Lindt Creation Creme Brulee

Place purchased: Lindt Chocolate Shop 

Price: $5

Number of reviewers: 7

Appearance - 7.9

The Lindt Creation Creme Brulee bar is segmented into large, square pieces. The bar consists of milk chocolate and a cream-colored filling with occasional dark pieces of burnt sugar. The ingredients lists wafer pieces, which seem to be the same color as the cream filling. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.9

The bar tastes mostly sweet and milky until the flavor of the burnt sugar pieces is unleashed by biting into them. Then the taste becomes overwhelmingly bitter. Also, the wafer pieces impart a faint cardboard flavor. 

E: Flavor is weak and a little cardboard-y.
G: Great taste! Can taste the creme brulee filling very easily. 
J: Good, but not much stands out in terms of a different/distinguishing factor. 
S: Creamy - like custard. Has a slight burnt sugar note at the end.

Texture - 7.4

The chocolate and cream filling are both soft and rich. In contrast, the burnt sugar pieces are hard and crunchy, and the wafer pieces are slightly crispy. 

D: Would like more of a snap. 
E: Chocolate is too firm and filling is a bit too dense. 
G: Get a hint of crunch - reminiscent of creme brulee topping. 
J: I like the small/slight crunch that comes with the center fillings. 
S: Has crunchy pieces in it.

Aftertaste - 6.9

The aftertaste is very bitter from the burnt sugar. The cream center gives a less intense dairy flavor. 

D: Good quality milk chocolate for those who are into that kind of thing. 
E: Fatty, a little sour, and bitter caramel.
G: Great aftertaste of creme brulee. 
J: Milky, dairy. 
S: Burnt sugar and chocolate. 

Overall - 7.8

Overall, the burnt sugar pieces were incredibly bitter and diminished my liking of the bar despite its otherwise sweet and creamy flavor. If the Lindt Creation Creme Brulee bar contained caramelized sugar, rather than burnt sugar, like the ingredients list states, the bar would have tasted much better. 

D: Very tasty milk chocolate goes great with cream filling. 
E: Not a huge fan - aftertaste is a bit sour/bitter and the flavor and taste are lacking. 

Meiji Assam Chai

Place purchased: napajapan.com

Price: $2.99

Number of reviewers: 4 

Appearance - 6.0

The box of Assam Chai chocolate contains six individually wrapped, long and thin sticks. The sticks look like milk chocolate with the exception of tiny black specks of spices throughout the chocolate.  

Flavor and Taste - 6.5

The chocolate starts out with a sweet and milky flavor. Then the chai flavor becomes prominent. Oddly enough, the flavor of the chocolate is not detectable. 

C: Starts off sweet and then the spices build, get milky texture at front and a little bit of milk chocolate.
E: Decidedly chai flavored - spices way overpower the chocolate. 
S: Milky, cinnamon/clove, taste like a dilute chai tea. Didn't really taste the chocolate. 

Texture - 7.0

The texture is soft and incredibly smooth. 

C: Creamy.
E: Pretty creamy.
S: Creamy.

Aftertaste - 6.0

The sweetness of the chocolate and flavor of the spices linger. 

C: The milky/creamy taste (which is kind of unpleasant) stays and the spices linger too. 
E: Spicy and a little dairy -pleasant but not fresh. 
S: Chai tea.

Overall - 6.5

The Meiji Assam Chai chocolate tastes very much like sweet chai tea with milk. Though, this is intended to be chai flavored chocolate, and it tastes nothing of chocolate. Despite the lack of chocolate flavor, I think this would be excellent as an autumn or winter product. 

C: I don't really like chai, but this was okay. 
E: Interesting as a novelty and pretty tasty, but I wouldn't eat it all the time. 

Candy Hunting - Cherry Cola Pop Rocks

Place found: Cracker Barrel

Cherry Cola Pop Rocks are back after about 8 years! They follow Cherry Cola Twizzlers in what seems to be the start of a new cherry cola flavor trend.

