UHA Cream Soda Puccho

It's been a little while since my last post because my husband and I took a delayed summer vacation to Seattle, Washington. Seattle was so green and beautiful, and we lucked into some great weather. I picked up some chocolates and candies to review, so I'll get right to it.

There is a fairly large Japanese population in the Seattle (and Vancouver) area. I picked up this Puccho flavor at one of the many Asian shopping centers because melon flavors are usually a good bet for me. In Japan, cream soda almost always means melon cream soda; the melon is implied.


The candies had a very muted color scheme, with pale green stripes on white. Some of the signature Puccho tough jelly balls were visible as well. There was a faint fruity smell, abut the taste was stronger. The flavor was mild honeydew melon with hint of citrus and cream.

Along with the tough jellies, there were some fizzy powder pellets that had a nice, tangy citric acid flavor. The fizz was pretty sharp and powerful, but short lived. I'm a big fan of melon flavor and fizzy candy, so this Puccho was definitely to my liking!

A-

UHA website

UHA Uji Matcha Azuki Milk CuCu

Without shame, I'll admit that the pictures of gorgeous marbled cubes on the front of this bag drew me in. Of course, the matcha flavor didn't hurt at all, since it never takes much convincing to make me buy matcha sweets. These were under $3 at a Japanese import grocery store.

The little cube dog on the bag said Cute Cube which is probably the origin of the name, CuCu. The candy is supposed to be a medley of Uji matcha, Hokkaido azuki, and condensed milk.


The candies were shaped like dice, and though they weren't quite as pretty as the picture on the bag (the actual white stripe was rather dull), they were still lovely candies. The matcha flavor was strong and immediate, with buttery and rich hints of condensed milk. There were some hints of azuki flavor, but they served the matcha well.

They never got sharp like some candies can, and they maintained their rounded cube shape throughout the entire smooth melt. The packaging was super cute, too, but I wish the wrappers were clear so that I could admire the marbled cubes in my candy dish. These were delicious, and I had no trouble eating 2 or 3 in a row. It's yet another example of matcha done well by UHA.

Check out another review at The Candy Bowl.

A

UHA website

UHA High Concentration Matcha Milk Candy

Another product included in the generous sample pack I received from Tsunami.hk was this UHA Matcha Milk candy. Despite my love of matcha, I had never tried these before - probably because the packaging never jumped out at me. Many UHA products (like Puccho) have eye-catching, colorful designs, but this Matcha candy is clearly marketed to adults. For the record, I'm an adult and colorful packaging full of cute mascots nearly always works on me.

When I opened them, I wasn't sure if they were chews or hard candy - they looked like they could go either way. After a tentative bite, it was obvious that they were hard candy. My memory could be failing me, but I think this is only my second true hard candy review.


The candies didn't have much of a smell, but they had an immediately rich and milky matcha latte taste. The flavor was very authentic; just like a thick matcha milk drink (despite containing artificial flavoring). The grassiness was well balanced with cream, and the sweetness was just right.

It's such a shame that the dull packaging put me off, because these are some of the best matcha hard candies I've ever had! The richness prevented me from having too many in a row (2 was plenty). I'm not much of a hard candy person (thanks to my dentist), but I don't think I'll have any trouble finishing these.

A

UHA website

UHA White Soda Puccho

This flavor of Puccho is a bit of a mystery to me. Though I have some guesses, I'm not positive on what white soda is. Maybe a generic term for Calpis? This one has a very cool package, and contains some milk products, so I'll go with my gut.

One thing I know for sure is that the little Puccho guy on the package is cute. His bubble 'fro is adorable! It's almost as cute as Ultra Puccho-kun, who has been known to sport a pompadour.


The candies were quite sticky and had a mild citrus scent. The first thing I noticed was that, along with the Puccho hard gels, there were fizzy candy balls embedded in the chew. I love a good fizzy candy, but these were pretty mild.

Overall, the flavor was not strong. There were hints of citrus but not much dairy, and they weren't addictively good. That's not a bad thing if you're trying to cut back on candy, but it makes for a standard, unspectacular Puccho flavor.

