Miso Soup Face Off

Many mornings, and afternoons, at work I like to have miso soup. It warms me up and fills me up with very little effort and calories. Recently I bought the Kikkoman brand as well as Trader Joe's to have a little contest between the two.
Each of them come in a little packet that I pour into my coffee cup and then add hot water to. I don't measure the water, simply add enough so the salt isn't too overpowering. I then let it sit for a minute so the tofu, seaweed and scallions can reconstitute a bit. I happen to love and adore miso soup and have read many times that it is a breakfast staple in Japan, and they seem to be healthy, so I have added it to my morning routine. Well I never really eat breakfast and just much on what's around if I'm hungry (carrots, an apple, string cheese, jelly beans, depends on what I have in my office. You know that they say- jelly beans, the breakfast of champions!) The first miso I tried was the Kikkoman. It was full of authentic miso flavor, as well as soft disks of tofu and the seaweed that I adore. This was just lovely. And for under $3.00 for 3 packets, not so bad a deal.

Next up was the Trader Joe's, pictured above. I was excited about this because my roommate hoards this stuff because it is apparently hard to find. Sort of like the TJ's couscous. WTF happened to that stuff? I used to get it and now it has disappeared. I asked once when I was shopping and they said it had something to do with the distributor. Whatever, I want my couscous back. Ok, back to Miso. TJ's came with little squares of tofu that never really softened up. They had the consistency of astronaut ice cream or something. NOT a good thing. And the flavor of the soup was just meh. It was grainy and too salty even though I added a crap load of water.
This is a no brainer, but the winner is...