Sunday, April 29, 2012
Quick Peek at my new Tirol Deco-Choco Maker
This is just a quick look at my new Deco-Choco Maker for Tirol candies. I'll be posting another video of actually using it soon, plus posting on what other deco-choco items I've gotten, so stay tuned...
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Japan Tirol Espresso Chocolate Review
This is my second taste of the largers premium version of Tirols. You know the drill first up is the video portion then the stills.
One word that sums up this candy is "strong"! Strong scent which is what I was hit with first, then the actual taste of this candy. Definitely not for the timid! I'm not a coffee drinker, but I do love the aroma of it, and yet I found this to my liking. I do have a preference for bold flavors in my food. I don't like to have to struggle to get any taste from what I'm eating.
No doubts here! Very dark rich chocolate with some bitter under tones, paired with a strong coffee. If you're curious as to what blend, that I can't help you with. Like I said, I don't drink coffee.
However, there's also a bit of crunch to this chocolate portion that's under the liquid, I believe this is from crushed up coffee beans, mixed into the candy. So the coffee flavor is really throughout the entire thing.
One word that sums up this candy is "strong"! Strong scent which is what I was hit with first, then the actual taste of this candy. Definitely not for the timid! I'm not a coffee drinker, but I do love the aroma of it, and yet I found this to my liking. I do have a preference for bold flavors in my food. I don't like to have to struggle to get any taste from what I'm eating. 
Not that I want to be floored by flavors, but you wanna know what you're supposed to be tasting.
No doubts here! Very dark rich chocolate with some bitter under tones, paired with a strong coffee. If you're curious as to what blend, that I can't help you with. Like I said, I don't drink coffee. 
Not only does this candy deliver on striking taste, but texture. There's some liquid substance, right under the the top layer of chocolate, which must be where the coffee taste is coming from.
However, there's also a bit of crunch to this chocolate portion that's under the liquid, I believe this is from crushed up coffee beans, mixed into the candy. So the coffee flavor is really throughout the entire thing.
I bought a set of 4 of these off napajapan.com, and they had a very limited supply. So if you wanna try it, better hurry!
Tirol Chocolates Premium & Standard size review
Yes, the more I learn about these bite sized bits of chocolate bliss, the more I love them! ^_^
Recently I learned that Tirols actually come in 2 different sizes, and that size does matter!
So check out the video review, then check out the pics to see for yourself.
Yes, the bigger Tirols', at least as far as the coffee nougut one's are concerned, (I haven't yet tried the other ones in larger form) are superior! The taste on the smaller standard candies is very good, but I can honestly say until you try the premium size, with it's richer smoother chocolate which has a great mouth feel and more pronounced coffee flavor, you haven't really been "Tirolized!" Yeah, a new term I just came up with. Maybe I better trademark that quick! ^_^
If you don't have the benefit of seeing Tirols side by side in this fashion, you can always tell which one you're getting by the fact that the larger ones have a barcode on the side.
Rather than the plain pinwheel design of the smaller Tirols, the premiums have pictures, such as this rocket ship. Others are a house, alarm clock, and car. Why these particular objects, I've no idea!
Recently I learned that Tirols actually come in 2 different sizes, and that size does matter!
So check out the video review, then check out the pics to see for yourself.
Yes, the bigger Tirols', at least as far as the coffee nougut one's are concerned, (I haven't yet tried the other ones in larger form) are superior! The taste on the smaller standard candies is very good, but I can honestly say until you try the premium size, with it's richer smoother chocolate which has a great mouth feel and more pronounced coffee flavor, you haven't really been "Tirolized!" Yeah, a new term I just came up with. Maybe I better trademark that quick! ^_^
If you don't have the benefit of seeing Tirols side by side in this fashion, you can always tell which one you're getting by the fact that the larger ones have a barcode on the side. 
Rather than the plain pinwheel design of the smaller Tirols, the premiums have pictures, such as this rocket ship. Others are a house, alarm clock, and car. Why these particular objects, I've no idea!
As wonderful as the premiums are, there aren't too many places I've seen where you can buy them. napajapan.com and on ebay are the only 2 that I know of. Unless you do a special request from sellers in Japan. Which I'm lucky enough to find a Japan based seller who's hooking me up with more premos as I type this. He's really nice, and willing to go the extra mile for his customers, so if you wanna hit him up for some of these candies or any others you may be on the hunt for, you can get in touch with him through his ebay page here; hirokojapan Tell him "trist" recommended him. ^_^
Trist Does Deco-Choco; "Easter Edition"
Okay so this isn't exactly a candy review, but it does relate to Japan and candy.
