Recommendation Service
- TOP
- Food and drinks
- Snacks and candies
- 11 Best Tried and True Strong Japanese Breath Mints in 2023 (Kracie Foods, Asahi Foods, and More)
11 Best Tried and True Strong Japanese Breath Mints in 2023 (Kracie Foods, Asahi Foods, and More)
To freshen your breath, to provide a wake-up punch, or to tide you over when you're hungry: breath mints are something that most of us carry around with us every day. Some come in large sizes to save money, some come in stylish boxes or fit into reusable cases, and some have a stronger flavor than others. How to choose?
Our editors searched Japanese e-commerce sites such as Amazon and Rakuten, as well as Japanese supermarkets and convenience stores for the best breath mints available. We then picked out the most popular products and tested them.
We focused on 2 things:
- How strong is the mint flavor?
- How well does it freshen our breath?
We then ranked the products and put what we learned into a buying guide to help you choose the best strong-flavored Japanese breath mints available online.
mybest US' editing team consists of experienced members who have backgrounds in writing, editing, translation, and more. We are dedicated to researching what makes a product or service the best to users in the US in order to create top-quality articles. From skincare, to kitchen appliances, and to DIY supplies, our mission is to find the best ones for you.
How to Choose Strong Breath Mints - Buying Guide
We recommend considering these four points when choosing a breath mint.
① For Bad Breath Control, Choose Pure Mint Flavor
To get rid of bad breath in the morning or after eating, tablets that are just mint are the most effective. The mint will spread throughout your mouth, covering up garlic or onion odors, morning breath or coffee breath.
Those which are mixed flavors, like fruity ones, are not as effective. In this article we focused mainly on pure mint tablets, so please refer to our scores to see which worked best.
② Choose How Strong You Like Your Mint Flavor
As we mentioned, the stronger minty products tend to come in black packaging. They also often use words like "hard" or "sharp" in their names.
They're great for freshening your breath or waking you up, but they're too strong for some people. If you're not sure they're right for you, check our scores to see how strong the flavor is for each one.
③ Decide if You Want a Case to Carry Them in
You can carry these around just the way they are, but there are also fashionable cases available for them in leather, plastic, fabric and wood. We included the sizes of both the boxes and the tablets themselves, so you can check if they'll fit in the case you want to buy. You can see some examples on websites like Rakuten.
④ Think about the Price per Tablet
If you use breath mints a lot, you'll certainly want to pay attention to how many are in the package and how much it costs. We've listed how many tablets there are in each (if available) and you can see it underlined here on the Japanese package. Also, the stronger flavors might go further, since you'll only eat one at a time, while you might be tempted to have a few of the weaker mints.
11 Best Strong Japanese Breath Mints
Products | Image | Click to purchase | Key features | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Asahi Foods Mintia Mega Hard | | mybest's Top Choice! Stay Wide Awake and Super Fresh With This One! | |
2 | Lotte Black Black Tablet Strong Type | | Recommended For Hardcore Mint Fans | |
3 | Asahi Foods Mintia Dry Hard | | For Those Who Need Quick and Strong Refreshment | |
4 | Asahi Foods Mintia Excare Herb Mint | | Recommended if You Have a Sore Throat and Want Fresh Breath Too | |
5 | Kracie Foods Frisk Black Mint | | Great for Those Who Want Quick, Medium-strength Refreshment | |
6 | Kracie Foods Frisk Clean Breath Strong Mint | | A Sweet and Weak Mint for People Who Can't Handle Strong Flavors |
Asahi FoodsMintia Mega Hard
mybest's Top Choice! Stay Wide Awake and Super Fresh With This One!
Mintia Mega Hard combines menthol and caffeine beads to bring you the highest level of extreme mint experience! These thick, penny-sized tablets come in a big dispenser.
When you pop one into your mouth, it will taste sweet for an instant. Then your mouth will quickly fill with spicy, soothing mint flavor. The flavor gets stronger as you breathe in. It stimulates your tongue and wakes you up (the caffeine doesn't hurt either!)
If you want to banish that groggy feeling in the morning, or keep yourself awake when working late or on a long drive, these will do the trick for sure. And breath control? No problem. There were absolutely no traces of the stinky garlicky dumpling we ate. We can recommend these minty miracles with 100% confidence!
