Tirol Chocolate Flavour #23: Shiro Noir (2020 Version)

 23. Shiro Noir (2020 Version)

Shiro Noir is the signature dessert found at the Nagoya-based chain cafe, Komeda Kissaten. It's a danish pastry topped with soft ice cream and served with a sweet syrup that you can pour over whenever and however much you like. Tirol collaborated with them a while ago but this is the 2020 version, bigger and sold individually.

Flavours: White chocolate, butterscotch, flakey cookie

Although it's supposed to be a maple syrup, I thought the overall flavour was of butterscotch! This one had bits of those cigar or roll cookies in it so there's also a crunch and strong flavour from that as well. The white chocolate bottom gives the essence of soft ice cream. I honestly can't remember if this was any different from last year's version, but it was bigger for sure, allowing for a bigger flavour burst!

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #22: Milk 30th Anniversary Limited Edition

 22. Milk 30th Anniversary Limited Edition (2020)

The regular Milk flavour was first sold in 1990, so to honor that Tirol Chocolates has come up with a limited edition version.

Flavours: milk chocolate, cream

The original Milk has an outer layer completely made of milk chocolate, while the inside is a rich milk flavour. This limited edition version has a white chocolate layer on the bottom so it has an overall even creamier feel in addition to being possibly slightly sweeter.

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #21: Cream Soda

 21. Cream Soda (2020)

When I think of cream soda I think of a very sweet soda drink. This new Tirol Chocolate is not only successful in recreating the sweetness, it also gives you a soda feel! Keep reading to see what I mean.

Flavours: watermelon, white chocolate

For some reason, the flavour that came to mind was watermelon rather than the cream soda that I am used to. I have not had cream soda in Japan since I'm not such a big pop drinker, but perhaps this is what it is like here. The most impressive part of this chocolate is the layer of pop rocks that explode in the mouth. It was really smart of Tirol to use this. So that's what I meant by having a soda feel!

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #20: Vanilla Soft Cream

20. Vanilla Soft Cream (2020)

Who doesn't like a scoop of vanilla soft ice cream? Although it's not cold, Tirol Chocolate made the perfect flavour to remind you of a hot summer day.

Flavours: cigar cookies, cream, vanilla

The overall flavour I got was that of those delicate and buttery cigar cookies, or I guess they may be called rolled wafers as well. This must have come from the feuilletine flakes (French pastry crunch), that were on the ingredient list. It's strange that vanilla was not on this list, but I assume it was part of the flakes. The chocolate was creamy and felt like melted ice cream on the tongue.

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #19: Sesame Biscuit

19. Sesame Biscuit (2020)

I'm not sure if I've ever had a sesame biscuit before but this Tirol Chocolate makes me want to have one! Sesame really does work in sweets...

Flavours: white chocolate, sesame, cookie

The outer white chocolate layer has a creamy sesame flavour, while the inside is crunchy with real roasted sesame and bits of biscuit. This might be the healthiest of the Tirol chocolates with a lower calorie count and the health benefits of sesame!

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #18: Chocolate Cake

18. Chocolate Cake (2020)

While I've never been to Tops before, this restaurant in Tokyo seems to have a signature chocolate cake. It is layers of sponge cake and chocolate cream. They have collaborated with Tirol to create a chocolate that supposedly tastes like it.

Flavours: sponge cake, chocolate icing, walnuts

The inner layer seems to be made with shiro-an, or a white bean paste which gives it the texture of sponge cake. Although I've never had the chocolate cake from Tops before, the walnuts and the custard paste is a nice addition for some crunch and to replicate the overall flavours of a chocolate cake. Eating this chocolate makes me want to try the real thing at Tops!

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #17: Sacre Lemon

17. Sacre Lemon (2020)

There's a crushed ice dessert in Japan that you can find almost anywhere called Sacre Lemon. Although the first ingredient on the list is sugar, the next ingredients are lemon and lemon juice. It is a cool and refreshing cup of lemony goodness especially in the hot summer months. One of the signature features of this lemon slush is the frozen lemon slice on top, sweet and sour to wake up those taste buds and get your appetite going. Tirol chocolate has collaborated with the makers of Sacre Lemon to recreate the flavours in chocolate form.

