I spotted this bar (along with its siblings) in John Lewis and I have to admit, it was the packaging that caught my eye. A cardboard box with a 50s style colourised photo and a funny caption. On closer inspection, I discovered the caption wasn’t particularly amusing, and that was when I remembered that we’d encountered Heavens Above before (and the reaction wasn’t particularly good).
I bought the entire range (only 3 bars) to see if things had improved.
When I got home I inspected the box further and noticed two things. Firstly, the blurb on the back:
A tongue in cheek range of scrumptious chocolate gifts with a hint of naughtiness.. only for those with a ‘taste’ of humour
That’s a little worrying. I always get a little concerned when a product feels the need to tell you how much fun it is, or that you’ve got to be a very special person to appreciate it.
The second thing I noticed was that the ingredients simply list “coffee flavour” – which I presume means some kind of artificial flavouring rather than real coffee.
Inside the box, the chocolate itself is wrapped in cellophane rather than foil, which just looks cheap. Potentially another sign that this chocolate isn’t quite as good as it claims to be.
The bar itself is fairly pleasant to look at and has a nice, mild, coffee aroma. It’s nothing special. The “chunks” aren’t particularly well defined, and there’s no logo stamped on them. So far, everything about this bar reminds me of the awful Montezuma’s range I reviewed last year.
So I was actually pleasantly surprised when I bit off a chunk. The 30% milk chocolate is smooth and creamy. The coffee taste is just right. It’s not so strong that it over powers the chocolate flavour. I ended up demolishing this bar in half an hour (without even noticing I was eating it).
Despite all my reservations, this bar is actually pretty good. My issue is that it’s trying to be a premium chocolate, and it’s clearly missing the mark there. I paid £3.50 for this 70g bar of chocolate, which is way over the odds. If it were under £1.50 – or simply made with better quality ingredients and more attention to detail – I’d recommend it. But at that price, I don’t think I can.
As we’re probably all aware, the major supermarkets have been quick to spot the rise in popularity of good quality chocolate and have been busily creating their own premium chocolate. Well, whereas many of the majors have produced premium ‘own branded’ chocs, Tescos have engaged the services of a (or started their own) different company – Cocopia.
As well as producing various sized boxes of assorted ‘themed’ chocolates, they’ve also cunningly decided to make a range of taster boxes and slabs available. Obviously, not all of the chocolates available in the bigger boxes can be bought in a ‘six-pack’, but it’s a good way of trying out a few items to see how they shape up.
Salted caramel isn’t a new concept. As our readers know, both Green & Black’s and Hotel Chocolat have been adding sea salt to caramel to take the sweet edge off and add a more sophisticated twist to a traditional flavour, so the real question being asked here was whether or not Cocopia had managed to produce a top class version of something others have already achieved.
The shells of these truffles are 70% cocoa dark chocolate – VERY thick dark chocolate.
The chocolate itself is a lovely dark, bittersweet blend with a very pleasant citrus topnote which is tempered beautifully by the salt/sweet hit of the caramel interior. The shells are so substantial that they outlast the caramel by a long way. I found my tongue seeking out the last of the caramel from the hollow in the shell before the rest of the shell melted away.
I can see why Tesco might want to give their posh chocs a new brand name. The Cocopia brand and packaging immediately put them on the ‘top shelf’ in the eye of the consumer, and the chocolates themselves are definitely worthy of ‘poshness’. They are, naturally, a little pricier than your everyday chocs, but not as expensive as other well known premuim brand chocolates. I doubt they’d sell half as well if they came in a blue and white box with the Tesco branding on them! Clever marketing on the part of Tesco, excellent product from their chocolatiers. Keep and eye out for Cocopia and treat yourself sometime.
As regular Chocablog readers would know, I have not been a fan of Cadbury’s foray into the ridiculous sounding (and tasting) ‘Desserts’ range using their Dairy Milk chocolate, declaring it a disaster and tasting insultingly inedible. In addition, their ‘Eden’ brand – which is deliberately set up to try and capture a share of the posh-end of the choccie spectrum – has also been eagerly tasted but left me similarly under-whelmed. Thirdly, whilst throwing out the ‘Boysenberry Shortcake’ block in disappointment, I always wondered why Cadders weren’t trying to do more with their ‘Old Gold’ dark chocolate varieties.
Well, bless their sweet little cocoa-flavoured hearts, they’re making a start by releasing a 70% cocoa block under the ‘Old Gold’ banner. Well, it’s better than a start really, more like a home-run on their first try.
This 250g slab of paradise is, quite honestly, the best 70% dark chocolate I have ever tasted. It hits the spot in terms of strength of cocoa flavour but does it with a teasing hint of sweetness and a far smoother texture and mouth feel compared to the sometimes grittier versions in other brands. It melts on the tongue quite easily and somehow has a creamier constitution that doesn’t end with the bitterness sucking out all of the moisture from your mouth.
As you can see from the glamorous shot above, it was sampled (actually, a couple of blocks were ‘sampled’) during a house boat holiday on the Murray River, hence the dodgy Arcopal plate resting on the sensible plastic tablecloth, so my expectations weren’t too high. How completely wrong I was. The other guests on board agreed with me, and ranged in ages from eight to forty eight. This wonderful stuff was enjoyed with steaming cups of tea, freshly-brewed coffee, cold glasses of milk and iced coffee. It also coped with being sampled late at night over an ancient version of Trivial Pursuit, with a glass of Aussie cabernet sauvignon which is unusual for red wine and chocolate to pair up without a bit of a tussle with the tastebuds..
Well done, Cadbury, for making such a magnificent block of chocolate that is not only the most delicious, but also rests firmly – and proudly – in the affordable price range. This can be something that can be eaten as often as your taste buds and waistbands will allow. Boy am I looking forward to winter this year!
Other countries may get new KitKat varieties on a daily basis, but here in the UK it’s been a while since we’ve seen any new flavours. So I was pleasantly surprised when my routine scan of the local sweet shop shelves turned up something new.
KitKat Senses is quite easy to describe. It’s Nestlé’s answer to Kinder Bueno. Milk chocolate finger with wafer and a creamy hazelnut filling. But it has a lot to live up to if it’s going to compete with Bueno.
As you can see, you get a single finger per pack divided into five chunks, each embossed with the KitKat logo. It looks pretty good and is still vaguely recognisable as a KitKat. It certainly looks more appetising than some KitKats I could mention.
When you bite into it, you get a satisfying crunch of wafer followed by the soft (if slightly too sweet) filling. But this is much heavier than a Bueno. There’s more wafer to get through and the cream filling just isn’t as light or smooth.
I’d still buy this again though. If I had to choose between this and Bueno, the Kinder chocolate would win every time – but don’t let that put you off trying it and deciding for yourself.
Update: Nestlé’s PR people just sent us this video of the KitKat Senses launch which apparently happened yesterday. It’s obviously a product aimed at girls, making my review somewhat irrelevant. But I still say Bueno is a whole lot nicer.
