Guest Post: Tiramisu Aficionado Taste Tests Oreos from South Korea & China
Meet Ken, a writer, coffee expert & fellow snacker with a deep love of tiramisu and Oreos. Discover how a small snack shop in Arizona introduced Ken to the intersection of these two seemingly unrelated desserts. A bit of history, an ode to tiramisu and an unexpected reaction to the divergence of Oreo quality across Asian markets. Enjoy!
From Snack Slack to Arizona's International Snack Scene
I recently joined a snacking Slack channel where people share the interesting food they have come across in their areas. It’s a place for recommendations and reviews. As the “new kid” in the group, I was inspired to try new things and post fun reviews. This inspiration led me to Desert Drinks and Exotics, an online marketplace for international snack foods. Their virtual aisles contain everything from beer flavored potato chips from China to Summer Ice Cream Kit-Kats from Japan. I spent a lot of time wandering their site, looking for the perfect snacks to make my debut on the snack Slack before I struck gold. Coffee, vanilla, and chocolate-flavored gold: Tiramisu flavored Oreos from China and South Korea. Naturally, I ordered both the Korean and Chinese variations.
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I should mention that both cookies arrived past their “Best By” dates. While I’m certain there is no danger in consuming the cookie, it’s almost certain that they are not as tasty as they should be. But that’s okay because for me, tiramisu falls into the “Holy Trinity” of Italian bakery desserts, alongside cannolis and sfogliatelle.
It’s a near-perfect mix of sweet and bitter needed to end a family meal or get together. A sort of dry cappuccino with a touch of cream and milk consumed by spoon–whose flavor profile is different enough from whatever you might have had for dinner that it always stands alone, never gets lost, and doesn’t muddle with whatever taste memories of your meal linger on your palette. Likewise, it’s a great middle of the day pick-me-up if you just want a snack on the run. And like some of the best things in life, tiramisu comes in a variety of different shapes and flavors each reflecting its particular creator or regional preference.
Obviously, a cookie — not to mention my favorite grocery store cookie –bearing the name of my favorite dessert, would have to be good. To borrow a sentiment from Mel Brooks with an eye toward the origins of the dessert (or maybe it was Sharon Stone). Like all good food stories, the origins of this quote conflict: “[Tiramisu] is like pizza, even when it’s bad it’s good.”
Given the chance, I could eat a bucket of tiramisu and, once finished, reach for a second bucket through the clenched-teeth pain that accompanies my overworked, underperforming gallbladder struggling to help my stomach digest the first vat of chocolatey, coffee, vanilla, and liquor goodness.
Okay. Maybe that’s quite a bit of hyperbole. But it goes without saying: I love tiramisu and will buy it anytime I have the chance.
Single Shot Mini-History of Tiramisu
As with most culinary creations, despite all of the peacocking and signs taped to the window panes of bakeries boasting to be the original tiramisu, the origins of tiramisu as we know it today is shrouded in conflicting factoids and apocryphal tales. A culinary conspiracy, if you will.
According to The Accademia De Tiramisu, “a cultural and food and wine association, inspired by the principles of historical, cultural and gastronomic information…[whose] aim is to disseminate the true geographic origins and the authentic ingredients for the traditional recipe [of tiramisu],” the conflicting factoids and apocrypha shrouding the history of tiramisu have been introduced due to western prudency, purposefully and specifically aimed at complicating the nefarious origins of the dessert.
The Accademia actually places the original tiramisu dessert on the menu of a brothel in the early 19th century. According to their site, “the ‘Siora’ who ran the premises developed [tiramisu as an] aphrodisiac dessert to offer to customers at the end of the evening in order to reinvigorate them and solve the problems they may have had with their conjugal duties on their return to their wives.”
Tiramisu actually translates to “pick me up.”
Heh. That being said, the Chinese Variation of tiramisu Oreos was fairly overwhelming.
Tiramisu Oreos in China
In the original dessert, the strong coffee flavor is offset by the sweetness of the Ladyfingers and cream; however, the Chinese tiramisu Oreo tasted as if Chinese Nabisco distilled the essence of tiramisu into a hyper-concentrated tincture meant to be slowly and conservatively dripped into the churning (non-dairy) cream center of the cookie. But in some sort-of Powerpuff Girls, Professor Utonium-esque accident the whole bottle was knocked into the vat-o-creme. And rather than being tamed by the sweetness of the Ladyfingers and cream, the bitterness of the coffee seemed to join forces with the bitterness of the dark chocolate that is typically held in check by the creme of the standard Oreo.
Rather than a rich, velvety cappuccino, the resulting cookie tasted like a shot of espresso that needed to be chewed before consumption. And rather than cleanly punctuating the meal you just finished, the tiramisu Oreo, instead, acts like an ellipses: leaving the meal open-ended as you continue to taste the cookie every time a bit works its way free from a crevice in your teeth and falls onto your tongue.
That being said, I don’t think it’s bad. It’s just a little different. It’s definitely overwhelming when eaten by itself. But, like any Oreo, it should be taken apart, licked, put back together, and dunked into milk–an effort complicated by the fact that these aren’t full-sized Oreos, but rather Oreo Thins. But an effort well rewarded.
Tiramisu Oreos for a Korean Audience
Interesting enough, the Korean tiramisu variation is the complete opposite of the Chinese Oreo. Whereas you could taste every nuanced flavor, albeit overpoweringly so, in the Chinese tiramisu Oreo, in the Korean version, the only taste is pure dark, bitter chocolate. Maybe there’s a bit of coffee in there somewhere, but it’s buried deep. This is perhaps due to the fact that there is next-to-no cream in the center of the Korean Oreo. Instead, there is a dense center with chocolate rings extending outward in a Saturnine fashion.
While I am an avid fan of the minimalist aesthetic in art, architecture, and writing I don’t necessarily care for it in my Oreos. When it comes to baked confections, I am a maximalist all the way.
I would definitely recommend ordering from Desert Drinks and Exotics. In fact, I may order some more snacks soon. There are definitely some interesting spins on your favorite cookie and candy aisle staples there. I can’t wait to tear into my Ube Snickers! (Edit: they were a bit underwhelming, but that didn’t stop me from crushing the entire box in like, two days.) And if you’re not into it for the taste, do it for the clout–from what I hear international candies and sodas are all the rage now in Instagram and Tik Tok.
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