Flavours: white chocolate, lemon

Upon opening the package the strong smell of lemon just wafted up to my nose! Inside there was a layer of a white powder that as it melted in my mouth created and interesting cool texture, as if I were eating something cold, what a strange feeling! There were also pieces of hard lemon candy making it overall a little bit crunchy just like ice. A great reproduction of the long-selling dessert in a chocolate-y bite!

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #16: Gateau Chocolat

16. Gateau Chocolat (2020)

Chocolate and gateau chocolat (the rich and dense French sweet)  are two different things and Tirol has done a good job of distinguishing this.

Flavours: dark chocolate, ganache, biscuit

The outer layer is a smooth dark chocolate with the richness that a ganache would have. Inside there is a thin layer of chocolate syrup, and the texture of cake was emulated with the use of chocolate flavoured shiro-an (a white bean paste). There were small pieces of biscuit in it probably to convey the crispiness of the edges that a gateau chocolat often has.

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #15: Strawberry and Milk

15. Strawberry & Milk (2019)

You can't go wrong with Ichigo Miruku, or strawberry and milk! This is one of the flavours of Tirol that can be found all year round, and joined the regular line up in 2019.

Flavours: strawberry, jam, milk

This chocolate is exactly as it sounds; the pink and white outer chocolate layer tastes like a strawberry milk drink. The inner jelly filling has the texture of a firm gummy candy, but tastes like strawberry jam.

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #14: Premium Strawberry

#14. Premium Strawberry (2019)

A lot of snacks and food in Japan use the word premium to try to make the product stick out. Here Tirol wanted to show that this is not just a regular strawberry chocolate, but one that really brings out the flavour of the tart little berry.

Flavours; strawberry, white chocolate, alcohol

This chocolate is not overly sweet. The outer strawberry layer is white chocolate based, with bits of dried strawberry on the underside. Inside, I could taste and feel the heavy cream and the tartness of the jam. I also got a slight hint of alcohol in it making this a good treat for adults to enjoy. Just like the picture on the wrapping shows, overall it was like eating a scoop of strawberry ice cream packed with extra strawberries.

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #13: Chocolate Mint Mochi

13. Chocolate Mint Mochi (2020)

This is one flavour that seemed really interesting as mochi is not usually something you associate with mint chocolate!

Flavours: mint, chocolate, white chocolate, sweet rice

The light green outer layer is where the mint is. It's sweet like white chocolate but the mint flavour is enough to make it a refreshing rather than too sweet. There is a layer of chocolate syrup, then a mochi-like jelly underneath that giving a nice chewy texture. On the very bottom is a milk chocolate base layer. The whole experience is just like eating mint chocolate ice cream with some chewy mochi. Since mochi imparts mostly texture as opposed to flavour, it actually works here!

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #12: Lapoppo Farm Sweet Potato and Apple Pie

12. Lapoppo Farm Satsuma Imo and Apple Pie (2019)

Lapoppo Farm is a company specializing in satsuma imo (sweet potato) products, their main attraction being yaki-imo, or roasted sweet potato. Tirol has collaborated with them to create a sweet potato and apple pie chocolate!

Flavours: Sweet potato, apple, pie crust

With the first bite I immediately got the sweetness from the potato and then the apple came as the aftertaste. Overall this one is fairly sweet. The filling has a mashed potato texture and bits of dried apple in it. They did a really good job of capturing the taste of the pie crust with bits of biscuit and satsuma imo cookie.

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #11: Ruby Chocolate

11. Ruby Chocolate (2020)

Ruby chocolate seems to be the newest trend in the chocolate world. It's a naturally pink variety of cocoa bean. Despite its colour, on its own it just has a regular chocolate flavour, which is why it is often mixed with berry flavours that not only go well with this particular chocolate, it doesn't deceive the palate when the eye sees the pink colour.

Flavours: Strawberry and raspberry

The outer layer tastes like a regular sweet milk chocolate. Inside, the dry strawberries have a slight tartness. To be honest I'm not entirely sure where the raspberry flavour comes from. The soft chocolate filling has a "green" flavour to it, almost like some sort of flower or herb; I can't say I've ever had ruby chocolate on its own so I think maybe it's possible this is a characteristic of it (?).