Today, I received a package from Sakuraco, a Japanese service specialized in delivering seasonal Japanese sweets, snacks and tea made by local Japanese makers.
With the slogan “Discover Authentic Japanese Flavors. Sourced Locally, Delivered to You“, the company based in Tokyo Japan, has been launched in the begining of 2021. It has some interesting brand sisters, like TokyoTreat for Japanese snack & candy boxes, yumeTwins for Japanese Kawaii boxes, nmnl for beauty boxes from Japan and Korea, and JapanHaul for authentic items from Japan.
The October 2021 box I received was about Mt. Fuji theme, a site of pilgrimage and an inspiration to numerous artists and poets over the centuries, Mt. Fuji is one of the most climbed mountains in the world. On a clear day, the impressive and solitary volcano can be seen all the way from Tokyo, 100 km away.
Mt. Fuji is shared between two prefectures, both of which are famous for their local specialties. Shizuoka is renowned for their rich green teas with plantations stretching for miles, while Yamanashi has a unique climate that is perfect for cultivating fruit year-long.
If you are a Japanese snacks fan, you would love to read this Sakuraco box detailed review. So without further ado, let’s do it.
Sakuraco Japanese Snack Box Review
Fist of all, the delivery was fast, 5 days express delivery as stated in the company website.
The package is well designed and solid:
The unboxing:
The box contains 18 different Japanese snacks (all Vegetarian Friendly unless “the Ototo Soy Sauce Chips” and the “Edamame Senbei”) , with one detailed snack guide, and one postal card.
The Snack Guide:
A very well designed manual that contains an introduction about the Fuji Celebration and all informations about the snacks; allergens and more. It’s the first item you find once you open the box.
The postal card:
With the Fuji mountain illustration on one face, and a nice word from Sakuraco founder on the back:
The snacks:
All snacks detailed ingredients are clearly mentioned on Sakuraco website, even before the shipping of the box, for each month. So that the existing and the new customers know exactly what the upcoming box will contain.
Now, let’s discover the box components:
1) Awase Fruits Jelly
Made with sweet Yamanashi cherries, along with refreshing mikan orange and apple.
I liked the taste of this jelly, you can feel the nice apple flavor, and the texture is great.
2) Red Fuji Cookies x 2
3) Kyoho Grape Chocolate Crunch x 2
This crunchy sweet is made with smooth white chocolate infused with fragrant grapes and coated around toasted corn flakes. It comes with two pieces.
It tastes quit good, although I’m not a big fan of crunchy textures, so not my preferred one.
4) White Peach Milk Manju
5) Sencha With Matcha Tea x 2
Who doesn’t like Matcha tea? when it’s combined with sencha like in this tea bag, it gives you an unique tea drinking experience. It comes with two pieces.
6) Mt. Fuji Owan Bowl
Not a foodie snack, but a nice bowl representing the Mt Fuji. It can be used for snacks and sweets, or flip it upside down as décor. The bowl is lightweight ,in plastic. I thought it was from porcelaine while seing the picture first.
7) Castella Roll Cake
This Japanese roll cake was sooo yummy, I loved it! the fluffy texture and the delicious buttercream gives it a great taste.
8) Kinako Mochi
Made from glutinous rice flour, this mochi is made with roasted soybean flour mixed with sugar. This gives the mochi a subtle nutty flavor that pairs well with tea. The package contains 5 mochi pieces.
It wasn’t so sweet, wich is good for diet, I’m not a mochi fan so I didn’t like the taste so much.
9) Kabocha Pudding Bread
Kabocha is Japanese pumpkin, which has a milder and sweeter flavor than its North American cousin. This bread is made with brown rice yeast and has rich pumpkin puree and pudding folded into the dough.
When cutting into two pieces, you can see the orange color of pumpkin into the dough, the taste is good, even though the pumpkin flavor isn’t felt.
10) Uji Matcha Tiramisu Baumkuchen
11) Green Tea Leaf Cookies
These butter cookies are made with whole tea leaves sourced from Makinohara.
It tastes so good with the tea flavor. The package contains 10 pieces or so.
12) Green Tea Dacquoise
My favorite snack so far in this box, was this dessert. Indulge in sweet matcha cream sandwiched between two green tea infused meringues. It’s made with rice flour and green tea.
The delicious meringue melts into your mouth, with an amazing after taste! I wished the box contained more than one piece of it 😀
13) Kokeshi Doll Senbei x 2
14) Ototo Soy Sauce Chips
These chips are made with okara, a soybean pulp that is a bi-product of the tofu-making process and are flavored with iwashi sardine shavings, local to Shizuoka.
It’s the first salty snack in this box, it has a good sardine taste. A little bit hard texture, but not that much.
15) Edamame Senbei x 2
16) Ajishirabe Senbei x 2
The second salty snack in the box is this classic rice cracker, made with Niigata rice.
You can feel the rice flavor while tasting it. It comes with two pieces.
17) Miso Arare
These crispy rice snacks are made with ingredients from Aichi Prefecture, from the rice to the tamari soybean sauce and red miso seasoning. Baked to a rich golden color.
I liked its salty/sweet taste.
18) Almond Mochi Four Seasons Senbei x 2
This fragrant rice cracker is made by kneading almonds into the dough made with glutinous rice flour. It tastes quit similar to Ajishirabe Senbei snack. Salty and good.
Final Thoughts
The Sakuraco Japanese snack box testing was a great experience, I really liked the different flavors and tastes from all the variety snacks.
I liked some snacks more than others, but in general, the quality was there.
If I have to give a mark per ten , it will be 7.5/10 for the overall aspects ( shipping, delivery, packaging, design, snacks choices and taste).
I would definitely recommend Sakuraco to any Japanese snack lover out there.
Cheers and see you soon in another review from JapanFoodStyle 😉