TokyoTreat July Box Review
Posted on June 28, 2021 Posted by Athena Scalzi 16 Comments
Welcome, everyone, to a special edition of me trying Japanese snacks! As you might have been able to tell from the title, I’m not trying a Sakuraco box today (like I did in my last four snack box posts), but a TokyoTreat one instead! The nice people at Sakuraco reached out to me after my latest Sakuraco post and said they would love to send me a TokyoTreat box in exchange for an honest review on this blog.
So, just to make that clear for everyone, I was gifted this TokyoTreat box in exchange for a post. Of course, this in no way affects how I’m going to write about the box. I will still be a hundred percent honest in my thoughts about the box and the snacks inside.
Now that that’s cleared up, let me tell you a little bit about TokyoTreat if you don’t already know what it is.
TokyoTreat is a subscription box that is chock-full of popular Japanese snacks, candies, and features Japanese exclusive flavors of popular brands like Pocky, Kit-Kat, and Hi-Chew. Not only do they have a wide variety of snacks and sweets, but drinks as well!
It’s important to note that you only get the drink with the Premium Box. The Premium Box also has five more snacks in it than the Classic Box does. I am grateful to have been sent the Premium Box so I could try everything, including the drink!
I would also like to talk a bit about how this box is different from the Sakuraco boxes. The Sakuraco boxes feature more authentic style Japanese tea time goods and snacks, and always include a home good item, like a plate or bowl. The TokyoTreat boxes are more geared towards popular, trendy snacks and pop culture, and include fun things like special anime snacks or party packs of snacks that you can share with your friends (or enjoy all by yourself because you deserve it!). Both are fun in their own way, it’s more just a question if you prefer fun and whacky popular snacks, or more traditional and unique types of flavors.
With all that being said, let’s get into the stuff inside! I tried everything with one of my friends, so I’ll be including some of their thoughts as well! (Also, I took all the photos myself in my lightbox, so they’re not as pretty as the more professionally staged photos you’ll find on the website.)
So, this isn’t exactly what it looked like when I opened it, but I tried to arrange it in a way that would display a lot of the snacks or at least a good variety of the contents.
Upon first opening it, I was impressed with how much fit inside the box! There were quite a few items to unpack.
The first thing I tried was the drink, Fujiya Nectar Peach:
The description said that this juice is made by straining white peaches, and let me tell you, it is insanely peachy! It really tastes like you’re taking a bite right out of an actual peach. It was kind of on the thick side, like syrupy almost, but not in a gross way. It was a very concentrated peach flavor, but refreshing! My friend and I both gave it an 8/10.
After the drink, I grabbed a random snack out of the box and got these Porickey German Potato Flavor.
Porickey sticks are basically like these thin little breadstick things that come in a variety of flavors. This pack was “German Potato Flavor”. While they were perfectly crunchy and tasted good overall, I wouldn’t say they really conveyed that potato flavor. They were a little salty and pleasant enough, so I gave them an 8/10. My friend is not a fan of the breadstick style snack, so they gave it a 5/10.
Next up is the Bubbly Taiyaki Chocolate Flavor:
The packaging is super cute, so I was pleased to find that the real thing is pretty accurate to the picture:
Every time that I’ve had taiyaki in the past, it’s been red bean flavored, so this chocolate flavored one was both a surprise and a delight. The outside part was a perfectly crispy monaka wafer, and the chocolate inside had tons of bubbles in it, which made it wonderfully light and airy. Also, for being a single serving snack, it was a decent size! This was definitely a favorite of ours, and while my friend gave it a 9/10, I went ahead and gave it a full 10/10.
Going back to something salty, we have the Lucky Corn Tasty Salt Flavor:
The description says that these are an addicting snack, and I can attest to that! These were surprisingly sweet little corn puffs, with a mild flavor. They kind of had a salty/sweet thing going on, but they were very delicate and sort of melted in your mouth instead of being overly crunchy. They were quite good, and I gave them an 8.5/10, while my friend settled on a solid 7/10.
Up next is this adorable Melon Pandaro Butter Cookie!
This super cute snack was absolutely packed with melon flavor. It was intense, but also had a very fresh kind of flavor to it. In terms of texture, it was soft and buttery, and didn’t crumble apart at all! Honestly, the flavor was a little bit lotion-y, like an overly fragranced skin product, but that was really only in the aftertaste. So, I went with a 6/10 for this one, but my friend said it deserved a 7/10.
Sixthly, we have the Yamato Turtle Crackers:
As you can see from the photo, there was only a handful of these little crackers in the bag. These things were insanely crunchy, like overly crunchy, and tasted a little like burnt popcorn. These were definitely on the “meh” side of the snacks, so my friend and I gave them a 3/10. Probably our least favorite item in the box.
