Review: Nestlé KitKat Chunky Caramel

This offering is described as a “Crunchy wafer with a caramel layer (19, 1%) coated in milk chocolate (61, 8%)”. The wafer and caramel proposition exists in so many versions, that it seems manufacturers have two choices if they wish to produce a bar that stands out. Either they can choose to do a really nice no frills bar or they can try to create a new proposition altogether and while Nestlé have done things a little bit different with this one I do not feel that the attempt is altogether successful.

The wrapper is OK looking, though the yellow colour does not particularly well illustrate that this is a caramel offering. The bar is not particularly attractive and certainly the chocolate inside the wrapper is nowhere near as attractive looking as the image on the outisde. For one thing, the caramel and chocolate separating the layers on the image is nowhere near as pronounced as it appears on the image. The chocolate covering is a little lacklustre and could have been shinier. Appearance: 6 out of 10.

The aromas are mostly of coffee and malt with burnt notes. The chocolate is disappointingly absent in this one, despite thw wafew being covered with a thick layer. Aroma: 6, 5 out of 10.

As with the White Chunky KitKat I rewived here, the texture of the thick covering is quite nice, However, the wafer in this one was – for some reason - much duller unfortunately ruining the texture. If this is due to the extra filling in comparison to the white I think here is a good opportunity to go back and see if the texture can be improved upon. Texture: 6 out of 10

This bar has sweet malty and coffee like flavours though in terms of chocolate the milk chocolate was flavour wise very absent. The caramel flavour is not like sweet, soft and chewy toffee as you find in say a Mars bar. It is rather a coffee tasting flavour with a burnt flavour (no meant in an unpleasent way). While it does not taste bad, it is in my opinion very uninteresting and lacks character. Flavour: 6, 5.

Average: 6, 5 out of 10.

Review: KitKat Chunky White Chocolate

This offering is supposedly the same as the “plain” Chunky KitKat with milk chocolate except that it is covered with white chocolate. I for one like the “chunky” texture much better than the regular as I think the more substantial chocolate layer (and wafer) better supports the texture of the wafer/chocolate proposition.

My only concern here was the quality of the white chocolate. With many such propositions, such as the Lion bar I reviewed here, the white chocolate is replaced with white "frosting" and indeed “white chocolate” did not appear on the wrapper. In contrast, the wrapper of this one describes it as a “Crisp wafer in white chocolate”, unambiguously stating that this is the real McCoy. I am happy to report that white chocolate is indeed an ingredient in this offering and though it may not be of the highest it much to be preferred over white “frosting”.

The wrapper is OK looking and gives a good idea of the proposition. The white chocolate appears quite decent and the whole thing looks nice in cross section too. Appearance: 8 out of 10.

The aroma is very sweet and very buttery (both of dairy as well as cocoa butter) as well as a hint of vanilla. I think the aroma is slghtly overdone in this bar. Aroma: 6 out of 10.

The texture is very well done. It has a nice chunky crisp to it with an initially substantial wafer coated with a thick layer chocolate. While the crisp of the wafer is quite quickly gone the thick covering melt at a nice and slow pace providing it with a quite nice overall texture which is technically quite well executed. Texture: 8 out of 10.

Flavour wise this is quite sweet as should be expected of a white chocolate and a generously thick one at that. There is a clear taste of wafer with just a touch of malt/honey notes, though the flavour as such is rather uncomplex and unspectacular. I am glad that this bar has real white chocolate in it, and though it is not of the finest quality, it is much to bepreddered over white covering. Flavour: 7 out of 10.

I think this bar delivers exactly what it should do, namely deliver a those with a sweet tooth with a nice and uncomplicated sweet/snack. I consider this bar superior to the Milk Choclate Chunky KitKat and I think it should have a broad appeal and thus good potential for becoming quite popular. However, it seems that many consumers top choice is not that of white chocolate which may stand in the way of this bar.

Average: 7, 25 out of 10.

Review: Nestlé KitKat Chunky

This review of the KitKat Chunky wraps up this week’s exclusive KitKat reviews. While I don’t have all reviews in place for next week, I can reveal that it will feature a test case examining the same chocolate in two formats: one in a thin bar versus a thicker bar. It should be interesting to see how, if at all, flavour, texture and/or consistency are affected by changing this one parameter. So be sure to check in Tuesday to see what’s cooking.

