Getting your hands on the coveted “fourth chocolate” just got a whole lot easier, and cheaper too.

On our recent trip to the convenience store, we took a turn down the candy aisle (as is our solemn journalistic duty), and we weren’t at all surprised to see the shelves stoked with seasonal cherry blossom and strawberry snacks. However, a closer look revealed one pretty-in-pink product that had nothing to do with strawberries or sakura.

Ruby chocolate, the highly coveted “fourth chocolate” (joining milk, dark, and white) is all the rage with gourmet chocolatiers, and with good reason, seeing as how it’s the first new chocolate category to be developed in more than 80 years. However, because of that cachet it’s usually found in high-end offerings, and even the ruby chocolate KitKats that Japan got last year were premium-priced items that you have to go to special shops to buy.

But now, Nestle Japan is cutting us, and our wallets, a break, by selling its new Ruby Chocolate KitKat Everyday Nuts and Cranberry in convenience stores.

We found ours at our local 7-Eleven, and immediately snagged a bag to try. Once back at SoraNews24 headquarters, we poured a morsel out into our hand, giving us the surreal experience of holding a round KitKat.

While there was a less noticeable cocoa fragrance than with other types of chocolate, the ruby chocolate had an intriguing color. Despite its unorthodox shape, this is a proper KitKat, with a core of wafers interspersed with chocolate, and an outer coating with bits of cranberry and nuts encased in ruby chocolate.

Ruby chocolate is very much its own thing, flavor-wise, but it’s closer to milk chocolate than dark or white. Even then, though, it’s a uniquely delicious experience, with a sophisticated tartness that’s enhanced here by the cranberry.

At just 171 yen (US$1.55 per bag, the Ruby Chocolate KitKat Everyday Nuts and Cranberry are an incredibly affordable luxury, and should you think that everything about the candies sounds great except for the ruby chocolate itself, you can also get KitKat Everyday Nuts and Cranberry covered in traditional milk chocolate as well.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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