LotteBlack Black Tablet Strong Type
Recommended For Hardcore Mint Fans
We recommend it for those who want an extreme breath mint! This mint tablet version of the popular chewing gum has an exotic flavor that stimulates your tongue with shocks of mint.
Our tasters said "It feels like the inside of my mouth is being smacked around by mint!" and, "My tongue is so tingly it feels like it's burning!"
It freshened our stinky breath with ease, and the taste and caffeine it contains will punch you out of your drowsy haze! But it's so strong that if you don't like the pungency of mint, you may find it hard to finish a whole tablet.
Asahi FoodsMintia Dry Hard
For Those Who Need Quick and Strong Refreshment
These strong mints are a small size, so they dissolve quickly, making them perfect for those who need to refresh their mouths fast. They also contain caffeine for some punch.
They're powerfully minty, leaving your tongue and mouth tingling for a long while. If you work in retail or customer service and need lasting fresh breath before the next person walks in, this is a great choice for you.
Asahi FoodsMintia Excare Herb Mint
Recommended if You Have a Sore Throat and Want Fresh Breath Too
These are refreshingly flavored with 18 kinds of herbs and extracts including Chinese quince and the herb bellflower. They will soothe your throat and refresh your breath. The mint feeling spreads up into your nose without irritating at all.
The addition of the herbs and citrus also provide a pleasant palate cleanser. If you use your voice a lot and get a scratchy throat, you should keep a pack of these in your purse or pocket.
Kracie FoodsFrisk Black Mint
Great for Those Who Want Quick, Medium-strength Refreshment
This is another small and quick-dissolving tablet perfect for those who need a fast mouth reset. But, the flavor of these starts slowly. It takes some time for the cooling mint and eucalyptus sensations to start tingling and spread out on your tongue.
They're still stronger than regular mints, but they have the weakest flavor of the black types we tested. We recommend them for a quick break at work to refresh your mouth and focus your mind.
Kracie FoodsFrisk Clean Breath Strong Mint
A Sweet and Weak Mint for People Who Can't Handle Strong Flavors
These are perfect for people who don't like strong mint flavor. They're on the sweet side and not too pungent. Some of our tasters weren't impressed, saying that mint lovers would be lukewarm, and they weren't stimulating enough.
As far as our breath test, we found that they adequately covered the odor of our garlic and onion food, but we felt less than 100% confident that our breath was sweet as perfume.
How We Tested the Breath Mints
Five of our editorial staff tried the mints and rated them for how they tasted and how effective they were at bad breath control. Then we gave them scores from 0.1 to 5.0.
Test ① Did It Have a Strong Minty Flavor?
We learned that the ones sold in black packaging are so minty that the cool flavor actually becomes hot and spicy! In fact, they can irritate your tongue, so be careful eating these. But the strong flavor is perfect to wake you up, and many of the black-packaged ones contain caffeine too.
So if you want to clear the cobwebs from your head after waking up or stay alert while driving, try the black kinds. If you're just looking for a breath freshener that tastes great, try some of the ones in the middle of our rankings like Frisk Peppermint or Mintia Excare Herb Mint.
Test ② Did it Freshen Our Breath Well?
Some of us ate stinky food (we chose gyoza, which are Chinese dumplings full of garlic, leeks, and oil) and then sucked on a mint until it dissolved. Then we checked to see if any odor remained, or if the mint covered it completely.
Mints with Black Packages Also Erased Odor!
Once again, the products in black packages performed best. The strong mint taste effectively covered up our garlic breath. We also found that the two products containing polyphenols worked well against the dumpling stench.
Those were both Clorets brand, and since they're not Japanese, we didn't include them in the rankings for this article, but the packages are pictured here if you're interested in trying them. We found they did work well for bad breath control. If you want to stick to the Japanese brands, go for the strong mint types.
Here are Some More Great Products to Put in Your Mouth AND Take Care of it!
Keep your breath smelling good and your taste buds stimulated all day using these products.
Top 5 Breath Mints
When you purchase products mentioned in the article, part of the sales may be returned to mybest.
The descriptions of each product is referenced from the content available from the manufacturer, e-commerce sites etc.