Lindt Hello My Name Is Dark Chocolate Cookie

Place purchased: Target 

Price: $0.99

Number of reviewers: 3

Appearance - 7.8

The Lindt Dark Chocolate Cookie bar is segmented into six pieces. The bar consists of a dark chocolate shell with a thick dark chocolate filling studded with chocolate cookie pieces. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.7

The chocolate coating and filling both taste like chocolate halfway between milk and dark. The cookie pieces taste like slightly darker chocolate and add some bitterness. Though, the overall flavor of the bar is very one-note. 

C: Nice creamy dark chocolate that is the right amount of bitter and sweet. 
S: Good chocolate, slightly chalky and bitter. 

Texture - 7.8

The filling is incredibly rich, like chocolate ganache. The dense texture is juxtaposed by the abundant crunchy cookie bits in the filling. 

C: Very creamy, but velvety and smooth, and the cookies pieces add nice contrast. 
S: I like the crunchy pieces in it. 

Aftertaste - 7.3

The aftertaste is a combination of lingering sweetness and bitterness from the chocolate. 

C: Creamy chocolate. 
S: Slightly bitter. 

Overall - 7.7

The Lindt Hello My Name Is Dark Chocolate Cookie bar has a good chocolate flavor between milk and dark chocolate and an enjoyable textural contrast between the rich filling and cookie pieces. Essentially, this chocolate bar is a dark chocoalte Lindt Lindor bar with bits of chocolate cookie. Quite delicious. 

C: Super yummy! 

Sky Bar Tropical

Sky Bar Tropical is the new variation of NECCO's Sky Bar, which was introduced in 1938. Sky Bars are segmented into four pieces, each with a different filling. The Tropical Sky Bar contains orange, banana, coconut, and strawberry fillings rather than the caramel, vanilla, peanut, and fudge fillings found in the original Sky Bar. Sky Bar Tropical follows Tropical NECCO wafers introduced last year. 

Place purchased: Free sample from the Sweets & Snacks Expo

Number of reviewers: 2

Appearance - 7.5

Sky Bar Tropical has a milk chocolate shell segmented into four pieces. The segments contain runny filling, each of a different flavor: orange, banana, coconut, and strawberry. While the orange flavored filling is orange in color, the banana and coconut fillings are white. The strawberry filling is very light pink. 

Flavor and Taste - 3.5

Orange

The orange flavor is extremely artificial. It reminds me of Tang powder. This one is pretty bad.  
E: Medicinal, not pleasant. 

Banana

The banana flavor is strong and also tastes artificial, like banana taffy. 
E: ISOAMYL ACETATE. Overpoweringly fake. 

Coconut

The coconut flavor tastes somewhat like sunscreen. This is the weakest and most tolerable of the flavors. 
E: Best yet. Like an Almond Joy. 

Strawberry 

Unsurprisingly, the strawberry flavor also tastes artificial. It also has some tartness to it. 
E: Like fruit flavored marshmallow. Fake. 

The milk chocolate and fillings are incredibly sweet. 
E: All too sweet. 

Texture - 5

All of the pieces have a soft, gooey filling. The milk chocolate is slightly dry in the beginning, then becomes a little gummy and chewy. The coconut filling has a few tiny coconut shreds mixed into the filling, which add a little crunchiness and chewiness. The banana filling seemed to solidify as I chewed it and stuck to my teeth. 

E: Chocolate is kind of chalky, otherwise like a Cadbury egg. 

Aftertaste - 5

The aftertaste for all the pieces is mainly just sweetness and the flavor of milk chocolate. The orange piece has a slight bitterness not present in the other flavors. 

E: So sweet! Chocolate a little stale. 

Overall - 4

Overall, the combination of artificial fruit flavored fillings and overly sweet milk chocolate was unappetizing. Also, I do not understand why strawberry would be included as a tropical fruit. 

E: Would not seek out again. Too sweet and flavors taste very artificial. 

Candy Hunting: New Coco Bites

Anastasia Confections recently announced their new product Coco Bites. Beginning in September, Original, Key Lime, Piña Colada, and Rum Coco Bites will be available in 6 oz, 12-piece resealable bags. Original and Assorted (Original, Key Lime, and Piña Colada) will also be available in 12 oz, 24-piece bags. All of the Coco Bites are coated in dark chocolate and individually wrapped. 

