compressed into tablets. Unlike Smarties, which are pretty hard, these will dissolve in your mouth. I suppose that fizziness is what makes them “Ramune” candy, in that they (gently) fizz like soda. I say “gentle” because these are definitely not Poprocks, the dissolution is much more subtle.

I have not found the Kasugai fruit Ramune candies anywhere in stock, since I first picked them up on a whim in a Japanese grocery store. I had a sinking suspicion that this particular line is discontinued, but they ended up restocking these on Japan Candy Store for a hot minute.

On my second and as-of-yet last trip to Japan in 2019, I attempted to find my beloved Kasugai Ramune candy again but was unsuccessful. This fruit-flavored variety pack by Abeseika is a great replacement, though. The tablets come in melon, strawberry, lemon, grape, and orange, and you can rip each flavor off the strip as its own little packet. This is great for PACING ONESELF and making the candies you have stockpiled in Japan last longer when coming back home.

I’ve looked for these in a Daiso in Seattle, WA recently, and though they were out of stock, according to the salesclerk it sounds like they do generally carry Ramune candies.

Pretty tasty, I enjoy the strawberry and grape flavors. A little bit more of sandy texture, so not top of the class for ramune candies. The mouse character seems to belong to Lucy Cousins, an English children’s lit writer.

Jelly beans aren’t one of my favorite candy formats, but I was interested in trying out the tropical flavors. The texture on these was a little on the stiffer side; whether that was age, temperature, or intentional, I am unsure. In any case, the flavors were indeed tasty and I ate this bag faster than I care to admit, but not sure I would seek these out again. There are so many other candies in the world!

AFAICT, Calbee is *the* potato chip brand of Japan. Their stuff is everywhere and fairly easy to find here in a major U.S. city (Seattle), though various flavors may not be equally available. I couldn’t resist trying out this consomme broth flavor, presented in a Pringles-like tube format. Calbee’s tube chips, for lack of a better term, are a bit stiffer, flatter, and rounder than their Pringles cousins. This flavor was pretty tasty, with a respectable amount of flavor dust. Had these been made in America, there probably would be a heavier hand with the flavoring. Would buy again.

I…didn’t realize quite how massive a bag of these I was purchasing. These are individually-wrapped, larger-size ramune candies in an original Ramune soda flavor. Despite being made by Kasugai (who makes my favorite ramune candies), these weren’t my favorite of the bunch I tried. These candies are a little stiffer and don’t melt in your mouth as well, which is what I love about ramune candies in the first place. The flavor is also a little eh, nothing to write home about.

These are good! They’re the texture of ramune candies, in a spherical format. There’s little crunchy bits of strawberry flavor. Probably my favorite out of the different ramune candies I was trying out from this Japan Candy Store order; would buy again.

What the product image doesn’t show you (and what I missed in the product description) is that one of the flavors on this is honey. I was expecting a particularly buttery chip and got something that was…fairly sweet. Not for me!

Many moons ago, I tried many snacks in Mexico City, Mexico and failed to document basically all of them. One of my favorites was a spicy watermelon candy. I *thought* this one was lost to the sands of time, but I found a note on my phone from 2018 referencing Skwinklote. Whether this was *the* original snack I had that I loved so much, or a close copy I bought at Rocket Fizz (Seattle, WA) at some point, it clearly was worth bookmarking.

These are the first British candies I was enthusiastic about. They’re chewy little pucks with a sort of bumpy surface texture for the sugar. As with all British candies (in my opinion), the black currant flavor is the best.

When I purchased a bag of these, someone asked me if I watched Dr. Who. No??? Are Jelly Babies a big thing on Dr. Who? I have no idea. All I know is I love these squishy, powder-coated little guys. They are best fresh, when the squish factor is amped to 11. Black currant is the best flavor, followed by whatever the white one is.

Wine gums would not be the first British gummy I would reach for, but every so often I’ll be in the mood for a gum or two. Wine gums are a little bit harder of a texture, not so devilish as Jujubees but just dangerous-feeling enough to want to eat carefully. For whatever reason they have the names of different wine-adjacent beverages stamped on the gummies. People aren’t quite sure why they’re called wine gums.

Once upon a time I bought a blackcurrant-flavored soda in the U.K., and it was delicious, and I have never found it again. The Ribena blackcurrant soft drink I have found too sickly sweet; in a drink format, blackcurrant really needs carbonation to lift that sweet flavor. As far as the flat fruit drink goes, I ended up mixing that with some sparkling water and it turned out better. I still dream of you, true blackcurrant soda.

Delicata appears to be an in-house chocolate brand for the grocery chain Albert Heijn. It seems almost as though this particular bar is not made anymore—I can’t find it online at any rate—but my it was delicious. This was my first time trying ruby chocolate, which is sort of dusky pink chocolate made apparently from the ruby cocoa bean. It is fantastic, especially when studded with fruit as this bar was.

Despite having had the grape and apple flavors of Pureral gummies before and really enjoying them (the grape flavor used in Japanese snacks is so good!), I would rate this “two strawberries” flavor as just ok. Somehow it tasted a little more chemical-y to me, maybe a little more matte. How does something taste “matte”? I have no clue.

