Lindt Excellence – Lime Zest

As a kid, Lindt was considered one of the budget or affordable brands when it came to chocolate that was deemed higher quality then the cheaper brands like Hershey or Cadbury. Eating anything Lindt felt like I was part of a different class of citizen altogether. I’m sure part of the price you pay is for that marketing and branding, but that’s why I typically only ever purchase it when it’s on sale. What can I say, I’m a sucker for good chocolate, but even more for good chocolate at a good price.

Their bars have always been something I’ve been a fan of for the most part, and I figured I’d branch out and try some flavours I haven’t yet, like this lime zest one. I don’t tend to prefer citrus candies, but in chocolate I like the test them out since it usually gives a nice tart, bright flavour to contrast the rich, thick chocolate flavour.

The bar can be broken into 10 large square sections. The chocolate itself is of the dark variety and has bits of lime scattered throughout the bar. For some reason I just pictured someone at the factory taking a lime, putting it through the blender and then mixing it with some melted chocolate before pouring it into the mold.

The flavour of the chocolate itself is a semisweet dark chocolate that is not bad and stands up for itself fairly well. I would consider snacking on a bar of just this chocolate, regardless of what else is thrown in. The lime pieces add a nice tangy zest flavour to add some brightness to the bar to help cut through a bit of that sweetness from the sugar in the chocolate. The whole thing comes together surprisingly well, and surpassed my expectations, especially from someone who isn’t a huge fan of citrus in general. Chocolate orange is usually a fairly safe choice, but I might have to say that lime is a better pairing for the chocolate in this particular case.

The texture is not quite melty, but not brittle or chalky like higher percentage dark chocolates. Again, I consider this more akin to snacking dark chocolate. It’s got a bit of that bitterness from the darker chocolate, but not bitter enough and still has some sweetness to it. The little freeze dried lime pieces have a nice, ever so slight crunch to them that helps make this bar unique.

I would consider getting these again, but I would like to try some of the other citrus flavours first. Lime is close to the top right now, but who knows if lemon or orange peel might be even better? As it stands I will keep any eye out for these if I’m looking for something refreshing.