Sakuraco Japanese Snacks Subscription Box Review

Sakuraco kindly sent over their newest subscription box filled with limited edition, exclusive and seasonal sweet treats and savoury snacks from Japan.

This month the theme is The Beauty of Sakura and the box is filled with sakura and cherry flavours, and a lot of pink packaging. Sakuraco focuses more on specific artisans from around Japan who make traditional Japanese treats and I was intrigued to see how it compares to the TokyoTreat box I tried last time. I love that the box is sakura themed as it’s getting me very excited for my upcoming Japan trip. This is the current box which can still be ordered until March 15th so only read on if you’re okay with seeing everything inside.

The box was carefully packed with products. You receive slightly less than in the TokyoTreat box, but it does come with an extra homeware item instead which is a lovely touch. Here’s what was included: Sakura Shiruko Biscuits, Sakura Mochi, Sakura Dorayaki, Sakura Donut Bou, Sakura Candy, Sakura Honey Kuzumochi, Kinako Senbei, Okoge Shrimp Arare, Shoyu Okaki, Sakura Arare Tetra,  Strawberry Caramel Okashi, Anko Castella Cake, plus some Sakura Tea and a Neko Sakura Dish. The guide tells you exactly  who manufactures each item and the prefecture in Japan where they are based.

Let me share a few of my favourite items with you.

The homeware item included this month was a little dish with cats lounging around over a sakura pattern. It’s very sweet and perfect for holding the small snacks like the doughnuts and mochi.

The sakura biscuits with a slight pink hue were possibly my favourite item in the box. They were rich, buttery and filled with a smooth sweet azuki paste and I honestly couldn’t stop eating them. The company that makes them (Matsunaga Confectionery) has a feature in the guide and they’ve been making this style of biscuit since 1966. I can definitely understand why it’s been so popular over the years.

A dorayaki is kind of like two pancakes sandwiched with a layer of bean paste and in this one, salted sakura leaves were infused inside the bean paste too. I can’t tell you how moist and fluffy these pancakes are and the overall treat isn’t too sweet at all. It’s a lovely afternoon snack, which you could enjoy alongside some green tea (or the sakura tea included).

The sweet sakura tea was very fun to make, as the preserved sakura flowers ‘bloomed’ as hot water was added to it. I enjoyed the experience of this one, but I didn’t find the tea to be sweet at all. It had a leafy taste like you often have with loose tea, and very subtle floral notes, and seems like the perfect match to the extremely sweet sakura donut bou included in this box.

Just like the TokyoTreat box, I love being able to try unexpected or interesting items. The honey kuzumochi was a dish that intrigued me as I’d never tried it before. Kuzumochi isn’t really mochi as it doesn’t contain rice, but instead starch from the kudzu root. It has a much more jelly-like texture and usually comes topped with kinako powder and kuromitsu, but in this box it comes with a separate sakura honey. I loved the texture of this dish and the flavour was sweet but ever so slightly tart.

The rest of the snacks were also pretty delicious (I also loved the kinako senbei) but I did find the selection of snacks to weigh more on the sweet side, which is likely to be the case with a theme like cherry blossom. The guide that’s included explains the important ingredients in each item including allergy information and gives you an idea of what to expect. In this specific box 11 out of the 13 items were suitable for vegetarians, but just like TokyoTreat it was a bit harder to find things for those who are gluten-free as the majority of items contained wheat or possible traces of.

Alongside telling you about the items and their ingredients, the guide also gives you some other useful and interesting information. I enjoyed reading about the featured manufacturers, but also about some of the different types of sakura, amazing places to view the trees in cherry blossom season, and the legend of the sakura tree.

I definitely think the Sakuraco box is slightly more elegant looking than the TokyoTreat box and the focus is more on quality, locally made products, but both boxes contain the most delicious treats. This would be a perfect selection of snacks to take and eat beneath the cherry blossoms, but equally as delicious with a piping hot cup of sakura tea at home. Which item would you most like to try?

Subscribe now with $5 off!

You can still get this Beauty of Sakura box if you subscribe to Sakuraco before March 15th, or TokyoTreat has a Sakura Snacktastic! theme with matcha latte KitKats, pretty pink sakura cake, cookies and rice crackers & more. Both boxes cost $37.50 (£31) per month, with free tracked shipping worldwide from Japan, and there are further discounts if you subscribe for a block of 3, 6 or 12 months.

Use code SUPERCUTEKAWAII to receive $5 off for your first Sakuraco and TokyoTreat boxes!

(Box was provided by Sakuraco for review but all words and photographs are my own.)