Are you willing and eager to try something new in life? Why not try some unique & interesting Japanese candy and snacks? Over here at the Give It A Whirl Girl blog we are all about trying out new and unique foods and the Japanese candy and snacks fit right in perfectly! There is a very wide assortment of Japanese candy and snacks in this gift guide and there is something for everyone. Many of these Japanese candies come in some unusual flavors, such as lychee flavor and milk flavor. I am always trying to encourage others to eat with an open mind. My intent behind this list is to open you up to some new and exciting flavors and foods.
Do you know what the word KAWAII means? In Japanese, the word kawaii means cute.
Everything here on this gift guide ventures into the realm of cuteness! These candies would be perfect for gift giving to a child or an adult who is young at heart. The packaging on all of these Japanese candies and snacks are adorable, creative, colorful, and interesting to look at.
These products are all available on Amazon and they include free 2-day shipping if you are an Amazon Prime member.
This is a fabulous assortment box to help kick off this list here! This is $30.00 on Amazon (at the time of publication) and it ships free with Amazon Prime. This variety pack contains 15 premium pieces of Japanese candy and snacks. This assortment is perfect for gift giving as well if you are looking to give someone a memorable gift.
Japanese Candy Assortment – Premium Selection of Candy and Snacks Imported from Japan
Ramune is a popular Japanese drink that has a marble inside of it! No kidding! Don’t worry though, you are not going to choke on the marble. The marble is trapped inside. Leave it to the Japanese to come up with such a fun and innovative drink! Mad props to them! This variety pack of Japanese Ramune soda includes 8 fun flavors to delight your palate. It includes pineapple, coconut, grape, melon, lychee, strawberry, orange, and original flavor.
Ramune Japanese Marble Soft Drink Mix Variety 8 Flavors 8 Bottles by Hata Shanderia
Wowza! Check out this variety pack of Japanese Kit Kat candies. Kit Kat is HUGE in Japan. It saddens me that we do not have these fun flavors in the US, but lucky for us, this is available on Amazon with free 2-day Prime shipping. This is also super excellent for gift-giving. I know that if I ever received this variety pack it would make for one hell of a memorable gift and I would savor each and every bite.
Japanese Kit Kat 16 pcs TONOSAMA selection, ALL DIFFERENT FLAVORS
Ahhh yes! Pocky! This is a Japanese candy that you are definitely going to want to try. Pocky are little biscuit stick snacks that are dipped into various flavors.
Pocky Flavors Include: Chocolate, Strawberry, Matcha, Cookies & Cream, Chocolate Banana, Milk Chocolate. Pejoy Flavors Include: Chocolate, Matcha, and Cookies & Cream.
Hi-Chew is one of my all-time favorite Japanese candies! These are the flavors that are included in this variety pack: Strawberry, Grape, Green Apple, Mikan, White Soda, Cola, Pineapple, Lemon Squash. If you like candies that have a chewy texture then you will absolutely love Hi-Chew candies.
I just recently had the pleasure of trying out Martha Stewart’s gourmet meal kit subscription box. I was so blown away by the quality of the ingredients and the easy to follow recipes so I want to share my experience with you in this Marley Spoon review! I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the quality and content of this meal kit delivery service.
How does Marley Spoon work?
Each week Marley Spoon has several different meals that you can select from. They have a huge archive of recipes… over 18,000! Each week there are ten different meals you get to select from. They really do have a wonderful variety of meals and they all look and sound so amazing it is kind of difficult to narrow it down. I want it all!
You can choose the meal kit that suits your family needs. They offer boxes for two people and they also offer boxes that can feed 3-4 people. You can choose to get 2, 3, or 4 Marley Spoon meals per week. It is entirely up to you and you get to customize your plan.
Each week Marley Spoon offers an exciting menu featuring a variety of meats and a large selection of different vegetables. There are meals suitable for dinner as well as lunch.
Marley Spoon also has meals to suit a variety of dietary lifestyles. I choose to eat gluten-free so I received two meal kits that were friendly to my diet.
There are some quick dinners provided, one-pot meals, kid-friendly meals, and salad options.
Two Marley Spoon Meal Kits for four people: Steak & Oven Fries w/ Charred Tomato Salsa and Japanese Style Chicken w./ Bok Choy and Brown Rice
The shipment of Marley Spoon
My meal kit box was overnighted to me via FedEx. When I opened up my box I was very impressed with how well-packaged everything was. There were no leaks and there were no missing ingredients. Everything was kept cold with ice-packs. The meat that I received looked beautiful and the quality of the produce was perfect. There was not a single disappointment with my shipment. I have tried other meal kits boxes in the past and had missing ingredients, some not-so-fresh looking items, or leaky meats. Marley Spoon takes pride in their subscription box and it shows.