Popular articles
- 9 Best Healthy Fruit Snacks in 2023 (Registered Dietitian-Reviewed)Healthy Fruit SnacksLooking for a healthy treat that can curb your sugar cravings? Grab some healthy fruit snacks! These snacks are often low in calories, fat-free, and can even contain some vitamins and minerals. Kids love these sweet treats as well, and they're a great way to enjoy sweets that sneak in a little bit of fruit. You might be craving some right now, right? Don't miss out on Stretch Island's Fruit Leather Snacks Variety Pack! These fruit leathers don't contain any added sugar and are crafted with pure juice concentrate and purée to deliver a natural taste. There are more yummy fruit snacks on our top 9 list, too. You'll want to check out the buying guide at the end as well since it's packed with useful tips to help you choose a healthy product and was reviewed by a registered dietitian.
- 10 Best Peanut Brittles in 2023 (See's Candies, Jackie's Chocolate, and More)Peanut BrittlesAre you a peanut lover who also likes hard candy? Peanut brittles combine your affinity for nuts and sugar into one. These candies are a popular holiday treat, but you can enjoy them anytime! If peanut brittles are something you've never tried before, you're in for a treat with our top 10 list curated after careful research by staff at mybest. We chose See's Candies Peanut Brittle as our number one pick. Its classic recipe and high remarks from customers won us over. Along with nine other great options, be sure to also check out our buying guide so you'll know how to choose the perfect peanut brittle the next time you're at the candy store. Let's get started with a brief description of what peanut brittle is.
- 10 Best Gluten-Free Chips in 2023 (Dietitian-Reviewed)Gluten-Free ChipsMany chips are made with gluten ingredients such as wheat flour and wheat derivatives. If you have celiac disease or are sensitive to gluten, there are still many gluten-free options for you to snack on when you're struck with a craving. Nowadays, a lot of potato chips, tortilla chips, or vegetable chips are made without gluten ingredients! But given the plethora of chips available online, how do you know which ones actually taste good? To help you with your search, we've narrowed down the 10 best gluten-free chips available online. Kettle's Backyard Barbeque Potato Chips were our top pick. These certified gluten-free chips are made without artificial preservatives and have a great barbecue flavor. Keep reading our list of favorites for more options! You can also check out our buying guide for some tips that will help you pick out some delicious gluten-free chips.
- 10 Best Low-FODMAP Snacks in 2023 (Registered Dietitian-Reviewed)Low-Fodmap SnacksNo matter what diet you follow, it's always a good idea to have snacks on hand for when those sweet or salty cravings hit. But anyone who follows a low-FODMAP diet knows that popular go-to's, like crackers, pretzels, and candy, should be limited. If you're already hungry, it can be hard to resist grabbing whatever's handy. To prepare, stock your pantry with our low-FODMAP favorites so you can snack away without any negative side effects.GoMacro's Macrobars, for the most part, are low-FODMAP certified and come in a variety of flavors. The banana almond butter flavor tastes like banana bread, but without any wheat to bother your digestive system! We have nine more delicious sweet and savory options below. And for more information on how to pick low-FODMAP snacks you will love, check out our comprehensive buying guide reviewed by a registered dietitian after the list.
- 9 Best Healthy Chips in 2023 (Nutritionist-Reviewed)Healthy ChipsWhen it comes to snacking, nothing beats the crunch of a chip. But most conventional chips leave much to be desired in terms of health. That’s why we’ve decided to figure out what makes a great healthy chip. While researching, we found that the best chips are made from whole foods ingredients aside from white potatoes, have a good balance of macronutrients, and cater to your dietary restrictions. Keeping these things in mind, we’ve put together a list of our favorite healthy chips available online. Our top pick is Terra's Original Chips with Sea Salt. They're made from real root vegetables and contain no artificial flavors or preservatives. If you want more options, keep reading! We've also compiled a buying guide with tips from a certified nutritionist to help you choose healthier chips.
- 20 Best Tried and True Japanese Potato Chips in 2023 (Calbee, Koikeya, and More)Japanese Potato ChipsPotato chips are a savory and sometimes sweet snack that is hard to put down. They're deliciously addictive and even go great with alcohol. Whether you prefer kettle-cooked chips, ruffled chips, or regular thin chips, there's bound to be a perfect potato snack for you. Our editors searched Japanese e-commerce sites (such as Amazon, Rakuten, and Yahoo! Shopping) for the best potato chips. We then chose the 20 most popular products and had our five testers do a blind taste test for all products. We focused on three things: the strength of its flavor, how hard the chips were, and how fragrant the potato was. Then our testers combined their thoughts and scores into a collective overall score of deliciousness.
