This has been a disappointing year for Oreo. Usually, they'll release a new flavor every quarter or so. There was supposedly a Tiramisu flavor in March, but I missed out on it; it wasn't available when I switched to grocery delivery once the pandemic began, and it was no longer on store shelves when I started to do my own shopping. When I looked on Amazon, I saw that I could order them for about $12 per package plus shipping. Too rich for my blood.
However, while on Amazon, I did see an Oreo multi-pack, with different flavors from South Korea. I thought it would be a good treat, a way to sample other varieties of Oreos. (I'm debating whether to call them K-Oreos, like K-Pop, but that might be too cute.)
The most intriguing items to me were the two packages of Oreo wafers. They came in two varieties, chocolate and vanilla.
I really like this concept. I think Keebler used to have a wafer cookie like this, with a mint variety around Christmas, but it may have been discontinued or my stores no longer carry them. It's nice to see an Oreo version.
One other thing I like is that they are individually wrapped. So often, I'll open a package of cookies, and it goes stale before I finish them. These come in a cardboard box, so even though it is more packaging in one sense, it seems less wasteful, less of the harmful packaging.
The vanilla one was really good. The wafers are crisp and flaky, and the coating tastes good. It's slightly similar to the vanilla-coated Oreos they have for the holidays, but is still its own thing.
The chocolate one was good, too. It had a slight coffee tinge to it, which I can only possibly explain by the malt powder used. Overall, I recommend. I'd love to see an Americanized version of this for both the chocolate and vanilla versions (and maybe a Cool Mint version?).
When it comes to the cookies, each box is similar to one row of cookies in the typical American pack, but it is divided into two packages inside the box. Again, I really like this. It's smart. Instead of seeing the whole package go stale, you can enjoy them on your own schedule. Not only that, but according to the nutrition information, each half-package is a serving. Genius.
For all of these, the cookie/non-creme part of the Oreo is a bit lighter than the American version. It's not as sweet, but also not as dense.
The Red Velvet cookie, Double Stuf in size, is okay. I like the way it smells more than the way it tastes. It smells like a good mix of chocolate and cream cheese, but that doesn't translate to the taste for either the cookie or the creme. It would be nice to have stronger flavors of each, especially the creme. The translated ingredients list indicates that they have both cream cheese powder and cheesecake synthetic flavor, but I didn't taste them as such.
Vanilla Mousse is a thin Oreo. I enjoyed the cookie part of the Oreo more on this one; it had a really good chocolate flavor. I didn't really taste vanilla in the creme, though. The ingredients list has both vanilla extract and vanilla cream artificial flavor, but it wasn't apparent to me, even when having the creme by itself.
Tiramisu is also a thin Oreo. It had the same coffee-ish flavor as the Oreo wafers, though with more of a chocolate flavor mixed in due to the cookies. I thought this was successful. I'm not a coffee fan, but I thought this was pretty well-executed.
The final two flavors were Strawberry Creme and Mild Sweet. Again, these come in the half-packs that I think are a really great idea.
The Strawberry Creme flavor is surprisingly close to a real strawberry smell and flavor. It reminds me of those strawberry sugar wafer cookies. The chocolate in the cookie isn't that prominent, probably because this is a Double Stuf-sized cookie. But I think these are really good. I would buy these again. They have both strawberry extract powder and strawberry artificial flavor.
Mild Sweet is... good? I don't understand the aim of this cookie, which seems like it would be a normal Double Stuf Oreo cookie, chocolate cookies with regular sugary creme. It's good, but I feel like I'm missing something. The ingredients list has an "acidity regulator" which I don't see in the other products, but even then, I'm stumped. However, it is good.
Overall, I'm glad I tried these. I've sampled a lot of American Oreos in the past 10 years, but despite everything I had heard about international Kit Kats, I never thought to look outside the U.S. for Oreos from other countries. I would buy some of these if I saw them on store shelves here, especially the wafers and the strawberry cookies. I'll have to keep an eye out for other varieties.