If you like Bugles, you’re sure to like these Tongari Corn Salted Vanilla Flavor!
I would’ve never thought to make a crunchy snack ice cream flavored, but somehow it works beautifully! The package these came in was huge, so there was a ton of them which is good because they are very addicting. They were the perfect blend of salty and sweet, and had that nice mild vanilla flavor. I really enjoyed these, and gave them an 8/10, and my friend gave them a 6/10.
Following that, we have the New Mochi Taro:
Here we have another little puffed sort of cracker; this snack was pleasantly crispy, mildly salty, but honestly pretty plain overall, nothing special. They’re fine to munch on but aren’t like mind-blowing or anything. Very simple, earned itself a 7/10 from me and a 6/10 from my friend.
Ninthly, we have the Full Moon Pon Salty Flavor:
I obviously did not read the description well enough, because I was under the impression that this was a sugar-cookie-like snack, but it is a salty cracker type. Honestly, it was pretty bland, and just sort of a plain cracker. But, it was light and crunchy which was nice. It was another one on the “meh” side so it only got a 5.5/10 from me and a 4/10 from my friend. The packaging is super cute though.
Up next was the Yakisoba Shop Taro Snacks:
These remind me so much of the La Choy Rice Noodles that you, like, top salads with! They’re kinda funky looking, but they had a really nice umami flavor and were crispy, so not bad overall. They got a 6/10 from me, and a 7/10 from my friend.
Following that, we had Caramel Corn Lemon Squash Flavor:
I was skeptical to try something that advertised itself as a caramel corn and as a lemon flavored snack, but my skepticism vanished upon trying it, because it was so delicious! This snack was unexpectedly mind-blowing. It was light and puffy, zingy and tangy, sweet and lemony, and honestly the best lemon flavored snack I’ve ever had. My friend agreed that it was definitely the best lemon flavored item ever. Easily a 9.5/10 for both of us. I could eat bags and bags of this stuff.
Twelfthly, we have the Umaibo Sugar Rusk:
Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get a good picture of this one because it was broken in half upon opening it, so definitely not my best shot, but basically it looks like a big, long cheese puff kind of snack. So, I definitely expected it to be that kind of flavor, but it was actually super sweet! It tasted just like a butter cookie or a shortbread, but also kind of like a really nice caramel flavor. It was very airy and light, and super duper good overall. I thought it was worthy of a 9.5/10, and my friend gave it an 8/10.
Funny enough, the next one I tried was the Umaibo Seaweed Salt:
This one had the exact same texture and shape as the sugary one before it, but was completely different in the flavor department. It was seaweed flavored, as you might guess from the specks of green throughout it. It was very salty, as one can expect with any nori snack, but kind of funky in terms of taste. It was also pretty dry, so the sugary one definitely beats this seaweed one by a longshot. This one did not score very high, with a 4/10 from me and a 2/10 from my friend.
One of the best things about this box is the inclusion of a summer exclusive flavor from Pocky, the Mint Choco flavor:
I have had my fair share of Pocky from stores like Hot Topic and F.Y.E., but this pack takes the cake. Not only were the sticks bigger and thicker than the ones I’ve had in the past, but the flavor was so great. The mint was not overpowering at all, and it was well balanced with the chocolate. This is easily the best Pocky I’ve ever tried, not to mention it wasn’t waxy at all, unlike the kinds I’ve had before. I don’t know why it’s so vastly different from the kinds I’ve tried before, but I’m glad for it! This is easily a 10/10 for me, and my friend saw fit to give it a 9/10.
Up next, the Yaokin Fugashi:
This was by far the most bizarre snack in the whole box. Not only was the inside texture like eating packing peanuts, but the outside texture was almost even stranger. My friend said it felt like eating TV static, which is an apt description. It almost feels like you shouldn’t be eating it, like it’s not really food or even edible. However, the flavor is totally fine, and actually kind of good. It tastes a lot like brown sugar or some sort of caramelized sugar. I would eat it again just for the novelty of it. This was a 6.5/10 for me, and a 5/10 from my friend.
Nearing the end, we have this Pudding Daifuku:
This little marshmallow was such a neat little treat. I’ve never had a marshmallow that has a filling inside before, so I thought that was cool. The filling was like sweet custard, and the marshmallow was chewy and soft. Overall, it was a pleasant little sweet bite that was deserving of a 9/10 in my book, though my friend doesn’t really like marshmallows much, so it only got a 6/10.
