The method was used to create the now iconic filled biscuits known as Koala’s March, which debuted in Japan in 1984 to celebrate the arrival of the first koalas from Australia.

Two years later, the biscuits came to Hong Kong. In the United States, where they were released in 1990, the snacks were known as Koala Yummies.

According to Lotte’s Koala’s March minisite – which includes a rather adorable profile page for the brand’s two koala representatives, March and his girlfriend, Waltz – there are more than 600 official designs that can be found on the biscuits, although only 365 are manufactured.

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Somewhere along the line, snack fanatics began whispering about one of the more elusive designs known as “eyebrow koala”, where the animal – with, yes, two distinct eyebrows – seems to be playing a small trumpet.

On Lotte’s website, it’s listed under the “Celebrations & lucky charms” section of its koala design portfolio, and legend has it that anyone who can find an eyebrow koala in their pack will receive great fortune.

According to Lotte, this myth began to circulate among high school students from 1988. They believed that finding an eyebrow koala would bring them good grades in exams.

The myth has endured. In November 2019, 100 per cent of respondents who took a survey about urban legends they believed in, on the Japanese polling website Goo Ranking, indicated that they do, in fact, believe that finding an eyebrow koala in a pack of Koala’s March will bring them good luck.

Back in 2012, a snack enthusiast known as Higashikawaguchi Hiroshi Expedition decided to document his search for the eyebrow koala in a now-legendary post on Japanese food website Entabe.

Roping in his colleagues, the man purchased 100 boxes of Koala’s March biscuits in the name of research.

Starting the investigation, they asserted that, on average, there were around 23 to 24 biscuits in each of the regular-sized hexagonal boxes. In a sample size of 2,340 biscuits, they found just 17 eyebrow koalas – a hit rate of not even 1 per cent, and a probability of one in 138 of finding one, he noted.

The post inspired at least two Hongkongers to follow in his footsteps.

“As a Chinese kid growing up in Canada, I always knew about the Koala’s March biscuits because they are in every Chinese grocery store,” says finance professional Wilson Lo, who is behind the food Instagram account @hungrygrumpster.

Lo says he found out about the eyebrow koala legend in 2009, via a Japanese colleague.

“For some reason, we had a pack of them and she was telling us how it was lucky to find one with eyebrows, and how she had never seen one,” he recalls. “This obviously made me want to find it, because, really?”

In the 14 years since Lo first heard about the fabled biscuit, he has managed to find only one, he says.

“I thought, ‘What a stupid way to waste time. I’m going to do it’,” she laughs.

“I unfortunately did not find the elusive eyebrow koala, but I did find the equally coveted ‘cecal’ [appendicitis] koala after going through a little over 20 individual packs,” she says, referring to another rare design – also known as ‘feeling sick koala’ – that shows a crying koala with an X-shaped scar on the side of its belly.

According to legend, finding this particular design will heal you from a broken heart.

However, in 2019 a Lotte represent­ative in Japan debunked the myth in an interview with the country’s Withnews platform.

When asked whether it was true that the eyebrow and cecal koalas are extremely rare designs, Tatsuya Ebata said that there is no set quota for how many of each design are made: “It’s just an urban legend.”

While the chances of finding these two elusive designs are slim, perhaps the real pleasure lies in documenting all the different ones you come across each time you open a pack.

Its Classic Childhood Memories collection includes a Bear Cookie cake – layers of vanilla sable, hazelnut sponge cake, milk chocolate ganache and hazelnut mousse – moulded into the signature hourglass shape and topped with a layer of chocolate that features a line drawing of a bear cradling a croissant.

“Childhood memories have always been an inspiration in what we do. There’s a sense of nostalgia in pastry, no matter where you are in the world,” Ansel says.

“Even though I’m French, the koala bear snacks are something I’ve known and loved for years, whether I’m in Hong Kong or at my local Asian market or convenience store [in New York].”

Outside food, designers have incorporated this instantly recognisable biscuit into their products, too, from coin purses to cushions.

Hong Kong-based White Puppy Workshop, which specialises in woodworking, offers classes where students can learn how to carve their own set of wooden koala biscuits – and create custom designs.

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“While the shape of the biscuit is pretty much the same, each design can be different,” says founder Chow Yun-han. “We can be more creative with it.”

“Also, you can’t really make it too realistic because I have actually seen people who try and eat the ‘biscuits’,” she laughs.

Even luxury brands are marching to the beat of the koala’s drum. In March, Japan’s Lotte collaborated with Swiss fine watch brand Franck Muller to release a limited-edition flavour and designs of Koala’s March biscuits.

The lemon-tart-inspired biscuits featured a white chocolate filling enhanced with Japanese lemon zest, while the biscuits incorporated fermented butter for a more luxurious touch.

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Twenty-four unique designs were included, combining the iconic koala characters with the watch brand’s signature numerals and logo.

In a fun twist, the tops and bottoms of the cardboard box featured a watch face, with which you could use the rest of the packaging to create your own pretend timepiece.

Might this open up a new door for all kinds of design collaborations? The possibilities are quite literally endless, much like the roster of new Koala’s March flavours that are being introduced at regular intervals.

If you have a collector mentality, it’s easy to understand the success behind the brand.

“I love how extra it is. People made a conscious effort to come up with a bajillion different koala designs,” says So, who admits that she ate a handful of the biscuits daily for a week while seeking the special designs.

“I mean, do we need a biscuit printed with a koala that’s dancing the hula? Probably not. But we have it anyway, and I love that.”