My friend Michael brought me a ton of candies from Japan, including four Meiji chocolate bars. I shall review two today and two on Wednesday, making them parts N and N+1 in my Asian candies series (sorta forgot to keep counting on that one). First up is Meiji Hi Milk.
Like all the Meiji bars (I think; my notes are annoyingly ambiguous on that, so I may be misremembering), the Meiji Hi Milk came sealed in a thin foil wrapper that did a wonderful job of keeping it fresh. It had been sitting in the bottom of my desk for several months but tasted great. If only individual wrappers didn’t come with the sustainability guilt trip.
The chocolate itself had a crisp and clean snap. It smelled thick and creamy, and it tasted that way too. The middle of the flavor profile was incredibly sweet, with the buttery caramel tones that I’ve come to associate with Asian milk chocolate. Far better than any Hershey’s bar, this deserves an OMG.
Meiji also makes a Milk Chocolate bar that, as far as I can tell, is slightly darker than the Hi Milk but is still mighty milky.
The Milk Chocolate is a slightly darker shade of brown than the Hi Milk, and if you look closely, you can see that the Meiji imprint is sharper on the Milk than the Hi Milk, which is why I’m pretty sure the Milk Chocolate bar has a higher cacao percentage.
Despite the fact that I think it has more cacao, the Milk bar tasted sweeter to me. It was also much fruitier, with a great cocoa finish. And, like the Hi Milk, it was rich and thick and creamy. Also an OMG, though it’s not as indulgent as the Hi Milk. My like of these two sweet and creamy milk chocolate bars is part of what got me wondering if I’ve developed a greater tolerance for sweetness, by the way.
Here’s a more tempered review from Mariko at Candy Addict. Try to stop yourself before you get to the Black review; that one’s posting on Wednesday.
Varsha