08.02.09
Maeda-en Mochi (green tea)
I made a list of all the mochi I’ve already done so I can hopefully fill in the blanks and eventually have reviewed each companies entire line of mochi. I have a much better shot at that than I do trying to keep up with Pocky but there are still some gaps in my mochi-ing. Hence today’s sampling of Maeda-en’s green tea ice cream mochi.
I’ve reviewed Maeda-en’s mochi before (strawberry here if you need a refresher) and I’m happy to say that in the year and a quarter since I’ve visited this brand of mochi, they have revamped their packaging. Before they just had their mochi in a plastic bag like packaging which…did the trick but looked like the slum cousin to the fancy-fancy boxed Mikawaya. Now Maeda-en is on the boxed bandwagon and although it shouldn’t matter really, mentally I like the box much better. It seems more…professional? Stylish? Top notch? Well something.
It was indeed nice to see Maeda-en in a box but I wondered why the change? Then I flipped it over and lo! English? What? It seems like Maeda-en has a US facility in Irvine, California…perhaps they decided to fancy up the packaging? Also props to the neat lessons on the back.
Sadly, I still think Mikawaya has Maeda-en beat in terms of ice cream quality. It’s not that Maeda-en has poor ice cream, but rather that it has a decent ice cream whereas Mikawaya has always had stellar ice cream. I kept wanting the Maeda-en ice cream to be creamier as I was eating my mochi and it wasn’t. My green tea Guinea Pigs, on the other hand, thought these mochi were all that AND a bag of chips. They really liked the green tea flavor (I found it bitter and a tad grass clippy) and thought the ice cream was nicely not so sweet; a good counterpart to the tea flavor. They all agreed they would get Maeda-en green tea mochi again. I say go for it, I’ll just get something else.
The Guinea Pigs Rate Maeda-en Mochi (green tea) 3.5 wasabi peas out of a possible 5 wasabi peas.