I finally decided to try my hand at some "decoration chocolate" also called "deco-choco" it's the art of taking ordinary chocolates and candies sold everywhere to create, one hopes, a thing of beauty which you can then bestow upon someone special. It's most commonly practiced in Japan for Valentine's Day, whereby girls will give deco-choco to a boy they particularly like, to let him know. Guess it's their version of that old American adage, that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Course, I guess you could take the more direct route and just punch a hole through his chest to get to the heart, but yeah...that gets a bit messy! >_<
Anyhoo, take a gander at stills from my first deco-choco attempt and then click on the link below to head over to youtube to check out the video. I can't add it here, since it was blocked due to copyright issues....music and whatnot.
Up first is a Hershey's bar with white chocolate ganache dyed pink with strawberry extract added, The purple "grass" is dyed coconut.
Edible choco-cups with chocolate and strawberry ganache. Cups were made by brushing melted chocolate inside mini cupcake paper cups, then chilling in the freezer for about 20min. Some of the chocolate ones I actually salted for an awesome kick!
bunnies were made from m&m's with tootsie roll ears glued with chocolate and food decorating pen for their faces. I just loved doing these! ^_^
Miniature Easter Baskets, made from mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups with Tootsie roll handles glued on with chocolate, dyed white chocolate for green grass and cut-up jelly beans which I remolded into teenie tiny eggs. Only problem was softening up the tootsie rolls to make them into handles left them rather unable to hold their shape. So some ended up flopping over to the side. Or coming off completely. Even so, you have to admit they're pretty darn cute! ^_^
These are all chocolates I molded myself from molds bought off Amazon and ebay. Solid egg with crushed almonds dyed pink.
So I was trying everything at first to do these. I knew I wanted to make a completely edible basket, and at first I tried molding melted chocolate over porcelain bowls the old balloon in chocolate trick ect... Nothing was working. Silly me never thought to look for basket molds. Then when I did, I couldn't find one that was just the right size and shape to work. I bought 2 which I never did use. Then I found this one off both Amazon and ebay. Success!
Even then, it wasn't easy. This mold was a bitch to work with at times! The bottom part of the basket just would not come out of the mold without much difficulty. There were times when I banged so hard to free it, I cracked the basket and had to start all over. Grrrrr......
In the end though, it finally all came together! Everybody I gave them to loved them!
You can't see it, but some of the handles of the baskets have a surprise inside. I placed a piece of chocolate twizzler inside during the molding for a special little treat! heheheh!
I finally decided to try my hand at some "decoration chocolate" also called "deco-choco" it's the art of taking ordinary chocolates and candies sold everywhere to create, one hopes, a thing of beauty which you can then bestow upon someone special. It's most commonly practiced in Japan for Valentine's Day, whereby girls will give deco-choco to a boy they particularly like, to let him know. Guess it's their version of that old American adage, that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Course, I guess you could take the more direct route and just punch a hole through his chest to get to the heart, but yeah...that gets a bit messy! >_<
Anyhoo, take a gander at stills from my first deco-choco attempt and then click on the link below to head over to youtube to check out the video. I can't add it here, since it was blocked due to copyright issues....music and whatnot.
Up first is a Hershey's bar with white chocolate ganache dyed pink with strawberry extract added, The purple "grass" is dyed coconut.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Deco-mini-cupcakes
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Edible choco-cups with chocolate and strawberry ganache. Cups were made by brushing melted chocolate inside mini cupcake paper cups, then chilling in the freezer for about 20min. Some of the chocolate ones I actually salted for an awesome kick!
bunnies were made from m&m's with tootsie roll ears glued with chocolate and food decorating pen for their faces. I just loved doing these! ^_^ 
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Miniature Easter Baskets, made from mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups with Tootsie roll handles glued on with chocolate, dyed white chocolate for green grass and cut-up jelly beans which I remolded into teenie tiny eggs. Only problem was softening up the tootsie rolls to make them into handles left them rather unable to hold their shape. So some ended up flopping over to the side. Or coming off completely. Even so, you have to admit they're pretty darn cute! ^_^
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
These are all chocolates I molded myself from molds bought off Amazon and ebay. Solid egg with crushed almonds dyed pink.
Blinged out bunny made from cookies & cream chocolate She's holding a purse if you can't tell.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Custom molded baskets.
