Calbee Kataage Potato Chips Black Pepper

If usushio is the Kataage that showcases the potato, Black Pepper is the Kataage that showcases the format.

Alongside the salt original, it is one of the permanent pillars of the lineup — and the one Japanese drinkers reach for first.

The engineering in the seasoning is easy to miss and worth knowing.

Calbee grinds the black pepper to deliberately varied particle sizes: fine dust that hits the tongue immediately, and coarser cracked grains that release their heat later, as the hard chip breaks down.

The result is spiciness with a timeline — a sharp opening bite that does not spike and vanish but persists from the first chew to the last, which is precisely the property a slow-eating, thick-cut chip requires.

Beneath the pepper, a supporting cast does quiet work.

Roasted onion powder is the stated hidden ingredient, laying down the sweet-savory depth that turns the aftertaste from merely hot to umami-rich.

Powdered soy sauce and yeast extract broaden that base.

And then there is the genuine surprise on the label: cinnamon, present in a trace amount not as sweetness but as warmth — the low, rounded glow that makes the pepper’s heat feel full rather than sharp-edged.

The chip itself is the brand’s signature thick cut, fried slowly over direct flame in the kettle style until it reaches the dense crunch that Japanese fans consider the whole point.

That texture is why this flavor owns its reputation as a beer companion: the hard bite, the building pepper heat, and the savory finish are engineered for exactly the rhythm of a cold glass and a conversation.

Kamu hodo umai — the more you chew, the better it gets — and with pepper built to last the distance, this flavor takes the motto literally.

About this item
Item Name : Kataage Potato Chips Black Pepper
Brand : Calbee
Item Form : Potato Chips
Number of Items : 65g, 144g (Pack of 1)