00:03 John Daub: Merry Christmas, everybody. How are you today? All across the world, people have been celebrating the holidays, and I'm so happy myself because I love this time of year more than any other. It's a time that brings us all together, especially when you have really nice music playing in the background. And a Kit Kat challenge that I have presented to our Daimyo supporters on Patreon. I have in front of me right here these. Look at this. This is the best of the best. No other matcha Kit Kat is better than this one. This costs about $3 to $4 depending on where you buy it. It is from the Kit Kat Chocolatory. It's called Sublime Matcha.

00:55 John Daub: But is it sublime? Even in the back, it tells you, have a break, have a Kit Kat. But is it worth it? Right here in my hands, I have one that costs about $0.25. That's a fraction of the cost, maybe 20 times more expensive. This versus this. So today, on Christmas, a time of peace, we will do battle. We're going to try both of these.

01:30 John Daub: It being already the 26th, as the United States on the East Coast is opening Christmas presents, the kids on the East Coast are tearing open the presents. On the West Coast in California, Washington, Oregon, they're starting to rip open their presents right now. I might not even be watching this right now, but I wonder if your parents gave you Kit Kats. If they didn't, we got them right here. I've also given our Daimyo supporters a challenge, a matcha Kit Kat challenge where they compare luxury versus economical. This big screen TV in front of me, I'm going to show you this video that they've made comparing economical versus luxury Kit Kats.

02:28 John Daub: Here's the luxury ones. I'm going to unbox it right now. The most wanted gift from Japan for foreign tourists is stuff like this. This is the most expensive matcha Kit Kat. It comes in a box, and there's only one in there. Going to all this extent for one Kit Kat. This one is the Otona no Amasa (adult sweetness). This one is kind of deeper matcha, and this one is a lot lighter. Now we've got a fair comparison. You can find this at Don Quixote or any of the shops right now in Japan.

04:12 John Daub: This is the one that our Daimyo supporters bought first. For those of you waking up, I'm about to go to sleep after this, and matcha has a ton of caffeine. This one's a little chalky, but for being a cheap Kit Kat, you can see speckles of green tea in there. It's a lot cheaper than the luxury one. Before I take a bite out of this, let's open this one up and compare the colors. This one has more matcha inside of it, a deeper color. Japan has multiple flavors of matcha. This luxury one is about $3.50 at the exchange rate.

05:52 John Daub: This one is the most expensive of them all. These two are both about the same price, 200 to 300 yen a bag. This one is massively greener—look at that, pieces of matcha in there. Why don't we weigh them? I have a scale right here. The luxury matcha comes in at 11.5 grams. The deeper economical matcha is about the same weight. They're all about the same weight, but you can tell with the colors—it's a big difference.

07:32 John Daub: I'm not a big lover of Kit Kats, but when you have these varieties, you get curious. Let's try it. I'm going to try all three. Kanae's asleep—it's 12:30 in the morning. She wakes up at 5:30; we're totally different people. First, the deep economical one. Then the lighter economical. Then the deep luxury. Is it even worth it?

09:32 John Daub: I've broken this down. I did not expect it. The answer is obvious to me. Between the three, the winner is this deeper matcha economical one—darker color, deeper matcha taste. Second is the very expensive Sublime one. Third is the lighter one, which didn't taste like matcha at all—just looked green. Tourists buy this bag because of the paper, but it's not nearly as good. If you're going to buy Kit Kats, look for the deeper one at Matsumoto Kiyoshi for under $2 a bag—you get 12, about 18 to 20 cents each. That's a steal. The Sublime one is way overpriced; I cannot recommend it. It's a ripoff for tourists. Japanese like Kit Kats but won't spend this kind of money.

12:23 John Daub: I didn't dislike the expensive one—you can see how much matcha they put in—but I couldn't taste it enough. I want a robust bitter taste, not too sweet. That's what the winner has—a blast of matcha. The luxury one was more creamy, luxurious cream, but not worth $3 for one stick. Without further ado, we're going to look at a video that Madison, Jason, and Sunny made.

13:34 John Daub: That's the Daimyo package I send to supporters on Patreon every month. This came from Sunny. Look at that Sublime one—you'd think it would be better. It says it's an Only in Japan presents matcha Kit Kat luxury versus economical tasting.

