Not long ago, White Rabbit candy was a quirky souvenir — sweet, strange, and unfamiliar to anyone who didn’t grow up with it. Even in China, it sat quietly in the corner of childhood nostalgia.
But that was then.
These days, it feels like everyone has tried it. What was once a humble milk candy is now everywhere: co-branded into skincare, cocktails, potpourri, shampoo… you name it. White Rabbit has leapt from candy wrapper to cultural icon.
So we figured: what better time for a taste test?
We revisited White Rabbit in its most iconic form — the chewy, rice-paper-wrapped candy — and hunted down every flavour we could find. Armed with scissors and a shared sweet tooth, we sampled 14 different versions. Here’s how they stacked up, from most delicious to most questionable:
1. Mint
Surprisingly bold and refreshingly cool, this was a crowd-pleaser. The mint is herbal and punchy (like a lot of mint-flavored sweets in China) and works beautifully with the creamy base. We’d happily keep a few around as post-meal palate cleansers.
2. Coconut
Soft to cut and even softer on the tongue, this tasted more like toasted coconut. It was the first one we immediately wanted to finish.
3. Red Bean
The biggest surprise of the lineup. Earthy at first, then gently sweet. It was the softest to cut and ended up being the most balanced.
4. Wasabi
Looks like wasabi. Tastes like wasabi. But it never gets too spicy, instead landing somewhere between sweet and savory. Not something you’d binge, but definitely an experience.
5. Coffee
Started faint, almost too subtle, but the flavor built slowly and stuck the landing. Like sipping a lightly sweetened café au lait.
6. Original
Tastes like plain milk ice cream, still mildly sweet, still satisfying. Not flashy, but reliably good.
7. Osmanthus
One of our guides noted that osmanthus is the pumpkin spice of Shanghai, so of course there’s an osmanthus flavor now. The flavor of this one is more reminiscent of rose. Not unpleasant, just a little confusing.
8. Matcha
Very soft. Tea flavor is faint, but the texture is pure matcha powder. Not bad, not great.
9. Yogurt
More tangy than sweet, with just a whisper of milk underneath.
10. Banana
Tastes of artificial banana, as almost all banana sweets do, but not offensively so.
11. Corn
The first one that deviated from the iconic milk-white color. Definitely tasted like corn and, with the milkiness, almost like sweet buttered corn on the cob.
12. Mango
One of the hardest to cut and one of the lightest in flavor. We wanted to love it, but it just didn’t show up.
13. Chocolate
A missed opportunity. Tastes like the lightest of chocolate milks. The rice paper flavor was stronger than the chocolate.
14. Durian
Visually electric and intensely pungent. The problem wasn’t the flavor (which was on-brand durian); it was the stickiness. Unlike real durian, which you can chew quickly and move on, this clings to your teeth.
Want to try them all? Maybe not. But is this one of the weirdest, most wonderful candy lineups in China right now? Absolutely.
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