Snakku Subscription Box Review + Coupon – December 2016

Snakku is a Japanese snack subscription box that sends a mix of hand-picked, authentic snacks you can only find in Japan as well as more familiar selections. Subscriptions help sustain local Japanese snack shops, some of which have been around for hundreds of years. Plus, it's easy to pause, skip, or cancel.

Every box is wrapped in traditional reusable washi furoshiki wrap.

Snakku has two subscription sizes: the regular snack box ($38.95/month) and the Tasting Box ($15.75/month). 

This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post  to learn more about how we review boxes.)

This is a review of the regular, $38.95 a month, box.

The Subscription Box: Snakku

The Cost: $38.95 per month + free US shipping (discounts for 3 or 6-month subscriptions), and the Tasting Box is $15.75 per month.

ACTIVE DEAL: 5% off
CODE: First box

Products: A mix of authentic Japanese snacks only found in Japan and more familiar/classic snacks.

Ships to: USA (free shipping), Canada ($5 shipping), and Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK ($15 shipping)

Check out all of our Snakku reviews and the Snacks Subscription Box Directory!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

For December, Snakku features snacks from two snowy rural areas of Japan: Nagano and Gifu Prefecture.

Midori Nobunaga

This is mini green tea castella cake, which is a type of Japanese sponge cake. It's named after Oda Nobunaga, a Japanese warlord in the 15th century who loved green tea and Portuguese castella cakes (which is where Japanese castella is derived from). Despite it being a sponge cake, this is not soft or spongy at all. Nonetheless, it's delicious! It has a baked top and bottom layer with a crumbly interior. It's mildly sweet with aromatic matcha to round out the flavor. 

White Birch ChocoCrunch

This snack represents the birch forest of the city of Nagano. It's made with crumbled chocolate gaufre wafers, which according to a Google search looks just like waffle cookies. It tastes like a chocolate waffle cone. The whole crunch bar is coated in white chocolate to add creamy sweetness to the mix.

Miso Wheat & Miso Ginger Crackers

These particular crackers have been made by a small snack maker in Gifu for nearly 100 years. They're made from Koji rice and miso and then glazed with soy sauce and either a sugar or ginger topping. Snakku included two flavors, Miso Wheat and Miso Ginger. The Miso Wheat has a delicious crunch and mildly sweet taste. The Miso Ginger, however, tastes anything but mild. Each bite is a full-on ginger attack on my taste buds! To be fair, I'm not a fan of ginger, but this cracker is like taking a bite from the root itself. Miso Wheat is great, but Miso Ginger gets a big "nope" from me.

Snow Rabbit Manju

Manju is a type of traditional Japanese snack that's usually made from flour, rice powder, buckwheat, and a sweet paste filling. These are shaped like snow rabbits-- if you Google "Japanese snow rabbit" then you'll see that Japanese people like to build rabbits from snow in the same cute shape, with leaves for ears and berries for eyes. The manju is infused with apple juice and filled with white bean paste, which to me tastes like a lighter, sweeter version of red bean paste. Because the crust is flaky, it tastes a little dry if eaten on its own. Therefore, I ate mine with green tea, and it was the best decision ever! The hot tea combined with the gentle sweetness and apple undertones of the manju was a gastronomic delight!

Apple Sable Cookies

These are baked cookies made from Shinshu apples from Nagano Prefecture. The flaky crunch and buttery flavor is similar to shortbread. The apple flavor is subtle but definitely noticeable and very unique. I really enjoyed eating this one.

Kinako Candy

This candy is made with kinako (roasted soybean flour) and brown sugar. It has a hard sugar coating with a sweet kinako interior. The crunch and nutty flavor make for a great combination, much like the addicting qualities of honey roasted peanuts. What it really reminds me of, though, is Chinese New Year candy that I used to eat all the time during New Year celebrations. I'm feeling pretty nostalgic now.

Salad Hope

Despite the interesting name, these crackers taste nothing like salad (or hope). Rather, they're lightly salted rice crackers made with rice from Niigata Prefecture. The crackers are light and crispy. They taste a little salty and savory, which helps tame my cravings in the afternoon when I'm running low on energy.

Natto Soybean Okaki

Okaki are Japanese rice crackers, and natto (fermented soybean) is a traditional Japanese food that's eaten in a variety of ways. Natto is also somewhat of an acquired taste because of its intense, unique flavor. This okaki contains popped rice cracker mixed with natto and wrapped in seaweed. I can't quite explain the flavor-- it's a little savory and a little salty but with a strange bean undertone. The taste of seaweed pretty much gets overwhelmed by that same bean taste. Overall, I can't say I like this snack.

Alfort

If you threw away the wrappers and told me these were Japanese cookies, I wouldn't have believed you. Alfort is a Japanese brand that makes English-style chocolate biscuits. Each biscuit/cookie is topped by a thick piece of creamy chocolate. Snakku included one milk chocolate and one dark chocolate biscuit.

I love the embossed ship design on the front-- it made the snacking experience feel so much fancier! The chocolate is rich and smooth, much like the melt-in-your-mouth smoothness of Dove chocolate. I need more Alfort biscuits in my life.

Shrimp Senbei

These are rice crackers infused with dried shrimp and sea salt. They're delicious! The shrimp flavor is heartier than those addicting shrimp chips that I love to get at my local Asian grocer. I love the crunch and the bold taste.

Verdict: While a few snacks were misses for me, I had a blast trying everything. I discovered some amazing treats like the Snow Rabbit Manju and Alfort biscuits. I try to leave a few pieces for the boyfriend to try every month but this month's goodies were particularly hard for me to share! There were 10 types of snacks and 22 total pieces, so the cost breakdown is about $1.77 per piece. This is totally a box to get not necessarily for value but rather for excellent curation and the "treat yourself" aspect. If you want a unique Japanese snacking experience, you can find it here.

What do you think of Snakku?