For the grand finale, we have Japan exclusive Pudding KitKats:
This big bag actually contained twelve mini KitKats:
And here’s what they look like individually:
When I say this is the best KitKat I’ve ever had, I mean it. This new exclusive flavor is to die for. It’s intensely sweet, probably because not only is the chocolate on the outside caramel pudding flavor, but the cream between the wafers is also caramel flavor. It probably helps that KitKat is one of my all-time favorite candies, but this was the only time my friend gave out a 10/10 if that says anything about how amazing these are. Of course, I also gave it a 10/10.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this box. Again, I’m happy to have gotten the Premium Box, because if I had only gotten the Classic, I wouldn’t have been able to try the drink, the marshmallow, the ice cream flavored corn snack, the melon panda, or the pudding KitKats.
If you’re interested in subscribing, you can check out the pricing options for the Premium or Classic box here. The Classic is only $25 a month, which I think is definitely worth it. The Premium is ten dollars more, but honestly if you can spare it, I would totally say to go for the Premium. Also, it’s cheaper if you subscribe for more than one month, but like I said you can check out the pricing page for yourself and decide what plan you think is best!
Personally, when I subscribe to new boxes I haven’t tried before, I always go for the three-month option. I actually went for the three-month option when I first discovered Sakuraco. I generally choose three-month because I think it’s a long enough period of time that you can really get a feel for the boxes and what exactly the company is going for. It’s also not a huge commitment like six months or a year is, three months feels like a lot less pressure than half a year or more, so like I said it’s generally what I choose.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this post, I certainly enjoyed writing it, and again want to say “thank you” to the Sakuraco and TokyoTreat team for this opportunity! It was fun, and I hope you all liked hearing about it! Have a great day.
-AMS
Sounds yummy! I will say, that may be the world’s saddest panda.
Just wondering if you sit down and power through these in one sitting or over several days.
I adore Japanese nectar drinks, but they are so concentrated that I usually mix them with half seltzer over ice, which is how I had them in Tokyo. This post was a real flashback, making me want to run out to my local Owajimaya for a bunch of Japanese junk food. Thanks for posting!
Nice writeup, some good info there. And I think there may be local places here in Hawaii where they stock some of those items, ’cause that’s how Hawaii rolls – which means I’ll probably be trying some of these myself.
But inquiring minds want to know: were the snacks consumed in a single marathon session?
What is your take on the ingredients used for these snacks? Snacks in my country are generally made with highly processed and artificial ingredients. How about Japan?
The box you received was a review copy, in other words.
I like how thorough you are with these reviews, and the photos are valuable, too. I actually had a look at the website to see if they deliver to the UK, and they do – it’s a worldwide company.
The only thing I am wondering is why you have started to use half-marks? To me, that seems a little indecisive and I find the whole marks more meaningful.
Glad you got a freebie – and it sounds as though you liked it better on average than some of the Sakuraco boxes! But it’s a pity you didn’t get to try the Sakuraco July box, which was awesome; I was curious to see if your reactions to that one would match mine.
@pamela adams
I had to look through again to see what you were talking about and you are 100% right about that poor panda.
I love the details you provide! This box sounds like it has unique things, but maybe was less exotic than the Sakura box? Less red bean or tea tastes? Would that be a fair characterization?
The Sakura box included a pamphlet describing the treats, and listed (major) allergens. This was sufficient info for my vegan friends to decide what they could eat. (Ie, “contains milk, eggs”). Did this box include that type info?
I enjoy your reviews and am glad they gave you a free box.
So how did you figure out that the bugle shaped snacks were corn based? Was the picture of ears of corn the best clue? ;~)
A shame they didn’t invite you to join them in Tokyo for a big roll-out party! more snark… sorry, some days I can’t help it.
It looks like it was big fun trying out everything, especially with a friend to share with. I enjoy a lot of Japanese foods, even squid salad, tho octopus is one thing I just can’t get into, so, so chewy and tough. The seaweed bread-stick looks like it would be delicious with something, a dip maybe?
Thank you for sharing your experiences of these snack boxes with us. I always look forward to these posts.
Thanks for sharing this. I have a teen going off to college in the midwest (from Hawaii), and I’m glad to know that it’s possible to get good Japanese snacks sent to the mainland. (We love the Umaibo Seaweed Salt very muchly so send ’em over and we’ll take care of ’em for ya 😉 )
An almost infinite number of amazing snacks.
The people behind both Sakuraco and Tokyo Treat definitely are on top of their game. Your reviews have led to a subscription from me (for my almost-daughter-in-law) and I’m sure I’m not the only one. You are a valuable source of marketing for them by now.