Coles Belgian Dark Chocolate
In-house brands owned by supermarket chains don’t normally generate an ‘Oh, this must be really good’ response for most shoppers, this one included. Coles supermarkets are the largest chain here in Australia and have re-launched their home brand to one that is either a wish or an order: “You’ll Love Coles…” we hope? Or is it “or else”?
They have had a Belgian chocolate range out for a while now and I’ve studiously avoided it until my daughter, becoming increasingly wise to the fact that I’ll buy chocolate if it’s new to our household, kept going on about it every time we went shopping. Finally, when it was on offer at half price, we got ourselves a block.
The block was very plain looking and didn’t suggest anything other than a run of the mill taste was to come. Fingers were crossed that the dreaded C-word (compounded) wasn’t about to emerge. As I’ve come to discover however, looks can be deceiving. These innocuous squares of bittersweet bliss were delightful. Not overly creamy or easily dissolved but the kind of dark you can happily chew into, enjoying the solid cocoa taste and eagerly reaching for more. It is quite dense in texture and pleasantly filling and would go down a treat with a glass of red. It was also a relief to see that it contains 46% cocoa solids and no scary ingredients.
Intriguingly, the photo on the front of the wrapper is of a chap named Ignace Liebeert, who Coles have described as a ‘Master Chocolatier’. Well he’s certainly not bad. A bit of googling reveals that he is part of family-owned business ItaloSuisse, who produce over 55,000 of dark chocolate each day with about 60% of it heading overseas. Their website makes for an amusing read when translated:
“We are also very straddles the health and safety,” says Ignatius Libeert, Head of Sales. “Our approach is focused on quality, even for children. This is not the case in other countries, where one product the hyper cheap for them to be accessible directly to their scholarship.” The website goes on to describe their chocolate as “the subjects are hollow, they preferred the children, always sensitive to new figures.”
Hmmm, very intriguing; and delicious: even more so.
Posted by Kath on 20 May 2008 at 11:05 AM
| 3 Comments
Filed in Reviews under australia, belgian, coles, dark
May 20, 2008 : 4:57pm
“who produce over 55,000 of dark chocolate”
I assume you mean over 55,000 [bars] of dark chocolate? That’s an impressive assembly line.
May 21, 2008 : 5:17am
No, it’s actually 55,000 kilograms, which is even better!
October 10, 2008 : 11:26am
I was interested to see a full name to a face on a coles brand product and had to check it out. My family often have a laugh at coles branding and Ignace Liebeert was no exception. Lindt varieties were consumed in copious amounts now coles belgian chocolate is the trend. Ignace may not be a master chocolatier but at least he’s not just a model. Funny post, I had to respond.