Oreo Just Dropped A BTS Flavor Collab That The Internet Can't Stop Talking About, So I Tried It
The most hyped Oreo in years is finally here.
Every so often, Oreo gives us something to talk about with a new, limited-edition cookie. The flavors are as wide-ranging as Coca-Cola-flavored Oreos to a horchata-flavored Oreo in collaboration with Selena Gomez.
However, the brand's latest sandwich cookie is getting a reaction I've never seen before. Namely, because the flavor is a collaboration with K-pop supergroup BTS, inspired by the Korean street food, hotteok.
The reaction to the cookie has been intense. Take a look at Oreo's Instagram account. The brand's posts typically average a few thousand likes and, at most, a few hundred comments. As of writing this, the BTS cookie announcement has over 3 million likes and nearly 30 thousand comments.
Thanks to Oreo, I managed to get a pack early to try the cookies myself. Officially called "Brown Sugar Pancake Flavor Creme" flavor, the cookies are inspired by the Korean street food hotteok, a nod to the band's home country.
The Oreos are also purple (the BTS fanbase's signature color) and come in 13 cookie embossments to honor the band's 13th anniversary.
Okay, the cookie sounds fun, but why the huge reaction? Well, here's a little BTS pop culture lesson: The K-pop group has been an international sensation since their debut in 2013, thanks to their catchy music, multilingual discography, and uplifting message.
Their name stands for "Bangtan Sonyeondan" in Korean, which translates to "Bulletproof Boy Scouts." However, the band also uses the acronym "BTS" to stand for "Beyond the Scenes" (not to be confused with "behind the scenes").
The band has charted No. 1 albums faster than any group since the Beatles, has broken 23 Guinness World Records, and is the most-streamed band of all time on Spotify. Their fanbase, ARMY (Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth), is incredibly loyal. So, a BTS Oreo collab? They're all over it.
But was I going to be all over it? Now was the time to see.
The cookies have a vanilla wafer base (like Golden Oreos) and are filled with one layer of vanilla creme and one layer of brown sugar creme.
First question: Do they taste like hotteok? I found exactly one restaurant in New York (at least in my delivery range) that sold them and DoorDashed them to my apartment to do a proper comparison.
And... they taste nothing alike. For one, there's no cinnamon in the cookies, which hotteok are typically made with. And while walnuts are traditional in hotteok, I didn't detect any of that flavor in the Oreo. I guess this is a win for anyone with a nut allergy, but if Lay's can make vegetarian chips that taste like meat, surely Oreo can make nut-free, walnut-tasting cookies.
The second question: Are the cookies good? Well, I actually give a resounding yes. The pack was halfway gone before I had to put them on a high shelf and say, "Wait, I have to photograph these." They're perfectly delightful, tasting much more like American pancakes with vanilla and maple syrup. There's also a slight crunch from the brown sugar inside, adding some textural diversity. They don't taste like hotteok, nor even a regular Oreo (there's no chocolate), but something new that stands on its own.
Surprisingly, Oreo has never released an American pancake-flavored sandwich cookie. However, after doing some very serious journalistic research, I discovered that there are Maple Creme-flavored Oreos in Canada. Could they be made from the same formula, just repackaged? We need a boots-on-the-ground Canadian to do a side-by-side comparison.