I swore to myself that I'd never do this again, but Nestle continues to release new kit kat flavours like there's no tomorrow. Despite my best efforts to ignore them and get on with my life, I find myself curious to see if they've learned anything since my last review.
So once again I'll pull out the old kit kat ranking test. You know the drill by now. The original flavour, being the standard that all other flavours must measure up to, automatically gets a score of zero. Flavours failing to live up to its caliber will get a negative score, while those that surpass it will get a positive score. Ready?

Original Ranking: (0)

Salty caramel flavoured sweets are booming in popularity here in Japan. Wherever you look you're bound to find some, be it in chocolate, icecream, cookies, pudding, etc. Admittedly the combination of the two is pretty good, but Nestle had the idea of getting rid of the caramel side of the deal and replacing it with white chocolate instead. Huh.
White chocolate and salt eh? Well my feelings on white chocolate have been made pretty clear before, and adding salt to it does nothing to change my opinion. However I was prepared to give some bonus marks if the kit kat actually tasted a bit salty, but once again we've got a kit kat so sickeningly sweet that I got a headache just from the smell.
If you're going to display the Chinese character for salt so prominently on the front of the box, it would help if you could actually taste it. Fail.

Salt and White Chocolate Ranking: (-5)

Muscat of Alexandria is just a fancy way of saying 'Essence of Fake Grape'. No doubt real grapes from Alexandria would have something to say to Nestle if they knew they were being slandered in this fashion. Extra sugar, unknown chemicals and a light green colouring all conspired to make this a thoroughly unpleasant experience.

Muscat of Alexandria Ranking: (-5)

Changing the colour of flavoured kit kats to some garish pink or green is always a turn off for me, so I was happy to see that the colour of apple flavoured kit kats was a normal chocolate brown. My pleasure didn't extend any farther than that though. It was like the apple and chocolate flavours were engaged in a pitched battle in my mouth, a war that neither side could ever hope to win. Maybe it's just that apple and chocolate don't really go together (at least for me) in real life.

Apple Ranking: (-3)

Despite the fact that these Lemon kit kats were coloured a pale yellow, everything else about them was a pleasant surprise. First of all, the lemon flavour was light and not too sweet. They reminded me of those lemon creme cookies I used to eat as a kid, and still love.
The box is covered in hearts due to it being released for Valentine's Day. You can also fold back the top of the box and write a message inside to your sweetheart, that is if you're the type of person who only spends about a dollar on such things.

Lemon Ranking: (-1)

You wouldn't expect jasmine tea to make a successful kit kat flavour, but you'd be wrong. Nestle surprised me yet again. The fact that jasmine tea has a light flavour and isn't sweet ended up being a very good combination for the chocolate, and not making the kit kats tea coloured, or jasmine coloured was a smart move.
Oolong tea (which is listed in the ingredients) is touted in Japan as effective weight loss and calorie burning substance, and kit kat is quick to jump on this particular bandwagon. The top of the package shouts out, 'your calorie control and support!', like Nestle thinks we're dumb enough to believe eating a chocolate bar is helpful in controlling our caloric intake. Let's not go too far now Nestle. You don't want to loose what credibility you've earned do you?

Jasmine Tea Ranking: (-1)

What this is, if you're baffled by the picture on the cover, is caramelized sweet potato covered in sesame seeds which is known colloquially as daigaku imo. Daigaku imo translates to 'university potato' for the obscure reason that in the old days, they were a popular snack food at Japanese universities. Despite an initial reaction of rolling my eyes when I first saw it, it turned out to be much better than I expected, actually it's surprisingly good. It doesn't exactly taste like daigaku imo, which I've eaten, but the flavour is subdued and not too sweet. It doesn't club you over the head like other flavours do. Almost, but not quite on par with original flavour!

Daigaku Imo Ranking: (-1)

Nestle didn't do too badly this time around, three out of six flavours scored fairly high, but I continue to be mystified by their need to make sure that kit kats are combined with every flavour in the universe. I'd be much more excited if they instead focused on size, for example making the original kit kat three times bigger, or say, using twice as much chocolate as usual.
I think we've got enough flavours now Nestle, time to try something new.

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