Meet the new stars of your next viral ASMR video. In Japan, Häagen-Dazs is constantly looking for ways to thrill ice cream lovers, and now the brand has outdone itself with a new series of ice creams

Meet the new stars of your next viral ASMR video.

In Japan, Häagen-Dazs is constantly looking for ways to thrill ice cream lovers, and now the brand has outdone itself with a new series of ice creams designed to deliver the pleasure of ASMR.

Those who experience ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response to use its full name, describe it as** a pleasant tingling sensation triggered by stimuli such as certain sounds,** and that’s what Häagen-Dazs is hoping to achieve with this new range. Dubbed “Rocky Crunchy!“, these treats create** a super crunchy sound when you eat them**, through the use of hard toppings that contrast with the smoothness of the ice cream.

We received the two debut flavours ahead of their nationwide release, so we ripped into them straight away to see if they really generated the same type of crunchy audio that features in a lot of online ASMR videos.

▼ We begin the taste test with the Strawberry Black Cocoa.

With words like “ザクッ” (“zaku” [onomatopoeic sound effect for a sharp, crisp bite or crunch]) and “硬ッ” (“kata” [hard]) on the packaging, sound and texture are clearly the stars of the show here. As soon as we tried our first mouthful, we were pleased to discover that Häagen-Dazs really does deliver on this front, giving us a cluster of chunky cocoa cookies that crunch terrifically when you bite into them. The cookies are super hard, but not in a way that’ll hurt your teeth – more in the way that they crumble with an immense sense of satisfaction while filling your ears with a pleasant “zaku” crunch.

▼ The bitter cocoa goes well with the sweet tartness of strawberries, making it a good accent not only in terms of texture but also in terms of taste.

The crunch is one you can easily get hooked on, so we were glad to have another tub to try: the Salty Honey Butter.

Tearing off the lid reveals another topping of rock-like biscuit pieces, only this time with butter as the star component. Beneath it all is a a saucy honey ice cream that’s rich and sweet, contrasting beautifully with the butter cookies.

For a brand that’s known for its luxurious smoothness, these Rocky Crunchy! varieties serve up an exciting textural contrast that highlights the quality of Häagen-Dazs ice cream. The flavour now lingers longer on the palate thanks to the biscuit topping, letting us enjoy the taste of Häagen-Dazs for longer.

Anything that extends a good ice cream session is a winner in our books, so keep an eye out for it when it’s released this week at stores nationwide, where it’ll be sold at a recommended retail price of 373 yen (US$2.36).