As opposed to other KitKat Bars, such as the dark and regular, the “chunky” comes as a single giant wafer covered with milk chocolate, rather than four fingers of the above mentioned varieties thus making it more compact. And I for one consider the chunky style superior to the regular KitKat.

I consider the colour only slightly better than the KitKat regular. I am not sure whether this is because the chocolate covering is somewhat thicker or due to a different type of chocolate. Appearance: 6 out of 10.

The aroma of this one much stronger, than the regular KitKat and smells of milk chocolate, bread and butter, the butter aroma not being entirely pleasant. Aroma: 7 out of 10.

The texture of this bar is, in my opinion, superior to both the regular and dark Kit Kats I reviewed earlier this week. The chocolate covering seems thicker and the wafer is crispier as well. And these factors definitely improve the melt and mouth feel. Texture: 7, 5 out of 10.

Flavour wise this proposition is very much similar to the regular KitKat even if the proportions are somewhat different. The flavours as with the regular KitKat are that of bread (wafer) with a little salt, and sweetness and with the same lack of characteristic flavour and vanilla. Flavour: 6, 5 out of 10.

Overall I think this bar works slightly better mostly due to its chunky character.

Average: 6, 75 out of 10.

Review: KitKat Dark, Nestlé

As promised here is the second review in a week devoted entirely the Kit Kat reviews. If you haven't followed this blog Monday's blog post reviewed the regular Kit Kat here. This post will deal with the dark KitKat offering and Sunday's review will be off the chunky KitKat. So be sure to check up this week's last KitKat review Sunday.

Dark chocolate has – whether justified or not - a better reputation than its milk and white counterparts. And manufacturers are producing a number of items in their range in dark chocolate version and this is also the case with the KitKat Dark described as “Dark chocolate covered wafer fingers”. In fact Nestlé also produces a 70% chocolate KitKat, not to be confused with this one, which is lighter, containing 52% min. cocoa solids in the chocolate.

As such it does qualify as dark chocolate, which is commonly understood to contain 50% min. cocoa solids (and no addition of dairy products), in contrast to a different version of this bar which reportedly contains (or contained) only 40% cocoa solids.

At any rate I find the wrapper to be a bit more stylish than the milk chocolate variety. Certainly the wrapper signals that this is a dark chocolate which fulfils its function in indicating what kind of bar this is. This is good, at least if you think that this is indeed is a dark and is chocolate. More importantly the chocolate itself looks much nicer than the milk variety and is brown and shiny. Appearance: 7, 5 out of 10.

However, I find the fragrance of this one to be much inferior to the regular KitKat. The dark chocolate smells sweet but with unpleasant smoke, which is quite dominating. Aroma: 6 out of 10.

Texture wise this offering is quite similar to the regular KitKat. The chocolate has a nice melt, even though the wafer could be a little crispier, though it certainly is not dull which is a pitfall of many a wafer based bar. Texture: 7 out of 10.

Flavour wise the wafer appeared to be much the same as the milk variety. At any rate I was not able to taste any significant difference. However, I found the dark chocolate musty, old with a very unpleasant bitter off taste which ruins this offering altogether. For the record the bar was not too old and it did not show any signs of incorrect storage conditions, such as dull wafer or white specks on the chocolate, which is sometimes the case. Flavour: 5 out of 10.

Average: 6, 375

Review: Nestlé KitKat

This is the first of three successive KitKat reviews this week. So be sure to check in on Thursday and Sunday for the other two. I will kick of this week’s review with the KitKat regular which will serve as the benchmark for the KitKat Chunky and KitKat Dark Chocolate reviews.

The KitKat is described as a milk chocolate coated wafer. There are not indications of the percentage of cocoa solids. Appearance wise I think the wrapper is a bit kitchy. When unwrapped, four chocolate “fingers” are revealed. The colour is light brown, albeit a peculiar one which I’ve never seen in chocolate before. Appearance: 6 out of 10.

The bar has no strong or characteristic scent, though there is a sweet scent of milk chocolate. Aroma: 6 out of 10.

The crunch from the wrapper could be crispier, though it is definitely not dull. The melt is fairly decent. Texture: 7 out of 10.

The flavours of this KitKat are that of bread (wafer) with a little salt, and sweetness. Otherwise this bar has no characteristic flavour and I think it does lack a little in the vanilla department. Aroma: 6, 5 out of 10.


Average: 6, 375