This Nestlé KitKat Bijofu Yuzushu was released in 2019 as part of the company’s sake-inspired series — following on from 2017’s Japanese Sake Masuizumi, featuring sake from Toyama Prefecture, and 2018’s Umeshu Tsuru-Ume, made with umeshu plum liqueur from Wakayama Prefecture.
This time, the KitKat featured yuzushu by the brand Bijofu from the brewery Tosa Kitagawa Noen in Kōchi Prefecture. The yuzushu is made by blending the brewery’s signature sake directly into straight yuzu juice and sweetened with honey.
Inside the box, these KitKats are inside packaging that’s been printed to resemble washi to resemble the beautifully wrapped sake bottle on the box, which indicates a premium liquor served on special occasions. Each box contained nine individually packaged mini-bars.
Each bar has the Bijofu brand on the front of the packaging.
Each mini-bar is a warm yellow pastel colour and contained 0.2% alcohol, with the yuzushu flavouring both the white sandwiching the wafers as well as the enrobing white chocolate.
These KitKat have a zesty and slightly effervescent aroma of yuzu coming through after opening the packaging. Upon tasting, the yuzu notes emerge at the head of each bite with a gentle sweetness and bright sourness before a moderate bitterness builds in the body that recalled the rind of the fruit before the sourness returns to linger with a gentle bitterness in the finish. Given the increasing popularity of yuzu in recent years, this KitKat has been a long time coming. They capture the bright, natural yuzu flavour, but we find the prominent bitterness hinders our full enjoyment.
This Nestlé KitKat Bijofu Yuzushu contained 9 mini-bars. It was produced in Japan and purchased in Tōkyō, Japan in 2019.