A special Marley Spoon discount for you – $30 OFF YOUR FIRST SHIPMENT
You can receive $30 off your first Marley Spoon shipment by clicking this LINK.
Sign up for Marley Spoon today and taste the gourmet!
I have been trying to lose my halo halo virginity for well over a year now. A freaking year! I discovered this crazy cool concoction on Instagram one day and ever since I have been dreaming of the day that I would get a chance to give this a whirl. My day finally came at Tou & Mai in the Midtown section of Detroit, MI yesterday. This Tou & Mai review will cover my first time experiences at this neat little place that is nestled down in the Midtown area of Detroit.
I was going to share this post for my Tried It Out Tuesday feature but I am really eager to share the details with you and since it is Sunday, maybe you can head on over there today to give this extraordinary and unparalleled dessert a try! There truly is no other dessert on this planet like it.
Tou & Mai is a quaint and curious place! There is so much to see and take in, in such a small space. The first thing you see when walking in is the big white menu. I analyzed the menu online before visiting so I already knew what my strategy was when it came down to deciding and ordering. I started off with a passion fruit boba tea and of course I had to get myself the Hello Hello (their version of halo halo). Click HERE to get a better look at the menu.
Hello Hello (Halo Halo) at Tou & Mai in Detroit, MI
I planned on getting the Hello Hello most definitely and I wanted to try out the Tricolour Tapioca but bummer… they were temporarily out of that dessert. That one sounded so fascinating to me and it will be next up on my list of to-try items at Tou & Mai. Here is a description of the tapioca dessert.
TRiCOLOUR TAPIOCA
popular & colourful southeast asian dessert
made with pandan flavored tapioca strings,
miniature tapioca pearls, ruby chestnuts and
creamy coconut milk
Since I could not try out the tapioca I figured I should go ahead and satisfy my boba addiction with a Sweet Tea Boba. I went with the passion fruit flavor. The passion fruit boba was the perfect amount of sweetness and the mango star jellies were a big bonus to go with the exotic flavor of passion fruit. If you have never tried passion fruit the way it can be best described in my terms is a sweet and sour exotic fruit. It has the perfect balance of both. It currently has earned the top spot on my list of favorite fruits, for the moment anyway!
Passion Fruit Sweet with Mango Star Jellies at Tea Boba at Tou & Mai
And if slushies are your thing they have those available as well! Here is a list of the flavors available for slushies.
SWEET MANGO
RED ADZUKI BEAN
JACK FRUIT
DURIAN
TROPIC TARO
AVOCADO
Menu Board At Tou & Mai in Detroit, MI
I really need to go back to this place to explore the menu more just look at these options below for new garnishes available. FLAN! ZOMG!
Garnishes at Tou & Mai in Detroit, MI
What the heck is halo halo?
Halo halo is a famous dessert in the Philippines. To create it they use a purple ice-cream that is derived from a purple yam, otherwise known as ube. It also has a scoop of mango ice cream, coco de nata, aiyu jellie, basil seeds, red adzuki bean, sala cider, coconut milk, condensed milk, wafer roll, and toasted candied coconut. Wowza! That sure is a lot to take in and process right? Google might just have to be my friend here to tell me what exactly it was that I ate! Let’s explore this a little bit more!
This was my first time trying ube and when you put that together with all of these other unique ingredients you get one hell of a memorable dessert!
Having actual beans in my dessert was also another first for me. They include red adzuki beans in this dessert. Odd huh? These are sweet red beans and they are a magnificent source of protein! A one cup serving of these beans is a whopping 39 grams of protein. I would say they use about a quarter cup in their Hello Hello. I enjoyed these beans immensely!
For the next ingredient Wikipedia sure came in handy so I included that information as a quote directly from he source.
Nata de coco is a chewy, translucent, jelly-like food produced by the fermentation of coconut water, which gels through the production of microbial cellulose by Acetobacter xylinum. (source: Wikipedia)
This is really a complex dessert! I really had to use Wikipedia for the aiyu jellie as well since I am not familiar with it whatsoever.
Aiyu jelly, known in Taiwanese Hokkien as ogio, and as ice jelly in Singapore, is a jelly made from the gel from the seeds of the awkeotsang creeping fig found in Taiwan and East Asian countries of the same climates and latitudes. Wikipedia
Basil seeds! I did a little research and discovered that these seeds are void of calories but rich in antioxidants. They are also great for your skin and beneficial for a diabetic.