This might have been a limited edition flavor, because it’s no longer on the site I bought it from, nor on the official Kabaya product page.

I bought these on a whim while checking out District H, which appears to be a subsidiary of H Mart. I had no idea what to expect based on the little cubes on the front of the package. These ended up being something like a blown-up version of a rice-based cereal, coated in a thin layer of powder that has a subtly sweet taste. These melt in your mouth, and I’m realizing from this whole snack journey that I seem to enjoy melt-in-your-mouth snacks where that is unexpected.

Somewhere between a 2- and 3-star candy. The flavor is good but stunningly sweet; I can only eat one at a time. Maybe that’s a good thing.

I first got these on a whim when picking out bulk candies at a local candy store. They’re so good! The gummies look like mangos. They taste like mangos. They have just the right level of spice: enough to make itself known, not so much that you can’t eat a shameful amount of these in one afternoon.

It’s hard to describe, but there’s also a part of the gummy that has a slightly different texture from the rest of it, almost softer and squishier, which makes this even more fun to eat.

In comparison to the Vidal Gummy Spicy Mangos, these are perhaps a little too spicy. I would also consider them fairly sticky, more like uncoated jellies than gummies. My main gripe with these gummies is that there are too many orange-flavored candies in the bag. Orange is typically at the bottom of the flavor barrel to me. Give me more peach!

These corn chips are the definition of “just okay”. They’re basically giant corn flakes, but they have that distinctive corn-y flavor I often taste in Japanese snacks (Crown C Corn Chips are Korean). Almost as if someone added “essence of corn on the cob”. Anyway, these are fine, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to seek them out.

Right before the pandemic hit, my partner, a few friends, and I went to visit India. We stayed with his parents for awhile and were absolutely spoiled with home-made food, then went touring around the Golden Triangle. His parents packed a bunch of snacks for us, most of which I do not remember precisely, though I did enjoy Kurkure Masala Munch. These are exactly like Cheetos in format, just with a masala spice blend.

I do not know what “now tastier” on the packages means: perhaps more spice dust?

Haldiram’s makes a lot of snacks, one of them being a variety of chikki flavors. I suppose chikki is pretty similar to peanut brittle, though I have not had much of the latter in my lifetime and expect there might be even more sugar content than in chikki. Think a hard/snappy square of nuts and caramelized sugar binding things together.

The absolute best flavor in this variety pack is the sesame flavor, hands down. I would actually love trying my hand at making chikki someday because of this snack purchase. Second best is the one with rose petals in it. Bottom of the heap is the peanut-heavy version (I’m sorry, peanuts, but you are just not a premium nut).

This is the soda of [half] my people, apparently (“The soda five generations of Poles have cherished”), but I’m not so into it. Oddly it tastes exactly like an energy drink to me, but it’s really just soda…

2.5 stars. These really, truly taste aggressively of mushroom. I know they are mushroom flavored, but I’m surprised at how much of that they were able to pack into these chips. Even my betrothed, #1 Fungi Fan, was not super into them, and we picked our way through the bag.

I was intrigued by the kabobs on the package—and the very intense corn character—but these were actually fairly bland. My partner in snacks liked them more and more as we ate them.

These are soooooo good. They’re very truffle-y, which is great, because I love truffle flavor. I wanted a second bag after my Partner in Snacks and I finished this one.

These are just fine. They’re fruity gummies. The most notable thing about these is that the gummies are pretty tiny, actually—not sure I’ve had smaller.

I’m surprised how much I like these! I came across these in the “new” section of japancandystore.com and thought they sounded intriguing: yogurt…soda…marshmallow?? It’s one of those tougher marshmallows, with little sparkles of sugar on the surface. I would describe the flavor as bright and clean.

When you open the package of these little round snacks, it smells strongly of bourbon. There’s no mistaking that flavor in these bread snacks! I wish the center of the little bon bons was as creamy as the package makes it out to be; the cream filling seemed to have soaked into the bread bit, for the most part.

Over the week that we visited them for Diwali, my partner’s parents laid out a couple different biscuit/digestive options to pair with our masala chai.

For me, “Sunfeast Farmlite Oats with Chocolate” takes rank 4 out of 4. It’s a little too sweet for a morning biscuit, particularly when paired with chai. But the base of the cookie wouldn’t be sweet enough to enjoy as a desert. It’s fine (still 3 of 5 stars), but there’s an imbalance between the sweetness of the chocolate and the biscuit base.

Over the week that we visited them for Diwali, my partner’s parents laid out a couple different biscuit/digestive options to pair with our masala chai.

For me, “Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive High Fibre Biscuit” takes rank 3 out of 4. These are certainly not sweet at all, perfect for dunking in sweet masala chai.

Over the week that we visited them for Diwali, my partner’s parents laid out a couple different biscuit/digestive options to pair with our masala chai.

For me, “Britannia Nice Time Biscuit” takes rank 2 out of 4. I really don’t enjoy coconut in sweet foods; savory curries and soups are the only application for me. However, this biscuit is not too sweet and has just a bare scent of coconut. Nicely done.

