Bokksu is a premium Japanese snack subscription service. Each box includes an assortment of authentic Japanese snacks as well as a tea pairing chosen to complement and enhance that month’s theme and flavors.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes!)
About Bokksu
The Subscription Box: Bokksu
The Cost: Classic Bokksu is $39.00 per month + free shipping, Tasting Bokksu is $25.00 per month + free shipping (save with longer commitments!)
LIMITED TIME DEAL: Use code BOGO when ordering a new Classic Bokksu subscription to receive a FREE Tasting box with your shipment!
The Products: Classic Bokksu includes 20-25 Japanese snacks & tea pairing, Tasting Bokksu includes 10-14 snacks & tea pairing—snacks are curated around a monthly theme.
Ships to: Worldwide for free!
Bokksu January 2019 "Golden New Year" Review
Bokksu always starts out with a quick letter of introduction from their founder, Danny Guo:
This month’s theme, Golden New Year, helps us kick off the new year this January in style with beautiful snacks that shimmer in gold!
The included info booklet is very informative and includes a map referencing the snacks’ origins, plus a lot more information. This month focuses on new year flavors, commonly found in osechi-ryori, or a New Year’s meal!
Each snack is described in detail and Bokksu always clearly cautioned ingredients—very helpful!
Let’s dig into our golden products!
Bake Cookie Rilakumma – Buy 10 packs for $10.00
Morinaga teamed up with Rilakkuma (an adorable bear from San-X Japanese characters) to celebrate their anniversaries this month! Bake series are fluffy chocolate baked chocolates. This limited-edition version includes a little butter cookie on top, which balances the rich chocolate base well.
If you microwave these for 30~45 seconds, the chocolate base melts in your mouth after a satisfying crunch, making the experience 10x better!
Kinako Mochi Cookie – Buy 20 pieces for $10.00
Kinako is roasted soybean powder, similar to a very strong, earthy taste of matcha. It's a common topping in Asian desserts, such as ricecake (popular for celebrating the new year) or shaved ice. This delicate cookie has a wonderful chewy texture because of the bits of mochi found in the cookie, and pairs well with the kinako taste. Note: kinako is more of an acquired taste for some people.
Golden Financier – Retail Value $2.00
A financier is a small French almond cake baked in a small mold and flavored with beurre noisette (brown butter) and is named after its resemblance of a bar of gold. The cake has a lovely, almost crispy exterior, but melts in your mouth with a smooth, buttery taste. This was a favorite in the box and was lovely paired with white tea.
Black Sesame Kinako Chocolate Azuki Beans – Buy 9 pieces for $5.00
I loved these!! Red beans are sourced from Hokkaido and made into amanatto (sweet fermented beans). They are dipped in white chocolate and coated with a black sesame and chocolate-kinako blend. The layers on this snack are simply amazing, and group together so well, slightly sweet and savory, that little chewiness!
Rasucre White Chocolate Rusk – Buy 10 pieces for $10.00
A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit, usually twice-baked bread. This rusk, (points for beautiful golden wrapping) is a twice-baked baguette slice coated in a smooth white chocolate layer. It reminds you of a buttery slice of warm toast. The texture contrast is so satisfying! You first have this smooth, creamy melted white chocolate, which leaves you with a wonderful crunch of the baguette. The coating was a little too sweet and heavy for me, but I enjoyed this snack in tiny bites nonetheless.
Matcha Crunch – Buy 20 pieces for $40.00
At first, this snack looks like a matcha-white chocolate covered Rice Krispy, but it's so much better! The crunch uses shortbread cookie bits covered in a matcha-infused white chocolate layer. Perfectly light and sweet, and a very good snack for those who want to enjoy matcha flavors but without the overwhelming earthy taste.
Cheese Curry Rice Cracker – Buy 14 pieces for $8.00
Wow, the curry power was quite the impressive punch in this cracker! The snack is inspired by creamy Japanese curry sauce poured over rice. I didn't taste the cheese, most likely because the curry is so strong, but it was delightful. The pairing with rice cracker seemed interesting, but I enjoyed that light and crunchy pop you get when eating these.