The sala cider is a fruity ingredient but I could not gather much information on that. If anyone has knowledge of this ingredient, feel free to leave me a comment and fill me in.
The Hello Hello here also used coconut milk and condensed milk. The dessert is topped with candied coconut which is sure to satisfy your sweet tooth and it also has a beautiful orange glow to it.
And let’s not forget those two wafer sticks that really stand out and scream halo halo! No halo halo frozen treat is complete without those wafers. There were two in the dessert and the three of us sharing. Joe, my husband, got left out.
Hello Hello (Halo Halo) at Tou & Mai in Detroit, MIHello Hello (Halo Halo) at Tou & Mai in Detroit, MI
Hello Hello (Halo Halo) at Tou & Mai in Detroit, MI
Hello Hello (Halo Halo) at Tou & Mai in Detroit, MIHello Hello (Halo Halo) at Tou & Mai in Detroit, MI
More than just a place to grab dessert!
Need to do a little bit of Asian grocery shopping? You can certainly load up here at Tou & Mai. They packed in a lot of Asian goodies in this small space. My 8-year-old daughter had fun looking at all of the colorful and peculiar packaging. Anyone want to send a crisp new $100 bill my way because I sure would have a ton of fun blowing a big wad of money in this place.
Tou & Mai in Detroit, MI
Tou & Mai in Detroit, MI
Asian snacks at Tou & Mai in Detroit, MIAsian snacks at Tou & Mai in Detroit, MITou & Mai in Detroit, MITou & Mai in Detroit, MISnacks At Tou & MaiAsian beverages at Tou & Mai in Detroit, MIMore Asian snacks at Tou &Mai in Detroit, MIChloe sipping on a Passionfruit Sweet Tea Boba at Tou & Mai in Detroit Actually stealing MY drink lol!
Oh and macarons!
They also have various flavors of fresh macarons available at $2.49 each. I have no doubt they are delicious but honestly I felt as though the price was somewhat steep for one macaron so I passed. Bummer! The flavors did sound intriguing.
Macarons at Tou & Mai
I scream for ice-cream!
Tou & Mai also has a small selection of ice-creams available for $3.29 a scoop. That price seems reasonable to me. If you are not going to go with their Hello Hello dessert at least treat yourself to some of that delish purple ube ice-cream. You won’t regret it! Then you can boast to your friends that you tried a purple yam ice-cream! Wink!
Ice-Cream Flavors At Tou & Mai
Hot drinks
The air is getting quite crisp and nippy so if you are not into cold treats on cold days they have some hot beverage options. The tea flavors are unusual and impressive. I am definitely going to stop in here on a chilly day and give one of those teas a whirl! I am all about trying new things and I love the tea flavors they offer. The only problem? Deciding on one flavor because they all sound interesting.
So are you going to hop in the car and make a trip down to Tou & Mai today? I hope that my Tou & Mai review will inspire you to visit this unique place!
If you have not heard about boba tea yet, why not? It is all the rage these days and I am writing this in hopes of directing you to your new happy place~ Kawaii Bubble Tea in Clinton Township, MI. Upon walking in you are bombarded with an adorable cat on the wall that just screams CUTE! This place is the place you want to be if you want to be adventurous and indulge in a unique drink. Did you know that the word “kawaii” means CUTE in Japanese? This place is off the charts when it comes to the cuteness factor! You will be radiating with happiness once you take that first sip of your boba drink.
Kawaii Bubble Tea is the most perfect place to take your family. The drinks served here are kid-friendly and this little shop is a good alternative to going out for ice-cream. I am suggesting here that you mix things up and try something new! Your child will fall in love with the cute drinks that come in fun flavors. The drinks even come with a cute little face on top to seal the drink in. And because there is boba in there you have to use a thick, fat straw. Children will definitely have a memorable time here and get a kick out of it. My 8-year-old daughter, Chloe, always looks forward to going out for a bubble tea.
Kawaii Bubble Tea in Clinton Township, MIGive It A Whirl Girl visits Kawaii Bubble Tea in Clinton Township, MIKawaii Bubble Tea in Clinton Township, MI offers boba drinks, French macarons, and other Japanese treats
About Kawaii Bubble Tea
Kawaii Bubble Tea is owned by Christa Gowing and she has been the owner here for nearly two years. She started out working at Starbucks and then took a leap of faith and made her dream come true of opening up a bubble tea shop. I had a chance to sit down and chat with Christa about her business and I got nothing but good vibes from her. She was friendly and sweet and I enjoyed chatting with her about her bubble tea shop.
