Lindt Excellence – Raspberry
To me Lindt is the household name when I think about mass market chocolate that’s slightly higher end than the stuff that’s borderline chocolate by legal definition. Lindt is by no means fancy, but it gets the job done and it brings affordable chocolate at a decent quality to a large audience. I remember when I was a kid and it was still considered posh and expensive. As time has moved on, so has the general ability of people to afford their product.
One thing I can appreciate about the brand is their ability to try new things. They don’t go all crazy and wacky for the sake of it, but tend to try interesting combinations that won’t make you frown and think “why would someone do this?” They tend to be a bit more conservative with their approach, which is not a bad thing.
I prefer a more deliberate approach, especially if it means there’s more odds that a flavour will stick around. It wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve fallen for a snack only to find out it was basically a novelty and they will never make it again. I can’t handle that kind of disappointment anymore. Not so with today’s flavour – it’s been around for some time and it doesn’t show any signs of disappearing soon, which is good.
This is a dark bar with bits of freeze dried raspberry strewn about. I tend to like fruity flavours combined with dark chocolate. While I love dark chocolate on it’s own, sometimes the addition of some fruity flavours enhances the experience, making it greater than the sum of it’s parts.
The flavour is pretty much par for the course, and there are no surprises here. Sometimes that’s a good thing – you get exactly what you see and what you expect. This has decent darkness to it with a bright, sweet floral raspberry flavour that compliments the chocolate very well. The raspberry bits aren’t too sweet and add a new dimension to the chocolate. A real solid pairing. A pearing, if you will. Now I’m wondering what a chocolate bar with pear pieces in it would taste like…
The texture is standard affair for a low percent dark chocolate. It’s not bitter or chalky, and has enough dairy in it that makes it very easy to snack on and has a decent melt to it. The freeze dried raspberry pieces add a bit of crunch. The one thing I will say though, is similar to actual raspberries the seeds can be kind of awkward and get stuck on your teeth if you aren’t careful. Apart from that though the texture is not bad, though this is a flavour I would prefer to let sit on my mouth and slowly melt away. I feel like the strength of this bar is more in the flavour than the texture.
