ROCKET NEWS


 

This Hershey’s chocolate matcha ice cream will have you salivating.
The whole world seems to be in love with matcha right now, which is good news for green-tea lovers as big-name brands have been getting on board with the craze, dousing everything from McFlurries to Kit Kats and even Frappuccino drinks in all types of deliciously green bittersweet flavours.

 

Now it’s time for Hershey’s to introduce us to their very own limited-time sweet, which comes in the form of an ice cream bar that combines their signature chocolate with two of Japan’s most distinctive dessert ingredients: matcha powdered green tea and kuromitsu brown sugar syrup.

 

▼ East meets West in this mash-up of flavours.

 

The two very Japanese dessert flavours, which are usually found in traditional sweets, are known for their bitter notes, so matching them with chocolate makes for a sensible combination. But when Hershey’s is involved, which flavours would stand out most, and how well-balanced would the harmony be?

We did what any matcha-loving ice cream sceptic would do and headed down to the store to put the new treat to the test, and to be honest, we’re glad that we did.

 

The Kanmi Ice Bar, otherwise known as Hershey’s Kuromitsu Matcha in Japanese, really puts the green tea element firmly on display with two-thirds of the ice cream bar covered in a generous matcha coating.

 

While the green-and-brown combination looks gorgeous on the outside, its true beauty is revealed on the inside, with a variety of layers promising a truly delectable ice cream experience.

Beneath the hard outer coating is a thin layer of Hershey’s chocolate, which encases the entire ice cream. The sweet and creamy filling, like the hard green casing on the outside of the frozen treat, is made using high-quality matcha from Uji, Japan’s premier matcha-producing region, and at the heart of the ice cream is a serving of gooey kuromitsu brown sugar syrup.

 

With four different elements in every mouthful, this ice cream hits you with bagfuls of flavour. The deep, rich matcha comes in first, with a moreish bitterness that makes the sides of your tongue salivate and yearn for some sweetness, which is instantly delivered in the form of Hershey’s rich, dark chocolate.

The Hershey’s chocolate flavour is incredibly distinct, bringing to mind childhood memories of ripping into one of their brown-wrapped chocolate bars, but before you have a chance to get swept up in nostalgia, the brown sugar syrup swoops onto your tastebuds to remind you that you’re definitely in Japan and this is no ordinary sweet.

As suddenly as it appears, the black syrup flavour is gone almost immediately after you taste it, acting as a delectable counterpart that’s continually washed away by the bold flavours of strong matcha and dark chocolate, which play on the tongue in beautiful harmony.

 

With its creamy, rich texture, this is an absolutely delicious treat that will make matcha lovers go weak at the knees. While it’s best enjoyed straight out of the freezer, if you’re like us and take your time to devour it, it ends up turning into a Hershey’s chocolate matcha ice cream smash, which isn’t a bad thing, especially for soft ice cream lovers and anyone with dreams of drinking a Hershey’s chocolate matcha milkshake.

Available at 7-Eleven convenience stores around Japan from 19 February, the Hershey’s Kanmi Ice Bar retails for 184 yen (US$1.73). It’s only available for a limited time so be sure to pick one up if you find one!