Korona Espresso Tablets

Sometimes it isn’t that easy being an International Chocablogger. Take, for instance, my recent visit to Kiev. As is the case with so many European countries, there are kiosks on the streets which sell cigarettes, sweets, alcohol and foodstuffs. The difference here was that they were sealed AND attended by non-English speakers. Having no command whatsoever of Ukranian, I was reduced to trying to point at various products in an attempt to purchase a small selection of what was available.

This box of twelve Espresso flavoured ‘tablets’ are manufactured by Kraft/Jacobs, and I’m afraid that beyond the fact that they contain 6% coffee, I can only guess at the cocoa content. There is a “75%” somewhere in the ingredients list, but the three languages it was printed in were all Cyrillic, and so I’m at a bit of a loss to translate.

Anyway, as soon as I opened the box, slid out the gold foil wrapped tray and tore it open, I was immediately informed that these were indeed coffee chocolates. The rich, dark aromas of coffee and chocolate were only to eager to introduce themselves!

When it came to tasting these little oblongs, I was impressed with the first taste. A good, strong chocolate taste backed up with a rich, deep coffee flavour. The centre of each chocolate was made up of a soft paste which wasn’t very sweet at all, and delivered a healthy belt of coffee.

How unfortunate then that my taste experience should end with what can only be described as instant coffee granules loose in my mouth. Yes, as the filling melted away I found that I was left with a multitude of small grains of coffee flavoured something, and instant coffee granules is about the best way of describing them. As someone who hasn’t partaken of a cup of ‘instant’ for a good few years, I found myself wondering why on earth anyone would want to incorporate ‘pretend’ coffee into what would appear to be a premium product. Then I remembered who had made it. Kraft probably have silos full of instant coffee, and they probably just came up with a new way of shifting some of it.

A very promising start with an ultimately disappointing finish. Shame.

Posted by Simon on 02 Nov 2008 at 02:11 PM | 3 Comments
Filed in Reviews under coffee, korona, kraft, ukraine