Japanese Mochi 8 Variety Pack: Boba Milk Tea, Taro, Sesame, Hamimelon, Lychee, Green Tea, Peanut & Red Bean in Fusion Select Gift Box

Smell????? No bad smells and tasted great.

I gave this as a gift to my hairdresser. The ladies in the audience will understand how important a good hairdresser is. It comes in a beautiful box that you don’t even have to wrap. It just looks so nice. And the quality of the candies themselves is top-notch. I have decided that this will be my go to gift for party, hostess and dinners at someone’s house. Besides, I’m going to order some just for me. This is going to be a great gift for someone and besides, you know, I wouldn’t give something that was plain awful to my hairdresser.

I’ve been a fan of this brand of mochi for awhile and figured I’d order this box to try some flavors I’ve never tried before. Suffice to say, I’m a pretty satisfied customer! This comes with a LOT of mochi and a lot of variety, especially for the price. Of course, there were some flavors I didn’t exactly like, but that’s the price you pay with basically any variety pack so I can’t really hold that against them. It’s all a matter of personal taste, really. So for this review, I will be reviewing each flavor of mochi separately. This will not count towards the overall review of this product, as for that I’ve decided to rate the whole box set. The entire set of mochi gets 4 stars, the reasons for taking 1 star away being that When I opened the box, it smelled… weird, to be honest. Some sort of awful chemical smell… didn’t make me too excited to dig into the mochi itself. Not to mention, the scent seems to have seeped into some of the mochi boxes itself… it kind of ruined the flavor of some of them. With that out of the way, let’s get onto reviewing the mochi itself. Red Bean: Hands down my favorite flavor from this brand! I’ve been getting this one since I first found them at an asian market about 7 years ago. Really can’t go wrong with this flavor. The red bean is mildly sweet and has an amazing texture, creamy but also a little gritty. The grittiness isn’t at all unpleasant though, just helps to add a bit of texture. That being said, this isn’t the brand that I usually get, and it does have a bit of a weird aftertaste. The best way I could describe it is like the flavor of soy milk. Just a fair warning, but besides that it’s pretty good. 4/5. Peanut: If you like peanut butter, this one’s for you! Another really good flavor. The filling is pretty much just plain creamy peanut butter, which I was a bit disappointed in-- the peanut butter flavor was somewhat overpowering. But the crushed peanuts on the outside of the mochi dough help give a nice roasted peanut flavor, and an even nicer crunch. 4/5. Sesame: Another flavor I hadn’t tried before, but I’m definitely glad I did! It’s definitely up there with red bean in terms of deliciousness, if not a bit higher. The filling is a black sesame puree, with the same level of texture and sweetness as the red bean mochi filling. Not to mention, the sesame seeds on the outside of the mochi dough also add an amazing texture. It really reminds me of those fried sesame balls you can get at a chinese buffet. 5/5. Taro: Upon first opening the box, the first thing I noticed was the distinct smell of potato chips. Seriously! My guess is that it’s just because of how starchy taro is. Anyways, these are pretty good… even if the dough does sort of taste like potato chips. The filling resembles a mild sweet potato flavor, and has the same texture as the red bean and sesame fillings. It isn’t as sweet though. Overall pretty good, if you’re looking for something less sweet and more starchy. 4/5. Green Tea: Another flavor I’ve tried from this brand, and one I didn’t really like. The green tea flavor is very prominent… but so is a very distinct floral flavor, that is honestly a bit overpowering. Almost feels like I’m eating potpourri. Still, I guess it’s alright. 3/5. Coconut Pandan: I’ll be honest, I wasn’t quite looking forward to this flavor, given that I really don’t like coconut. Still, I’ve never tried anything with pandan in it, and was curious to give it a try. Thankfully, the coconut flavor wasn’t that overpowering-- it just has coconut shavings on the outside of the mochi, which help to provide a nice crunch. The filling is what has pandan in it, and it’s pretty nice! The best way I could describe the flavor is a mild mango. Overall, the flavor in general is very mild, sweet, and somewhat floral. This might be a new favorite, even for someone like me who doesn’t like coconut! 4.5/5. Melon: Well, this definitely tastes like melon, I’ll say that much. Still, I’m not sure this is a good flavor for mochi, and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to trying the fruit flavors anyway. Not that good, although it does look very cute. 2/5. Lychee: Already, I wasn’t looking forward to this flavor. I really can’t stand the artificial, syrupy taste that a lot of lychee flavored things have, and was hoping this would be different-- it wasn’t. Overly floral and syrupy, this was one of the mochis I couldn’t even finish a bite of and had to spit out. Steer clear from this one. 1/5. Overall, most of the mochi flavors are really good! If you’re looking to expand your horizons, this is the way to go… But personally I’d steer clear of the fruit ones.

I have to say, they all tasted really good except for the melon. It wasn't to my taste, it had an odd flavor. But the matcha, Boba, taro and red bean paste were my favorites. The others were ok. If you have a texture problem these probably aren't for you. They are very squishy and soft.

Its ok