10 Kit Kat Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best

It's been almost an entire century since the creation of the iconic Kit Kat, and yet its presence is as strong as ever all over the world. We can thank the sweet treat's parent companies for that, namely Hershey, for churning out the beloved crispy wafer bar in the United States and Nestlé for doing the same everywhere else.

Together, the two multinational giants present consumers with an assortment of options, including core, seasonal, and limited-edition flavors. For example, in America, you'll be able to grab some universally loved flavor combos like mint and dark chocolate in addition to fun finds such as birthday cake. Then you have varieties originating from Japan, which offer a number of bolder, more unique choices, whether it be milk tea or chocolate orange Kit Kats. These happen to be some of the options available to me at my local grocery stores, though you're likely to find different flavors depending on availability in your area. I gladly tried all the ones I could get my hands on, allowing me to see which are tasty enough to buy again and which are only fun for their novelty.

Coming in last place is a flavor I honestly didn't think could flop as badly as it did, considering how popular it is in just about everything, from yogurt and jams to milkshakes and candy. But here we are, with the Strawberry Kit Kat at No. 10. This package is one of the bags that comes with 10 individually wrapped pieces (rather than the seven that some others contain), but I would've been fine if it only came with two or three. Because honestly, I won't be eating the remainder anytime soon and will probably just give them away instead.

Each piece has a light pink hue that's dotted with little red specks throughout, its bright and artificial appearance accurately representing its flavor. And while I'm not expecting any candy out there to taste like fresh strawberries newly picked off a plant, the tangy, almost sour taste these Kit Kats give off with every bite is very off-putting. That's certainly not how I enjoy my strawberries. Worse yet, they have a grainy texture that doesn't go away, nor can it be looked past. Even grits are smoother and creamier than these.

The Milk Tea flavor of Kit Kats was a variation I wanted so badly to like for two reasons, the first one being that I went through a phase growing up where drinking hot milk tea was a regular pastime for me, and I often had to ask my parents to replenish our stock of it. Secondly, just look at the packaging on these guys. The wrappers come in an assortment of orange, blue, and dark fuchsia colors, all with an adorable plaid pattern stamped with an image of a teacup and some leaves. It instantly makes you want to cozy up under a flannel blanket, drinking a cup of tea along with one of these chocolates to nibble on between sips.

Upon tearing into the wrapper, underneath all that cuteness, you'll find a humble Kit Kat that almost looks like the plain vanilla flavor (discussed after this) with a beige tinge to it. But what comes next can only be described as odd. When you pop the stick into your mouth, your palate is instantly washed over by a strong essence of milk tea that's almost perfume-like. Actually biting into it, though, the flavor is not nearly as potent. In fact, it's hardly detectable at all. You're instead left to focus on that same gritty mouthfeel the Strawberry Kit Kat had. The Milk Tea ones fare better, however, since their flavor at least doesn't make me wince.

Vanilla Kit Kats taste exactly as they sound — vanilla. And I don't mean that in the way that you're getting a wonderful blend of saccharine, creamy, rich goodness; rather, I mean that they taste bland and almost like nothing.

There's not much to say about this flavor, as there's really nothing of note. You have to chew ever so slowly and intentionally to find any vanilla essence, so it really just feels like you're consuming an unnecessary amount of sugar for very little payoff in terms of enjoyment (no dopamine hits here). They'd probably be better off crushed up and crumbled into something like cookies, ice cream, brownies, or yogurt parfaits, solely for some extra crunch from the wafers. But if it's the flavor you're after, you can skip these in any setting and rest assured you're not missing anything.

My birthday might've been two months ago at the time of writing this article, but it felt like a celebration all over again when I sampled a Birthday Cake Kit Kat. Its white cream base imitated the classic flavor of frosting, while the visible array of blue, orange, red, and white freckled bits added all the fun of multi-colored sprinkles.

As far as how it tastes, it successfully pays homage to an actual birthday cake — sickeningly sweet in the best way. It does, after all, contain a whopping 21 grams of sugar. So, with both its saccharine flavor and high sugar content, I can absolutely imagine a kid eating one piece of this and proceeding to bounce off the walls just moments after. Sure, it undoubtedly tastes artificial to someone with a mature palate, but what do you expect? It's birthday-cake flavored candy, which is more acceptable to taste a bit synthetic than the strawberry variety that I previously nicked for the same reasons. This one feels fun and like a little party for your taste buds. The reason it's still low on the list is more so because its overtly sweet flavor makes it hard to eat more than a couple of bites, and it might not be as equally loved by adults as it would be by children.

In a conversation concerning store-bought dark chocolate bars, you're surely used to hearing popular names like Cadbury, Hershey's, or Lindt. It may surprise you to learn, however, that Kit Kat also offers a dark chocolate-covered wafer. Its existence, of course, tends to be covered up by the popularity of the original milk chocolate candy bar. I won't say that's entirely a loss, as there's nothing very special about this particular flavor, but I do think it deserves to at least be considered by dark chocolate lovers.

While some dark chocolates can be overly bitter, that's not the case with the Kit Kat version. It still has a deep flavor, though it's much more subtle and not at all offensive as others tend to be. This makes it more bingeable in true Kit Kat fashion. It just doesn't have any complexity or craveability to it as the higher ranking flavors do, making this come in right at the middle of the ranking. Maybe the adult-targeted Japanese Dark Chocolate Kit Kat would have more of that wow factor, though.

