There are two things you notice about these green tea flavoured mung bean cakes before you even eat them. The first is that it seems very fancy and the other is that it’s a lot heavier than you might imagine. The fanciness starts at the basic concept of this treat, mung bean cake and green tea don’t sound like things you’d find on a shelf at a convenience store. This seems like something you’d find at the very least in the fancy section of an Asian grocery store, but maybe even in an airport. The weight I can’t really explain, but I can tell you that I’m probably not going to eat more than one square.
I’m having a hard time defining this as a cake, as there’s little evidence that it’s ever been baked. I’m not claiming that Dragon KyAnh is lying to us, but the texture of these little cakes feels more like some kind of dry powder/paste that’s been compressed together. The minute your teeth touch the “cake” it falls apart into an almost powder in your mouth. Once any of your saliva makes contact, this powder is instantly turned into a paste. I will also add that although the wrapping and name are kind of fancy, the bar itself is a rather plain looking green rectangle. I’m not complaining, it just doesn’t have as much decorative look as the package.
Flavour wise it’s pretty much what you might expect. The green tea is really the star of the show when it comes to flavour. It’s not as bitter as matcha tea, but it’s also not overly sweet either. There seems to be enough sweet flavour to take away any bitterness, but not too much to make it feel overly sweet either. There’s no obvious mung bean flavour, but I have a feeling that it plays more of a role with the texture than the flavour.
The texture of these little compressed cakes is truly bizarre, I wouldn’t describe it as pleasant, but it’s just unique enough that I might recommend giving it a try. The feeling in your mouth after eating this cake is a little strange as your mouth has a weird coating that makes you a little thirsty. I want to say that I don’t really like these, but they’re just odd enough that I’m kind of enjoying trying them.