It seems just about every major chocolate brand has an egg version around Easter these days. Obviously it’s really just a marketing exercise, but I still enjoy seeing the weird (and often pointless) products that like likes of Nestlé, Mars and Cadbury try to sell us at this time of year.
Unfortunately, this one falls squarely into the “pointless” category for me.
Once you’ve cut open the fairly bland plastic pouch, you’re greeted with the sweet aroma of…. well, absolutely nothing… and some equally bland looking cream coloured eggs.
When you bite into one of the eggs, that blandness is replaced by an all-encompassing sweetness. A sweet, but otherwise tasteless sugar shell with sweet, but otherwise tasteless white chocolate in the centre. I simply couldn’t pick up any other flavours.
I find that a little strange, as Nestlé also make the Smarties Mini Eggs in the egg I reviewed the other day. The sugar shell in those eggs has a distinctive flavour. But here, there’s nothing – just pure, unadulterated sugar.
Now don’t get me wrong. When I’m in the mood, I’m quite partial to the occasional Milky Bar, which is why I bought these in the first place. But I don’t really get any of the creaminess that I get from a full sized Milky Bar here either. I guess there’s just not enough filling even to pick up on that.
I really wish Nestlé had managed to do something a little more interesting with these. Either by taking away a bit of the sweetness of the shells, or adding some subtle flavours. But for me, they taste pretty much the same as eating sugar lumps, and that’s not something I do for fun – although I guess there are kids who will love them for exactly that reason.
The life of a chocolate reviewer isn’t all freebies arriving by special delivery and ‘I thought you’d enjoy these’ gifts from friends and relations. Sometimes one has to go out and track down interesting new products to sample, and these Nobbly Nibs are the first item I have ever bought from a Hotel Chocolat shop.
This is a speciality product, made from Ecuadorean cocoa nibs which are roasted and then smothered in 72% cocoa chocolate from the same estate and finished with a dusting of cocoa powder. It would appear that this is a co-production with a company called Confiserie Coppeneur, a German company.
There are two ways of approaching these nibs – throw a few in your mouth and slowly roll them around your mouth, or just chew them up whole. The first method allows you to experience the full range of tastes. An initial bittersweet tang from the cocoa powder is rapidly followed by a superbly smooth, creamy chocolate flooding your mouth as it begins to melt. Considering that the chocolate is 72%, it is remarkably light and smooth tasting. The final flavour note comes as your tongue finds the cocoa nibs themselves, and when you start to crunch down on them you are rewarded with the raw taste of roasted cocoa.
In essence what we have here are the three stages of cocoa, summarised in a single, delectable nibble. I really liked these moreish little nibs, and would love to sample some of the other types on offer. Well worth checking out, and compared to some of the HC range, quite affordable.
It’s Easter egg time again! This time we’ve got something a little cheaper than the Hotel Chocolat offerings we reviewed last week. And you can tell from a single look at the packaging that this egg is aimed at a completely different market. As you can see, everything about this egg shouts “Look at me!”. It’s quite obviously aimed at kids.
Inside the basic cardboard box is a milk chocolate egg, wrapped in thin blue foil. The chocolate is fairly standard Nestlé milk chocolate. It’s very sweet and tastes more of sugar than it does of cocoa… but at least it tastes of something, which is more than I can say for some Easter eggs I’ve had in the past. You could certainly do a lot worse.
Of course any kid (or adult chocolate reviewer) who receives this egg is really interested in the small bag Smarties mini eggs inside…
These are exactly what you’d expect them to be. They’re egg shaped Smarties. And for that reason alone, they rock.
There is something about Smarties that sets them apart from other similarly shaped chocolates. The chocolate is basic, and there’s not enough of it to get a decent idea of taste. The magic is in the shell. The bright colours and very subtle flavour make smarties deliciously moreish. And these mini eggs taste exactly like regular Smarties.
Needless to say, I ate them within 10 minutes – while I still have most of the chocolate shell over a week after purchasing it. But I still feel this egg was much better value than the Green & Black’s egg I reviewed last week. They are similarly priced, and the G&B egg obviously has better quality chocolate. But somehow this is just more fun – and that’s what an Easter egg should be.
This little column of chocolates has the distinction of being manufactured in the most Westerley chocolate factory in Europe – The Skelligs Chocolate Factory in County Kerry, Ireland. I quite literally came across the place by accident whilst driving around the Ring of Kerry last year. We drove past a sign advertising the place, and it was a case of brakes on, u-turn and straight in for a chat and some shopping.
Cocoa Bean have ‘moved in’ with Skelligs, but the two companies retain their separate identities. These chocolates are the work of two sisters who obviously love their work. The website gives you some idea of how passionate they are about producing great tasting chocolates using the finest ingredients they can find.
It’s worth letting the photos tell the story of the contents:
The chocolate used in this selection is primarily a 60% dark chocolate. It’s very smooth, with a lovely mouth feel and a combination of light citrus taste and rich cocoa notes. The flavours added to the (hand wrapped) chocolates are mainly quite subtle. No explosions of mint or fiery cinnamon, more like a gentle hint of each flavour as the chocolate melts. The Espresso chocolate had a coffee bean studded into each of the four squares, the hazelnut does indeed contain crushed nuts, and the cinnamon block has a grainy texture from the ground cinnamon in the mixture, but at no time do these flavours overpower the important taste – a well blended, smooth, rich tasting dark chocolate.
It’s pretty obvious from the packaging, the website, and the product that the sisters are passionate about their work. The product is made with love, and the packaging reflects a young, bright, funky feel to the whole operation. Cocoa Bean are part of the ‘new wave’ of chocolatiers – people dedicated to revolutionising chocolate and experimenting constantly to produce new and exciting flavour combinations for us al to enjoy. Fair play to them for that!
As well as being stocked by retailers all over Ireland, it is also possible to buy Cocoa Bean’s products in Harvey Nichols and Cocoa in Sheffield. Obviously they have plans to increase the number of outlets that stock their chocolates.