So I was trying everything at first to do these. I knew I wanted to make a completely edible basket, and at first I tried molding melted chocolate over porcelain bowls the old balloon in chocolate trick ect... Nothing was working. Silly me never thought to look for basket molds. Then when I did, I couldn't find one that was just the right size and shape to work. I bought 2 which I never did use. Then I found this one off both Amazon and ebay. Success!
Even then, it wasn't easy. This mold was a bitch to work with at times! The bottom part of the basket just would not come out of the mold without much difficulty. There were times when I banged so hard to free it, I cracked the basket and had to start all over. Grrrrr......
In the end though, it finally all came together! Everybody I gave them to loved them!
You can't see it, but some of the handles of the baskets have a surprise inside. I placed a piece of chocolate twizzler inside during the molding for a special little treat! heheheh! 
Happy Easter!
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Click here to check out a video of my Easter Deco-choco
Japan Kit Kat: Black Honey Review
So this was my first venture into the Japanese Kit Kats. Yes, I really like US Kit Kats, but I just never had an interest in trying any of those wacky flavored Kit Kats that Japan prizes so well. But I'm going for it now, starting with the Black Honey version.
Black Honey Video Review
What I can say off the bat is, this one is probably a prime example of why I stayed away from them. Firstly, the chocolate is white so that's already a negative for me. Secondly, there was very little honey flavor in this, and what there was, didn't bother to make an appearance until the very end! Needless to say, I won't be back for more of these. Maybe my next Japanese Kit Kat will change my mind about them. We'll see....
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Review of Tirol Mix 8 Chocolate Candy Pack
Here's a video review for my first taste of Tirol Chocolates.
I'm a new fan of Tirol chocolates! A product and company I'd never even heard of before my choco-buying venture. It's touted as being a cheap affordable candy in Japan (like a penny candy is in the US) But for cheap, Tirol manages to deliver some quality chocolate! Having said that, I'm not a fan of all the flavors I've sampled. But that's about personal preference, not so much knocking the quality or taste of the candy. The chocolate isn't as sweet as say a Hershey's but more like that of a box of Sees chocolates. Maybe it's to better pair with the fillings, and apparently Tirol chocolates ALWAYS come with some type of filling. Normally I don't like a mixed box of chocolates, since it is true, "you never know what you're gonna get" and inevitably some of it, (a great deal of it if you're picky or unlucky) will not be to you're liking. I don't know if you can just buy a single flavor of Tirol, from what I've seen it's only sold in a variety pack, so if anyone knows, please share. Although, I suppose you need to try them all at first to see which ones you like. And there's more out there that I haven't tried...yet. But it's definitely a new fav. for me.
I'm a new fan of Tirol chocolates! A product and company I'd never even heard of before my choco-buying venture. It's touted as being a cheap affordable candy in Japan (like a penny candy is in the US) But for cheap, Tirol manages to deliver some quality chocolate! Having said that, I'm not a fan of all the flavors I've sampled. But that's about personal preference, not so much knocking the quality or taste of the candy. The chocolate isn't as sweet as say a Hershey's but more like that of a box of Sees chocolates. Maybe it's to better pair with the fillings, and apparently Tirol chocolates ALWAYS come with some type of filling. Normally I don't like a mixed box of chocolates, since it is true, "you never know what you're gonna get" and inevitably some of it, (a great deal of it if you're picky or unlucky) will not be to you're liking. I don't know if you can just buy a single flavor of Tirol, from what I've seen it's only sold in a variety pack, so if anyone knows, please share. Although, I suppose you need to try them all at first to see which ones you like. And there's more out there that I haven't tried...yet. But it's definitely a new fav. for me.
Bought this pack from "napajapan.com"
which is currently unavailable, but they do have a new "Mix 9" pack up as well as other varieties. I also bought just the caramel chocolate sold in 4's from them. HIGHLY recommend buying that one. You can also buy a 27 piece Tirol variety bag from marukaiestore.com but their shipping is crazy expensive especially for just one or 2 items!
which is currently unavailable, but they do have a new "Mix 9" pack up as well as other varieties. I also bought just the caramel chocolate sold in 4's from them. HIGHLY recommend buying that one. You can also buy a 27 piece Tirol variety bag from marukaiestore.com but their shipping is crazy expensive especially for just one or 2 items!
Caramel Coffee Flavor
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Chocolate with Nougat Flavor
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White & Cookie Crunch Flavor
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Milk Flavor (which tastes like cream)
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