B-

UHA website

UHA G Fresh Cola

I do wish cola was a more common candy flavor in the US. Haribo makes some good cola gummies but they are hard to find in my area. I had never tried G Fresh gummies before, so I picked these up at the Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights, IL during my recent trip.

These gummies seemed more like vitamins than candy. They claimed to be a source of both vitamin C and GABA. I had never heard of GABA before, but a little research told me that it is gamma-aminobutyric acid, a neurotransmitter naturally produced in humans that regulates muscle tone, among other things. I highly doubt the amount in this candy has a measurable effect.


First, let me point out the over-engineering of the bag - the tear slit was located between two ridges to ensure a straight rip. On the candies themselves, the sour powder on the surface almost looked like scales! The gummies smelled like sweet cola candy and were immediately sour on the tongue. I could taste the vitamin C really well. The actual gummy part was mild in flavor, with a slightly sour, syrupy cola taste.

The texture of the gummies was very firm, and almost a little too hard. They were made with agar-agar and not gelatin, but I don't think that was the cause of the firmness. The coating was much more sour than the inside, but overall, it made for a pleasantly tart cola flavor. They were quite addictive!

B+

UHA website

UHA Kyoho Grape Puccho

Today, my candy taught me some Japanese. From the packaging, I could tell that this flavor of Puccho was grape (perhaps Concord?), but I didn't know the kanji for the flavor name. After little internet searching, I found out that the kanji was read Kyoho, and means a Kyoho grape.

According to Wikipedia (linked above), Kyoho grapes are similar to Concord gapes, so I was optimistic about the flavor. Although usually not as authentic as Hi-Chew, Puccho typically provides a good combination of flavor and fun with the taffy and gummy composition.


In the wrapper, these smelled a little like cinammon, but the taste was a strong, fairly authentic Concord grape. The flavor felt natural, and the candy got juicier as I chewed. There were about 4 gummies in both of the pieces I sampled, and the gummies had an even stronger grape flavor. I got the sensation of grape skin from the gummies, which I liked.

I was pleased with these and would get them again if there weren't so many other flavors and similar candies to try. Also, Puccho is pretty quick about rotating flavors, so I doubt these will be around that long.

B+

UHA website

Puccho Dragon Fruit and Muscat

I've never had dragon fruit. I may have seen it before, but I really have no idea what it should taste like. This particular variety of Puccho was supposed to be a dragon fruit/muscat grape combo.

According to the side of the package, the green and white layers were muscat flavored, and the red gel bits that give Puccho it's famous texture were supposed to be dragon fruit flavored. In any case, the color combination was attractive.


It smelled like muscat grape with a hint of a strawberry type sweetness. The taste was definitely strongly muscat, and was fairly authentic with a nice tartness. I didn't taste much else, but as I mentioned, I don't know what dragon fruit should taste like.

The color combination was great, but the red gel candies that were supposed to be the dragon fruit really just brought texture. I did find them to be really sweet, but with something like this, I was expecting it. All in all, it was tasty, but not something I'd seek out again.

B

UHA Mikakuto website

UHA Orange Soda Puccho

Puccho may not be as well known as Hi-chew, but it's another Japanese chewy candy, only with a more kid-oriented look. Please note the cute character on the package. Also, Puccho has little gel drops inside the chew, giving it an added texture.

A big reason I bought this was the fact that it was advertised as fizzy. I really like fizzy candy, and I had liked Puccho in the past. The stripes on this variety were quite fetching, and I rather like the texture of the gel drops inside, so I was interested to see how the fizzing would work in.


The candy had the aroma of vitamin C tablets, and the jelly part tasted like an extra-citrusy creamsicle. Along with the normal firm gummy pieces (which don't seem to carry much flavor), the fizzy pellets were crunch and reminded me of chewable vitamins.

The fizzing was cool and did give the effect of an orange cream soda when combined with the slightly creamy chew. I don't think I will be able to eat the whole package, as they were very sweet. I would recommend these to fans of Starburst or Hi-chew as a nice twist on a standard chew.

B

Puccho Website