Christa also has her amazing 19-year-old son, Jadon Maloney, who inspired her to open up this unique place. Jadon is the co-owner of the shop. They work together at Kawaii Bubble Tea and he was pretty much the mastermind of the entire concept of this shop, including the name, logo, and color scheme. That is quite the accomplishment for someone who is the age of 19! I am fascinated by this! Christa also had a ton of support from her husband to open up Kawaii Bubble Tea. When you have a fantastic support system your dreams can become a reality.
Boba is a Taiwanese drink concept and has actually been around since the 1980s. It hasn’t achieved popularity in the states until fairly recently. The good word is spreading and more and more people are getting curious about these cute and unusual drinks!
The drinks are available in three sizes (small, medium, or large). The cool thing about this drink shop is how you can create any drink that you desire. There are thousands of possibilities with the different flavor combinations you can come up with.
You can either choose to drink your boba drink inside or take it on-the-go. There are plenty of tables for indoor seating.
The menu board at Kawaii Bubble Tea in Clinton Township, MI
Confused about boba? There are three different types of boba offered. I am also providing the different flavors that each are offered in.
Traditional – Sweet and creamy tapioca pearl
Popping – Little balls of juice that pop in your mouth (Strawberry, Blueberry, Mango, Peach, Green Apple, Yogurt, Pomegranate, and Lychee )
Jelly – These are firm and chewy (Assorted, Mango, Lychee, Passion Fruit, and Strawberry)
The boba all comes in a variety of flavors. There are several options here on deciding what to go with.
Enjoying a honeydew boba at Kawaii Bubble TeaEnjoying a honeydew boba at Kawaii Bubble Tea In this photo you can see the passionfruit jellies at the bottom. You use a fat straw to suck them up. Fun!Kawaii Bubble Tea Boba drink (honeydew, with almond milk, green tea, and passionfruit jelly)
Drinking boba at Kawaii Bubble Tea
Drinking boba at Kawaii Bubble Tea
How do I get my boba drink?
That is entirely up to you! The drinks at Kawaii Bubble Tea are completely customizable. You can even adjust the sweetness of your custom drink.
The first step is to pick your flavor. There are several to choose from! So much that it is somewhat overwhelming for a first time visitor. That is why I am writing this post. I want to guide you on losing your boba virginity. View all the flavors HERE.
The second step is to choose tea. There are three teas to choose from. The black tea and green tea have caffeine. The passion tea is caffeine free. Passion tea would be best for the children that visit.
The third step is to choose if you want your tea blended or poured over ice. If you go with the blended option your drink will be like a slushie.
The final step is to choose your boba (as mentioned above there is traditional, popping, and jelly) and the boba also comes in a wide variety of flavors.
Watch the video below to get a sneak peek on how the drink is made. It is put inside a shaker to ensure that the ingredients are well incorporated.
Recommendations
I chatted for quite a while with the owner. I wanted to get the inside scoop on her favorite drink. After all, she is the professional here! Christa often goes with a milk tea with honeydew. So I was curious and I ended up going with that as well and I chose the passionfruit jellies as my boba. I was blown away by the delicious flavor of this drink. If you are a fan of honeydew this one will knock your socks off!
Special drinks
Can’t decide on what combination to go with? Kawaii Bubble Tea has a variety of drink concoctions available if you need to be guided in the right direction of a tasty drink. You can view the special drink menu HERE.
Gluten-free and dairy restrictions
If you need to avoid gluten and dairy you are in luck at Kawaii Bubble Tea.
The milk and the fruit teas are gluten-free as well as the boba included with them.
The fruit teas are dairy and lactose-free. If you need a milk substitute they have you covered with a couple of different options: almond milk and soy milk, which is an additional 60-cents.
And guess what? Most of the macarons are also gluten-free. Please inquire about the macarons if you are unsure. Flavors like cookie dough are not gluten-free. I’m telling you, you just have to enjoy a macaron or two or three with the boba. Read more about macarons up next!
Macarons
Need a little bite to eat with your boba drink? Kawaii Bubble Tea also offers some scrumptious little French macarons in a wide variety of flavors! Check out this wide selection that they have available (see below). It is so hard to narrow it down when every single flavor is delectable and delish! Seriously guys and gals, it does not get any better than this combo here~
Boba and macarons together is seriously a match made in heaven.