Over the week that we visited them for Diwali, my partner’s parents laid out a couple different biscuit/digestive options to pair with our masala chai.

This was my favorite biscuit of the bunch. The raisins give the oaty digestive a little more natural sweetness: it’s sweet enough to eat on its own, while also pairing well with chai. The oats give a nice flavor to the biscuit base, as well.

Khakhra is a really thin, really crisp, round cracker sort of deal. I feel I’ve eaten something similar before, but can’t put my finger on what.

“Methi” is known in English as fenugreek leaves, and there’s just the right amount added to this crisp. There’s also a mild little kick coming from green chilis. A great little snack from which to idly crack off a piece or two.

My partner in snacks: yep, that’s a flavor that delivers on its promise.

Bought these as a train snack. The lime and pink peppercorn flavor is nice and bright, and not too overpowering. The flavor builds on the aftertaste and as you eat, chip to chip.

I love a gummy with two different textures. This one has a traditional gummy feel on the outside and a jelly on the inside, which is a nice combination. Interestingly, the shape of the gummy (say, a raspberry) doesn’t always match the flavor of the jelly (e.g. orange flavor). Great little gummies, though with neglible vitamin C content.

These are pretty dang good. I had no idea what to expect from the flavor (beef with mayo and chili oil???), but it really and truly tastes like what’s on the bag. It almost freaks me out just a bit. These are best savored, a few chips at a time.

No idea what makes chili oil masculine; likely a wonky translation.

Chip Star chips have a similar shape and texture to Pringles, if you’re familiar with those. I was curious about this lemon flavor, so decided to try them out. They’re solidly okay. I would say the lemon flavor doesn’t have much zing to it. Perhaps the flavor was modeled after a particularly sweet lemon, since the manufacturers couldn’t use sugar here to balance out the sour.

This was my first time trying ROYCE’ chocolates, and wow these are so nice. They have a squishier, chewier consistency—almost like fudge, definitely in truffle territory at least. The cacao powder does get on your fingers a little bit, but I find I don’t mind.

I don’t like white chocolate, but these are pretty good—maybe a 3.5 stars, but I’ll round up. The sakura flavor and consistency of Nama chocolates really improves white chocolate.

These maple sandwich-style cookies are solidly alright for me, maybe a touch too sweet; my partner in snacks is a fan. I do find the maple leaf shape of the cookies very pleasing, and love the attention to detail on the veins of the leaves.

My impression of this brand of licorice really depends on the flavor.

• “Tropical” was juicy and delicious.

• Green apple flavor was pretty good.

• Raspberry tasted weird and chemical and I ended up throwing the rest of those away.

I had never heard of Haw Flakes—made with hawthorn berry—until recently, but I learned they are a snack staple of many Chinese-American childhoods. The texture was a surprise to me, both flaky and a bit chewy. I liked that these were fruity and not too sweety.

I wasn’t sure what to expect biting into such a large gummy, but pleasantly found it softer than most of the gummies you get from a bulky candy wall. I think that’s important, it would be too much if Bubs candies were the consistency of say, a Haribo. I found this fruity flavor quite pleasant and would buy it again!

Like the other Bubs candies I tried, this gummy is a little softer than usual. The Dizzy Skull is bubblegum flavored, but that flavor is more subtle than with American confections. The taste starts out with a mild sourness before quickly turning to sweet.

This was my least favorite of the Bubs gummies I tried. It is simply ok. I actually was not sure what the flavor was supposed to be until I looked it up online later.

Legit Swedish fish! I love elderflower anything, and the flavor of these is great. I would prefer it if the fish were a little bit softer and easier to chew. My partner in snack crime was a big fan of these and would probably rate them 5 stars.

Tohato isn’t kidding about “extra thick”, these are a fun little crispy treat fun to crack with your teeth—and a nice peppery taste.

These gummies kinda melted together in transit into one big mega ball of candy strips, but the fruit tea flavor was as promised.

I quite liked these, you can definitely taste notes of mochi underneath the peach.

Another fun, fruity candy! These have a textural sensation I like quite a bit, i.e. two different squishinesses (?) to the gummy.

I saw these on the Japan Candy Store website and was intrigued by the flavor: mochi donut? Ramune? Sounds weird. It turned out to be just weird and not delicious. The outside of the gummy had a weird middling texture: not a gummy but not a crunchy candy shell either. The aftertaste was not good. Bwomp bwomp.

I expected to like these as 1) Kasugai makes other candies I really enjoy and 2) I tend to like lemon-flavored things. The lemon flavor felt more akin to cleaning products—not that I’m in the habit of ingesting those. 😂

It’s what it says on the tin: peach soda! A nice, refreshingly peachy taste.

I think I just don’t generally enjoy this type of gummy. It’s more like a stiff jelly and very sweet. According to the product listing on H-Mart, this is both kosher and halal, so FYI if either of those is your thing!

These are pretty good, but I don’t think I prefer matcha flavor in a hard candy per se. My partner in snack crimes really loved these!

I thought these might taste like dill or pickles…they really do taste like cucumber. And somehow there’s a cooling sensation in the mouth?! These snack developers are wizards.