- 5 Best Bagged Healthy Popcorns in 2023 (Nutritionist-Reviewed)Healthy PopcornsSnacking is a hard habit to kick, and not all snacking options are healthy; popcorn, unfortunately, is one of them. Even though popcorn is mostly air, many conventional options are full of fats, preservatives, and artificial flavors. That’s why we decided to look into healthier options.In our research, we found that the best popcorns contain only whole foods ingredients, have limited fat and sodium, and may be organic or gluten-free. Both pre-popped and microwave popcorns can be equally healthy. With these things in mind, we handpicked our favorite healthy popcorns available online and prepared a handy buying guide with the help of nutritionist Kara Swanson.
- 10 Best Gluten-Free Pretzels in 2023 (Dietitian-Reviewed)Gluten-Free PretzelsAnyone who has to avoid gluten in their diet knows the struggle of finding good snack foods. If you're used to eating wheat-based snacks, gluten-free replacements can feel lacking in crunch and taste. Pretzels, which traditionally contain both wheat and malt, are a no-go. However, manufacturers are getting better and better at recreating the crunch and flavor we love with gluten-free ingredients and in different shapes like rods, sticks, and crisps.Snyder's of Hanover are pretzel experts, and their Gluten-Free Pretzel Sticks don't disappoint. We recommend the 100 calorie packs for on-the-go snacking. But that's not the only option; keep scrolling to see the rest of our top 10 best gluten-free pretzels. If you want to do some research first, check out our buying guide for helpful tips and information on gluten-free ingredients and more.
- 10 Best Store Bought Cookies in 2023 (Oreos, Chips Ahoy!, and More)Store Bought CookiesDo you have a sweet tooth and are looking for filling snacks you can munch on? Well, store-bought cookies are convenient to store at home and ready to be eaten anytime you want! There are many types of store-bought cookies, each with its own unique flavors that can satisfy your sweet cravings. There are so many options to choose from that is why we suggest you read on and check out our buying guide section to help you out.In this article, we selected the top ten best store-bought cookies to help you get started. Begin with our top pick: Chips Ahoy! Original Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are the classic go-to snack, adding chocolate chip cookies to the regular cookie dough. Read on for our other selections!
- 20 Best Tried and True Japanese Rice Crackers in 2023 (Kameda Seika, Echigo Seika, 7 Eleven, and More)Japanese Rice CrackersOur editors searched Japanese e-commerce sites (such as Rakuten, Amazon, and Yahoo! Shopping) for the best senbei, or rice crackers. We then chose the 20 most popular products and tested them all.We tested for the following:DeliciousnessWe focused on three things: how rich their flavor was, how strong their fragrance was, and how hard they were in terms of texture. Our combined impressions averaged out to a final score of deliciousness. We then compiled everything we learned into a buying guide about and a list of the best Japanese rice crackers.
Search by category
Apps
Business apps, Cooking apps, Dating appsHome goods
Bath supplies, Ceremonial occasion supplies, Cleaning suppliesHome electronics
Air conditioners and coolers, AV accessories, Blenders and food processorsPC
Computer supplies, Desktop computers, TabletsCamera
Camera bags and backpacks, Camera supplies, Digital single lens camerasBeauty
Blushes, Bronzers, CleansersHealth
Body care products, Health accessories, Health foods and supplementsFood and drinks
Alcohol, Breads and jams, Cocktails and ready-to-drink alcoholic beveragesKitchen
Coffee and tea products, Cooking utensils, CupsFashion
Footwear products, Men's shoes, SandalsShoes
Accessories
Wristwatches, Accessories and jewelry, Umbrellas and parasolsKids and baby
Baby carriers, Baby food, Baby formulaInterior
Beds, Beds and bedding, ChairsHobbies
Aromatherapy products, Art supplies, Arts and collectiblesOutdoor
Barbecue grills and fire pits, Camping beds and cots, Camping gearHome, garden, and tools
Agricultural materials and gardening supplies, Exterior and garden furniture, Materials and repairing agentsSports and fitness
Sports shoes, Surfing supplies, Badminton suppliesPets
Bird and small animal supplies, Cat supplies, Dog suppliesMedia
Books and magazines, CD, Children's books, picture books and illustrated encyclopediasGames
Gaming accessories, Nintendo Switch games, PC gamesAutomotive
Car accessories, Car navigation systemsGifts
Christmas gifts, Father's Day gifts, Gifts for childrenMobile devices
Mobile phone and smartphone accessories, Wearable devices and smart watches