Meiji Rich Strawberry

Place purchased: napajapan.com

Price: $3.25

Number of reviewers: 5

Appearance - 6.6

The Meiji Rich Strawberry bar is pink with darker pink strawberry flecks. The strawberry bar is also very thin.

E: Alarmingly pink. I feel like it's going to be grainy or medicinal, and I haven't tried it yet. 
J: I like the pink color, but usually it makes it seem like it will be white chocolate. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.1

The Meiji Rich Strawberry bar contains dried strawberries in white chocolate. The strawberry flavor takes time to develop. Initially the bar tastes like nothing, then becomes sweet. An intense strawberry flavor follows along with a more subtle milky, dairy flavor. The strawberry flavor is incredibly similar to that of strawberry Pez. 

C: The strawberry flavor is excellent. Tastes like strawberry ice cream.
E: It does taste like strawberry... But there is this weird, waxy lag-period before the flavor hits that is off-putting.
J: Fruity strawberry, slight tang, no chocolate taste whatsoever. The strawberry seems artificial.
S: Very strawberry, sweet, tastes like a strawberry filled granola bar. Yummy! Not artificial tasting at all!  

Texture - 6.8

The bar is creamy and smooth until the white chocolate dissipates. The remaining dried strawberry flecks have a grainy texture. 

C: Nice and creamy.
E: It is grainy...
J: Some slight textural differences from specks of strawberry in the chocolate.

Aftertaste - 6.8

The aftertaste is sweet with the same strawberry Pez flavor. 

C: Strawberry and creamy. 
E: Intense strawberry, but a little artificial. 
J: Strawberry. 
S: Sweet, a little acidic. 

Overall - 6.9

Overall, the Meiji Rich Strawberry has a very strong strawberry flavor while retaining the texture of white chocolate. It is worth trying if you are interested in trying candy from Japan or like berry-flavored confections. 

Dairy Milk Bubbly Mint

Place purchased: Canada

Number of reviewers: 7

Appearance - 7.7

The Dairy Milk Bubbly Mint bar is segmented into different sized bubble-shaped pieces. The bar has an aerated milk chocolate base below a white, mint-flavored layer and another coating of milk chocolate. The thickness of the mint layer in each piece differs due to the variation in height of each piece. 

E: Really bubbly! Intriguing, but mostly weird. 
J: Cool raised and interesting aerated appearance. 
S: I really like the bubbly chocolate bar.

Flavor and Taste - 7.1

At first, the flavor is mostly just sweet milk chocolate. The mint flavor develops as the chocolate is chewed and the milk chocolate flavor dissipates. The mint flavor is slightly cooling from the menthol in the peppermint oil.

C: Nice minty flavor, reminds me of Andes mints, but a little bit creamier. 
E: Disappointing. Way too sweet, kind of sour, and ultimately lacking in punch. 
J: Great cool mint flavor. Sweet chocolate.
L2: Minty is good, not too much. 
S: Soft mint, blends well with the chocolate.
Y: Overall yummy. A little sweet to me, though. 

Texture - 7.2

The mint layer is thick and creamy in comparison to the aerated chocolate, which is rather crumbly. While this does provide textural contrast, it is not a pleasant one. 

C: Nice and creamy, soft.
E: Crumbly and chewy simultaneously. 
J: Very smooth and creamy chocolate. The air bubbles aren't doing much for me. 
L2: Smooth mouthfeel.
S: Interesting when you let it melt on your tongue. Creamy. Top half is creamy, but thicker.
Y: Smooth and soft.

Aftertaste - 6.8

The aftertaste is pepperminty and slightly sweet. 

C: Minty chocolate. 
E: Weird, medicinal minty aftertaste.
J: Mostly mint.
S: Mint is stronger in the aftertaste. 
Y: Clean. 

Overall - 7.2

Overall, I enjoyed the flavor of the Dairy Milk Bubbly Mint bar and how it transitions from milk chocolate to mint. I do not think the aerated chocolate works well in this application, however, as it gives a crumbly texture when chewing. 

E: Really not a fan. 
J: Great candy!