14:51 Jason (caller): Hey there, John, this is Jason from Canada, here to do my part in the Only in Japan matcha Kit Kat luxury versus economical tasting challenge. Economical Kit Kat first. Matcha Kit Kat flavor I'm used to, cut the bitterness. Now the luxury one. That one is much more creamy to my palate, a little bit more refined matcha taste, not as waxy. My conclusion: the luxury one is worth a little extra.

16:08 John Daub: Jason says the luxury one wins. Now Madison's eating the normal one, el cheapo. Delightful.

16:43 Madison (caller): My taste buds say the winner is the Sublime, much creamier tasting one. These go for 25 cents according to John, and these for three or four bucks? Crazy.

17:00 Sunny (caller): Very much the matcha flavor, like when you first whisk it into a paste. I taste more cookie than matcha, but the flavor is there. The luxury one tastes more like white chocolate mixed with matcha powder. To me, the economical one tasted more like white chocolate colored with matcha green tea, but it didn't taste like matcha—and this is from somebody who drinks matcha tea almost every day.

19:00 John Daub: That was pretty good. I like the comparisons. I'm going to have to go with Sunny on this—the expensive one had vanilla creaminess, but the other had more matcha taste. If you're buying matcha Kit Kats, go for the matcha more than the creaminess. At the Kit Kat store in Ginza, they have dozens of these Sublime ones for three or four dollars a bar. People buy them once out of curiosity, so companies keep evolving products like Pepsi with cucumber or salty watermelon flavors. Same with Kit Kats.

20:24 John Daub: This month, to welcome in the new year, I'm doing a giveaway of Kit Kats. Between January 1st and 5th or so, every day I'll announce a winner on Instagram. I've got Sakura Kinako, party ice cream, custard pudding to put in the toaster oven, strawberry daifuku, Beni Imo purple sweet potato from Okinawa, strawberry cheesecake, Ruby Chocolate with nuts and cranberries, and sake-flavored Sakura Musamune Dai Ginjo from Kansai. It's an Instagram giveaway—follow @SimplyGoodnessTV, and if you're on all social medias subscribed to Only in Japan Go, Discord, Facebook, I'll send you a bag. I'll contact winners via Instagram DM and mail them out to celebrate 2020.

24:30 John Daub: 2019 has been a pretty good, eventful year for Kanae and me. We just got back from Europe. Thank you to all supporting on Patreon—that's how we fund the show. Just today I got my first copy of the Hitchhiking Blu-ray I made for supporters two years ago. My friend Ellis helped send them from the US—you should have yours by now or soon. Internationally, it might take longer, but they're on the way.

25:46 John Daub: This is why it took so long—I wanted to do it right. This is the Japan Hitchhiking Blu-ray. Nice paper inside with pictures from 2017 compared to 2003, road signs, start and end points, people who picked me up, the disc, signs from the trip, a map with dates—about three hours long plus a bonus director's talk. First to long-time Patreon supporters in January, then everybody else in February until gone.

28:51 John Daub: We have the giveaway, the Blu-ray, more news on the main channel soon, developments there. My dad sent me this wireless mic for live streams—Kanae and I will have better audio, no wind noise. The 360 channel has new content soon, plus another channel I'm working on. I made friends with Jaya from Tokyo Llama—he's fixing up abandoned houses in Ibaraki. Kanae and I might visit him and his wife. Check out Tokyo Llama—it's booming.

31:16 John Daub: The moral of the story is with Kit Kats, price does not mean better. Same in Japan—like Sushi Zanmai in Tsukiji market for the best sushi at the best price. Chefs are friendly, speak English. The most expensive Kit Kat isn't always best, but giving a $4 one as a gift is special. Daimyo supporters, thank you—two spots left. Postcard club: join this month or January, get two postcards. Some have big collections now. Kanae and I might go up to Tokyo Llama next week.

33:16 John Daub: Merry Christmas to everybody. I didn't plan a long live stream, but wanted to share the Christmas spirit. Go to Instagram if you don't follow—have a chance to win Kit Kats. Nosh and Jim, I sent you boxes already. Much love to moderators like Tim. Merry Christmas, everybody. I hope you and your families have a really good holiday. In Europe like Sweden, they open presents on the 24th. Christmas is different everywhere—that's so interesting. Have a good day or night wherever you are. Merry Christmas and see you tomorrow, hopefully with Kanae. Bye-bye everybody.