Garitto Cheese – Buy 10 pieces for $15.00
Trader Joe's has the best parmesan crisps, which is like melted hardened cheese (over a toasted baguette slice, even better). These have a nice crunch and strong cheesy flavor, and make a nice side snack with beer, which is why it's called an ostumami. The name garitto comes from Japanese onomatopoeia "gari gari," describing a crunchy, crumbly texture. The cheese, from Hokkaido (known for dairy productions), was very rich, not too strong, and savory-- I wish I had a whole bag of these!
Seaweed Tempura with Blue Cheese – Retail Value $3.00
You must try seaweed tempura, or seaweed bits covered in a dough mixture and fried. It's so, so good! They are so flavorful and crisp, and a wonderful balance between the seaweed flavor and crunchy fried batter taste, and now with blue cheese flavoring? Oh, yes. The salty, savory blue cheese flavor complements the blue cheese flavor quite well and is an insanely genius combo.
Ebi Crunch – Retail Value $3.00
Ebi furari is fried shrimp, an iconic food of Nagoya (Aichi Prefecture). The mix of rice crackers and peanuts is a perfect accompaniment to a beer beverage. The soy sauce brings a rather sweet taste, instead of salty, and these rice crackers pack quite a flavor punch with a touch of heat from black pepper, curry powder, and garam masala (Indian spice mix). The soft peanuts (no flavoring, could use a bit more…) tone down the spice of the crackers (there's a kick, but it's minor), which are a perfect blend of spice mixture and soy sauce.
Onigiri Senbei Okonomiyaki Sauce – Retail Value $2.00
Onigiri is a rice ball, made of rice formed into a triangular or spherical shaped, and wrapped in nori. I remember my mom filling them with a spicy tuna, mayo, and kimchi mixture, or soy sauce marinated beef. They are a common lunch item in packed school lunches for kids!
Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake that uses cabbage, bonito flakes, green seaweed, and green onions (the name means "as you like it", or "anything you like", so technically you can make the pancake with whatever ingredients you prefer). The sauce is a very iconic flavor, similar to Worchester sauce but less strong and a bit sour (some unaccustomed to this flavor may find it different and too sour).
This senbei (rice cracker) uses the shape of onigiri and is covered in a beautiful okonomiyaki sauce and sprinkled with furikaka (a dry Japanese seasoning-- sprinkling just this into rice is so tasty as well)! These are the perfect slightly sweet, mostly savory crunch snacks.
Pure Gyokuro – Retail Value $2.00
I am a matcha fiend, so when I saw these Bokksu paired teas, I was so happy!! These are the first Bokksu branded tea from the premium collection! The highest grade of Japanese green tea is Gyokuro, which has a very rich flavor because it's cultivated in the shade. The name means "jade dew," which refers to the beautiful color the tea has. It also has a sweeter taste than other matcha teas. This is my favorite matcha, I think because the shaded cultivation adds to the flavor so much.
Verdict: Bokksu started off the new year with a golden flavor punch! The seaweed tempura was amazing with the salty savory blue cheese flavor. The buttery golden financier was a delight to eat, paired beautifully with white tea or the lovely Gyokuro matcha. I loved the golden, shiny packaging of the snacks, as well as the beautiful exclusive winter Bokksu box!
I estimated a retail value of $32.87, a little less than the $39 cost of the box, including free shipping. I do count the high-quality packaging and experience as part of the value, but this is my opinion.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? You must order by the 25th of the month to receive the following month’s box. Order today to receive the February curation. Check out spoilers here!
LIMITED TIME DEAL: Use code BOGO when ordering a new Classic Bokksu subscription to receive a FREE Tasting box with your shipment!
Value Breakdown: This box costs $39.00 + free shipping, which means that each of the 25 items in the box has an average cost of $1.56.
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What did you think of Bokksu's Golden New Year? Did you enjoy the festive golden colors?
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