Bokksu – March 2017 Review

It’s cherry blossom season in Japan, so Bokksu’s theme for this month is “Snacks Over Flowers”.  Suddenly I want to rewatch Hana Yori Dango!

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Bokksu usually sends all of their treats in an orange box made of folded high quality paper (see previous reviews), but this month everything came in this beautiful, custom-designed box with matching lid.  It’s still in Bokksu’s signature orange shade, but it’s much sturdier and very professional-looking!  I love it, and will definitely be re-purposing it.

This month’s theme is “Snacks Over Flowers,” per the popular phrase hana yori dango, which literally translates to “food is better than flowers.”  Hana Yori Dango is also the name of a popular manga/anime/J-drama that I recommend checking out if you’re into high school romance stories!

The “flowers” in this month’s theme refer to the sakura (cherry blossoms) that are in bloom around this time of year.  Many people from within Japan and from around the world will come to see the gorgeous trees at sakura viewing parties.  It’s a major event in the Japanese cultural calendar, so almost everything in Japan will be sakura themed – even Starbucks is releasing a line of sakura merchandise, and a special sakura drink!  I think cherry blossoms are beautiful, so I’m excited to see what Bokksu has included!

Bokksu’s crisp information sheet provides details for every product included in the box.  They give both the English and Japanese names for each snack, as well as descriptions and allergy information.

Sakura Saku Saku Senbei by Tsuboya

How beautiful is this packaging!?  I love the delicate pink sakura pattern on the wrapper.  The senbei (rice crackers) themselves have chili pepper in them to give them a bit of a kick, according to the info card.  When I first opened them, I caught a whiff of shrimp fragrance, which is certainly not uncommon in senbei.  These crackers also had a bit of a sweet flavor, although I can’t pinpoint what ingredient is giving that taste.  I’m not sure I like the combination of sweet and shrimp, and I really couldn’t detect any chili!  This one is definitely an acquired taste that I’m not sure is for me.

Ume Sablé by Shoeido

And the lovely packaging continues!  These buttery sablé cookies are flower-shaped and contain finely chopped ume (plum) and shiso (perilla) leaves.  I’m not sure what perilla tastes like so I couldn’t identify it, but the ume provided a lovely tart contrast to the sweet buttery-ness of the cookie.  I’m a fan of these!

Rufeel Baked Jam Biscuits by Bourbon

These biscuits are baked with a layer of strawberry jam on top!  At first the jam gives off a very artificial, lip-gloss-like taste that I wasn’t a fan of, but then it develops into a tart sweetness that is actually quite pleasant.  The biscuit underneath is lovely and buttery.  To me this one tasted like a high-end Fig Newton – and that’s a good thing!

White Strawberry by Qua

It’s a real strawberry!  This snack (pictured on top of the Bokksu card) is a freeze-dried strawberry that has been soaked in white chocolate.  This is such a unique treat!  It has the smoothness of white chocolate, but the crispness of a freeze-dried fruit (with extra crunch from the strawberry seeds!).  The chocolate makes it very sweet and sugary, but the strawberry gives it a tart aftertaste.  It’s not a chocolate-covered strawberry, more like a strawberry that has had chocolate infused throughout.

Pocky Midi Strawberry Fromage by Glico

This Pocky is seasonally limited and has a strawberry cheesecake and chocolate coating.  Pocky Midi is shorter than traditional Pocky and usually comes in more luxurious, higher-end flavors.  This actually reminded me of the White Strawberry, but in Pocky form!  I do like the strawberry cheesecake “icing,” but eating too many of these would overwhelm me with sweetness for sure.  Sidenote: look at the little bird on the box with his purple and white scarf!!

Languly Strawberry by Ito Seika

These are crumbly butter cookies that have a layer of strawberry white chocolate in the middle.  I think they’re supposed to be like the traditional Langue de chat, or “white cookies” that are popular in Japan, and they certainly remind me of them.  The cookies are very smooth and the buttery-ness is a nice contrast to the tart strawberry.  The cream in the middle reminded me more of strawberry milk at first, but it does give way to a fruitier strawberry flavor.

Sakura Rusk by Tokyo Rusk

Yesss!  I was looking forward to these cookies the most.  Thanks to Bokksu, I have come to really love rusk cookies, which are delicate baguette slices that have been baked twice in the oven to become crunchy and crispy, like sweet bagel chips.  These have been baked with sakura butter (which has real salted sakura petals in it!), and have sakura flakes on top, so you’re really getting the cherry blossom experience!  These were absolutely my favorite snack in the box.  They’re deliciously buttery and sugary, with a wonderfully crispy texture.  I didn’t taste too much cherry blossom in the actual cookie, but I bit into one of the little flakes and there is certainly some floral flavor there.  I love it!

Ume Kobucha by Naniwa Konbucha Honpo

Bokksu includes a tea in every box that pairs well with all of the snacks.  This month’s tea is a traditional Japanese spring tea that contains ume (plum), shiso leaves, and kelp.  The plum comes from the Wakayama prefecture, and lends a sweet taste to the otherwise savory flavor.  This can be made into either a tea or a soup!  Each packet comes in tea grain form rather than leaves.  I’ve never made tea that way, so I’m pretty curious.  I haven’t yet tried this tea – to be honest, I’m not a big fan of plum tea – but the wrapper is so cute and tea grains are so novel for me that I will definitely have to give it a whirl at some point!

 

Overall, this was a fantastic box from Bokksu!  I love all things cherry blossom, so this certainly appealed to my aesthetic.  Everything looked so beautiful appearance-wise, and Bokksu really stepped it up with their new boxes.  The snacks themselves were also delicious: there was a clear sakura/pink strawberry theme to every product that I really enjoyed.  This box leaned very much on the sweet side, so I do appreciate that they paired it with a sweet/savory tea.  Bokksu always puts so much thought into their curation, and it really shows in their high quality products!

 

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