Do you know of a Japanese chocolate called Black Thunder? They are a very popular brand that sold over 200 million* chocolate bars in 2017. Their chocolates usually come in bite-sized packages that look like this.

The price varies depending on the shop, but typically the chocolate bars go for around 50 yen each at the convenience store and 100 yen for a pack of three at a dollar shop. The snacks are popular with people of all ages because of their cost and great taste.

However, I have never actually tried any of the chocolates from this brand. It’s probably not good for a writer who writes articles introducing delicious food all over Japan to have never tried this, so I’ve gone and tried eight different flavors!

There are flavors ranging from the standard ones to somewhat shocking versions that make you wonder if it’s ok to make chocolate with that kind of flavor!

*According to their official website

Basic flavors

Let’s start with the basic flavors: regular and bitter. I can see the phrase “The deliciousness level is shocking!” (oishisa inazuma kyū | おいしさイナズマ級) on the regular flavor package.

Let’s open them!

Oh! They are totally different colors!

First, the regular flavor chocolate is crunchy and delicious. The bitter flavor was not as bitter as it looked. The chocolate flavor was more intense rather than really bitter. The texture was the same as the regular flavor.

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Spicy rice crackers: kakinotane flavor

This is the most unique flavor I tried. The flavor is kakinotane 柿の種! The name means seeds (tane | 種) of a persimmon (kaki | 柿).

Kakinotane are small crescent-shaped rice crackers. They're usually flavored with soy sauce and are slightly spicy. They're well-known as a snack for beer, so I can’t believe they made chocolate out of this.

It looks like this.

The surface looks bumpier than the typical Black Thunder. It looks like it packs a powerful crunch!

When I split it in half you can see it's almost entirely filled with kakinotane. With great trepidation, I tried this unexpected combination...

Wow! It’s delicious! The salty flavor of the kakinotane, the crunchiness of the chocolate, and the rich Black Thunder milk chocolate flavor come together to form a complex taste.

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Roasted soybean flour: kinako flavor

Another unique and Japanese flavor is this roasted soybean flour! The package says it is not mere kinako, but fuwasaku kinako ふわさくきなこ. Fuwasaku is a combination of fluffy (fuwafuwa ふわふわ) and crispy (sakusaku さくさく).

Huh? So far, crunchiness is almost synonymous with the Black Thunder brand. What could they possibly mean by fluffy?

When you split it in half, it looks like this. It definitely tastes different than the other three. You can tell there is a fluffy texture mixed in with the chocolate! Why?

The answer was on the back of the package. The chocolate contains brown rice puffs! If you want to enjoy a very Japanese flavor featuring kinako and brown rice puffs, I recommend this one.

Strawberry and banana

I introduced several Japanese flavors already, so next, I will try a fruity flavor!

First is this “Strawberry Thunder”.

The flavor of the strawberry was strong because it contains dry strawberry flakes mixed inside! I strongly recommend it to readers who love strawberries.

The next one is banana!

Strawberry and chocolate is a typical combination that I have seen with other brands of chocolate as well, but this is my first time trying banana-flavored chocolate. The combination of banana and milk chocolate is good! The banana chips that are mixed in give it a fantastic crunchiness.

Matcha and happy butter

The last two are matcha (抹茶) and happy butter (shifuku no batā | 至福のバター)!

The matcha color looks really vivid. The flavor turned out to be strong without being bitter. It was quite delicious. It could be a good souvenir from Japan!

Happy butter is a butter chocolate mix combined with butter cookie flakes. This one was truly delicious! I’m looking forward to buying it again. On their website, it says out of the customers who answered their online survey, 88% of them answered they would buy it again. It seems this is a really popular flavor.

For readers who haven’t tried this brand of chocolate and are planning on visiting Japan or are already living in Japan, please give it a try! The price is very affordable, so why don’t you try buying all eight and finding your favorite?

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Information

• Official website