Tochigi prefecture is the top producer (in terms of output and quality) of strawberries in Japan and so known as the ‘Strawberry Kingdom’. Within this kingdom is a variety of strawberry called tochiotome, well-loved for its clean shape and beautiful colour, big size and sweet and tender flesh.

These Nestlé KitKat Wa-ichigō is flavoured using strawberries of the tochiotome variety and suitably named: wa-ichigō translates to Japanese strawberry and the vast majority of strawberries produced and consumed in Japan are of the tochiotome variety.

Each KitKat has wafers sandwiching a tochiotome strawberry cream and enrobed in a white chocolate flavoured with tochiotome strawberries.

These Wa-ichigō KitKat have a rich strawberry flavour with the luscious strawberry notes building to the sweet and slightly acidic flavour of strawberry jam as you reach the wafers and the sandwiching strawberry cream melts to a smooth mouthfeel, leaving bright notes of strawberry long on the palate. The strawberry notes in the centre are fresh and bright, balancing the mellow sweetness of the strawberry milk notes in the enrobing white chocolate

Compared to the Nestlé KitKat Strawberry Cheese Cake, this KitKat has a fresher strawberry flavour that’s less creamy both in flavour and texture. I’ve not tried the Amaou Strawberry KitKat to be able to compare.

This Nestlé KitKat Wa-ichigō contained 3 mini bars. It was produced in Japan and purchased in Ōsaka, Japan in 2015.