These two things (boba and macarons) do go hand-in-hand and French macarons really do taste as good as they look.
The macarons are not made in the shop but they are created in Chicago by a French pastry chef that overnights them to Kawaii Bubble Tea. We had a chance to sample half a dozen and we were not let down one bit by these. They were, quite honestly, some of the freshest and most flavorful macarons I have ever tried!
American Cheesecake
Birthday Cake
Blueberry
Coffee
Cookie Dough
Cookies N Cream
Fruity Pebbles
Matcha
Nutella
Pistachio
Raspberry
Red Velvet
Salted Caramel
S’mores
Taro
Vanilla
White Chocolate
We had six macarons to sample. I apologize for there being only four in the photo. Someone must have been hungry! We had the Fruity Pebbles, Cookies & Cream, Birthday Cake, White Chocolate, Cookie Dough, and drumroll please…. TARO!
Since the whole concept of my blog is about trying new things I just had to give taro a whirl because I had no clue what it was. It tasted a lot like vanilla. Taro is an Asian root vegetable that is quite similar to a potato in its starchiness. I was quite surprised by its sweet vanilla-like flavor.
Asian Snacks
Kawaii Bubble Tea also has a small offering of different Asian snacks that will pair well with your boba drink. They have Pocky, Hi-Chew, Yan Yan, and more.
Asian snacks available at Kawaii Bubble Tea
Asian snacks available at Kawaii Bubble Tea
Asian snacks available at Kawaii Bubble Tea
Rewards Program
Rewards programs are a huge incentive and often make me a repeat customer. I love that Kawaii Bubble Tea offers a reward for coming in. Here is how it works:
You provide your phone number (this is your account number)
Purchase 10 drinks in any size and your 11th drink is free. You earn one star per drink purchase and once you accumulate those ten stars you can redeem your reward.
You can also earn stars by purchasing macarons. When you purchase six macarons you earn one star.
Enjoying our boba drinks and macarons at Kawaii Bubble Tea in Clinton Township, MI What a fun experience for all of us!
Insider tips!
Cannot decide on one flavor for your drink or just one boba? You can get 2 for the price of one. Mix and match!
Want to take home some boba and experiment with it? At Kawaii Bubble Tea you can purchase containers of popping pearls boba that are ready to go home. You can get creative with them and add them to adult beverages, add them to ice-cream, or whatever your heart desires.
Still confused?
If you are new to bubble tea the first time visiting a place like this can feel very overwhelming. No need to worry though! The staff at Kawaii Bubble Tea is super friendly and very helpful. They will be there for you if you need them. The staff is just superb!
Gift cards
Looking for the perfect gift for someone in your life? Kawaii Bubble Tea offers e-gift-cards. The starting price for these is $5.00 and that is enough to cover one drink. You can choose from 6 different styles and customize the amount that you would like to send. Physical gift-cards are available in-store. You can view the e-gift-cards HERE.
Question Time! What boba drink will you try at Kawaii Bubble Tea? Leave me a comment and let me know! Also, do you have a favorite flavor of macarons?
Kawaii Bubble Tea Location:
43301 Garfield Road, Clinton Township, Michigan 48038, United States
TGIF and welcome to this week’s installment of Friday Faves! Tastemade is a wonderful cooking and lifestyle website that has some unique items in their online shop. They offer free shipping on orders that are $49+. I am really loving the DIY kits that they offer. Those sound like fun projects to do in the Give It A Whirl Girl Kitchen. Here is a list of some of my favorite items in the Tastemade shop. Be sure to check them out because they offer some nice stuff for your kitchen and home. Many of these items would also make great gifts!
Dana’s Bakery has three kits to choose from. There is Red Velvet, Fruity Cereal, and Chocolate. Each kit contains the following: 2 mix packets, 2 piping bag, 1 piping tip, and a recipe for filling. You will be making this French pastry like a pro with this kit.
Present your guests with foods to nibble on in style. I love this serving set. Is the food included as well? Just kidding (but maybe not). Looks so delicious. This serving set has five different compartments to organize your hors-d’oeuvre.
I just had to spot a rainbow, didn’t I? These unique wine glasses totally caught my eye. These glasses enhance the flavor and aroma of your wine AND it is spill-proof. LOVE!
Looking for an energy surge in your day? I have tried these bars before and they will give you a much-needed energy burst if you are having a sluggish day.
Ramune Japanese Marble Soft Drink Mix Variety 8 Flavors 8 Bottles by Hata Shanderia