I said before that the Strawberry Kit Kat surprised me a lot, but the Chocolate Orange Kit Kat might've caught me just as off guard. It looks so unassuming when you open up the wrapper, revealing a plain brown bar that leads you to think you're going to be eating something as innocuous as the brand's milk chocolate or dark chocolate flavor, with perhaps just a hint of citrus.

Well, I thought very wrong. The orange flavor, which is achieved through orange juice powder, takes the forefront, with a powerful, zesty essence that packs a strong punch from start to finish as you eat. As such, you don't really taste any of the milk chocolate, as it's completely overtaken by the fruit. Its presence is found instead in the creamy mouthfeel that it lends to the candy bar, and that's something I appreciated. All in all, if you're a fan of the chocolate and orange combo but can get over the fact that the flavor of the two titular ingredients isn't as well-balanced as it probably could be, you'll probably still enjoy this Kit Kat option, considering how well it infuses the treat with fruity notes.

If you've read my article ranking different flavors of Tillamook ice cream, you'd know that I used to be a big fan of the classic pairing of chocolate and mint. I no longer am, but it's always interesting to revisit my past fixations and see how vastly my opinion has changed on them over the years. And this time around, it seems Kit Kat may have rekindled something.

Unlike the Chocolate Orange Kit Kat, the Mint + Dark variety is much more balanced in flavor. The mint isn't too strong; it's subtle in a way that it almost functions just to brighten the dark chocolate and lift it away from the bitter, deep taste it can sometimes take on. And yet, because Hershey used dark chocolate rather than milk chocolate, the latter of which is often so rich and sweet that it overpowers other ingredients, the mint still finds its time to shine through, creating a light freshness that doesn't feel like you're brushing your teeth. This taste test might've just gotten me back into the iconic duo of chocolate and mint, as it happens to be the Kit Kat flavor my mind keeps going back to again and again.

I admittedly was not entirely familiar with the difference between green tea and matcha prior to this taste test. While I was aware there was some sort of distinction between the two, I thought that they could still be used interchangeably in all contexts. That's not true, though, as matcha is a type of green tea, but not all green tea is matcha.

So, when excitedly taking my first bite of the Matcha Latte Kit Kat, I quite honestly forgot that it was the flavor I had picked up from the market. My brain had once again mixed up matcha and green tea between the time I went to the grocery store and got back home, leaving me to go into the taste test thinking it was the Green Tea Kit Kat I was sampling. But one nibble of the candy bar took over my senses with an earthy warmth that was offset by a deliciously creamy, milky sweetness, and I immediately thought to myself, "Oh wow, this tastes like a matcha latte." Imagine my surprise when I took another look at the product label and learned that it, in fact, was a Matcha Latte-flavored Kit Kat I was eating. That just goes to show Nestlé did right by this beloved flavor, making me feel like I was actually indulging in a sweet treat akin to a matcha drink from a popular coffee chain.

Oh, and that packaging? The pink and white flowers lining the edges of the wrappers make me want to run through a park of cherry blossoms while wearing a frilly dress and clutching a Matcha Latte Kit Kat in hand.

The original Kit Kat is a classic, and I wouldn't accept it ever being pulled from the shelves to make space for any of the lower-ranking flavors. Even the flavor that I ranked in first place, as much as I indulged in it, doesn't hold the same timeless quality and iconic presence (read on to find why it still ranked at No. 1, though).

None of the other flavors on this list has the same universal appeal as the OG flavor, which consists of crispy wafers layered with milk chocolate. It's as reliable and classic a pairing as it gets, and whether you're eating it straight-up as a treat or using it in endless other applications, its flavor and texture hold up wonderfully. I've been happily snacking on these for the past few days, and if I ever do somehow hit taste fatigue (though I doubt it), I know they'll do swimmingly just crushed up on top of some ice cream or even scattered in my oatmeal when I'm really desperate for a sweet breakfast.

Let's be real: Cookies and cream is an oversaturated flavor. It's literally everywhere you look, from milkshakes and ice cream to coffee creamers, granola, and cereal. And I've tried so many of these that I've grown tired of the pairing. As such, I really wasn't looking forward to trying this particular Kit Kat and was prepared for it to fall toward the bottom of the list. Clearly, that was not the case at all.

As mentioned, the Cookies & Cream Kit Kat doesn't have the same level of broad appeal as the OG flavor, but it's pretty darn close. I also can't see myself eating five bars in a row, as I've done with the plain milk chocolate version. Three or four, however? That I can see, and that's more than what I'd be able to say for any other variety I sampled for this ranking, despite how good some of them were.

The Cookies & Cream Kit Kat leans heavily into the "cream" aspect, though the bar is visibly laced with black cookie pieces all throughout, in turn creating that comforting, familiar taste everyone knows it for. I'm not sure exactly what made me enjoy this cookies and cream-flavored candy when I had grown weary of the duo in all other foods, but I'm willing to bet it has to do with this Kit Kat's subtlety. With it tasting largely of cream and milk – two inoffensive flavors – it's easy to eat multiple of and even reminds me of something like a milkshake or McDonald's McFlurry, which I'm not complaining about.

To determine the order of this ranking, I tried each of the Kit Kats and mainly focused on their flavor, texture, and how likely I would be to eat multiple pieces back-to-back. Flavor was the most important consideration, with those having a good taste that accurately represented its name, of course, being ranked more favorably. The mouthfeel I'd have while eating each was also taken into account. Kit Kats that had a grainy, grittier texture were immediately placed lower on the list, while rich, creamy flavors fared better. Lastly, I took note of how many pieces of a particular flavor I'd be willing to eat again and again, as well as if it's a flavor I could see everyone enjoying or only a smaller group of people enjoying.