February 12th: Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly

Kcal 205 Fat 11.2g Fat(sats) 7.6g Carbs 22.1g

The Cadbury Dairy Milk 'Bubbly' is a no frills bar which incorporates everything you would find in your standard Dairy Milk, but with the promise of offering just a little bit more in the texture department. On the surface of things, this bar is extremely similar to what you get from a Cadbury Wispa - some people would say it was entirely the same aside from the format of the bar. This bar weighed in at 38.0g vs the 50.0g of the normal Dairy Milk.

Of course with the chocolate itself being just plain Dairy milk, this was no bad thing. As per usual the chocolate was delightfully creamy flavour, and the sweet cocoa flavours came through nicely as the melt developed. The bubbly texture brought an interesting melting sensation when melting on the tongue, though it obviously meant that each block lasted a far shorter duration in the mouth. Although aerated the bar was still relatively filling and quite rich, in comparison despite only weighing 38g compared to the standard 50g Dairy Milk.Because of this I felt the bar wasn't as satisfying as a normal Dairy Milk chocolate bar.

Overall this was another solid showing from Cadbury, though it has to be said it isn't one of their most innovative of products. It is a fine tasting chocolate bar but it's lack of USP (Unique Selling Point) holds it back from troubling the the top 5 on ChocolateMission.

7.9 out of 10

February 11th: Divine Fairtrade Chocolate White

Kcal 243 Fat 13.6g Carbs 27.2g

I had never had any 'Divine' fairtrade products before so today I opted for the white 45g bar.

The bar was split into 6 substanstial generous chunks which all had slight groves across the top.

The bar was slightly fragrant of vanilla but had no real strong smell. The label read - 26% Cocoa solids with 'real vanilla'.

Sadly these proportions do not bring a strong flavour to the bar and it leaves the bar being rather tasteless. Some mouthfulls felt like actually chewing sawdust with no flavour whatsoever - which although is probably better than the sickly sweet sugar barrage you get with most white chocolate (Cadburys Dream). Ultimately it meant that this bar is rather boring and lifeless.

Overall I was really disappointed, not the worst but by no means the best white chocolate around - milkybar still leads the way for White chocolate.

5.9 out of 10

February 10th: Mars Delight / Galaxy Senzi

Kcal 222 Fat 13.4g

***UPDATE*** 11/03/2010 ****

Special thanks to ChocolateMission reader Alan who sent me this Galaxy Senzi bar which is pictured above. Galaxy Senzi is simply the name given to the Mars Delight in the Middle East. I personally didn't think that it tasted any different - has anyone else tried one of these bars!? I wonder why they made it part of the Galaxy range and not the Mars range in this region?? Let me know what you think.

***

I guess in a way this is Mars' answer to the Kinder Bueno. It's similar in that it is a milk chocolate coated wafer encasing a crème type filling. The only difference really is that this Mars Delight has a caramel creme, and the Kinder Bueno of course has a hazelnut flavoured creme.

The bar is divided in two already and dividing it up further wasn’t too hard or messy (always a bonus).

The mars chocolate was rather nice and although not being a wafer fan I thought it was surprisingly tasty as it had just a hint of honeycomb. The creme filling tasted creamy and had a slight tinge of sweet caramel. The size of the bar was about right - no complaints there.

Overall I would say this is on a par with the Kinder Bueno. I don't know if it will be everyones cup of tea as I could see not everyone enjoying the honeycomb wafer rather than a biscuit based one. Not quite challenging for the top 5 but I would still give it a try if I were you.

8.2 out of 10

February 9th: Reese's Fast Break

Kcal 270 Fat 13.0g Fat(sats) 4.5g

The Reese's Fast Break comes described as 'a thickish layer of peanut butter placed on top of peanut butter flavoured nougat, with a coating of milk chocolate'. Due to it not being one of the few Reese's products distributed in the UK, I bought one of these at pretty high expense from an online American importer (it cost me a little over £1.00 I believe).

In regards to the packaging and presentation the product set reasonable expectations, though I thought the wrapper was a little dull. The secondary Fast Break branding was the thing that was lacking sparkle for me - in my opinion the pastel colours chosen were pretty passive, and didn't have great standout amongst the orange background. Inside the bar had more appeal than the outer wrapper - the layers of peanut butter, chocolate and nougat were nicely defined even though my bar did get a little squished in the post. In regards to aromas the product was pretty nice smelling, but the nutty aromas weren't as strong as I have experienced from other Reese's products.

As with most Reese's bars I have tried in the past, when it came to the taste test the chocolate proved to be pretty unspectacular. The melt of the chocolate was pretty laboured and waxy, whilst the milky cocoa flavours didn't taste all that fresh and were a little weak in comparison to other mass produced chocolates. The peanut butter layer was as expected pretty tasty bringing to the party the usual distinct Reese's cream and nut flavours. The nougat however was much less to my liking, as it was relatively tasteless and it's stodgy texture dominated the softer peanut butter. Although the nougat did make this a more fulfilling bar than your average market offering, the inbalance it caused to the taste was disappointing.

Overall this was a pretty disappointing offering from Reese's and I expected far more. The main gripe for me with this bar was the dominance of the nougat, which fundamentally hampered the delivery of the peanut butter in the taste. The best thing about Reese's product is always the peanut butter, so to have it limited in such a manner was never going to be a positive thing. in the grand scheme of Reese's other offerings I wouldn't overly recommend the Fast Break - they make far better bars.

6.2 out of 10

February 8th: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Banana Creme

Kcal 200 Fat 11g Fat(sats) 6g Carbs 26g

These are a limited edition from Reese's and are diedicated to Elvis. They are the same as standard Reese's cup but with banna crème.

The crème sits just under the peanut butter - meaning less chocolate on the bottom of the cup which isnt a particularly bad thing considering this isnt the strongest component of most Reese's products anyway.

The Banana flavour does taste rather nice however its mostly sugar based and does get sickly by the time you are on the 2nd cup. The peanut butter is still great and the Banana does not clash or dominate it.

Overall a resonable variaion but I do prefer the originals.

8.3 out of 10

*Credit to Cybele at www.Candyblog.com for the pictures

February 7th: Nestle Caramac

Kcal 167 Fat 12.8g Fat(sats) 10.8g Carbs 26.9g

Described as a 'caramel flavoured bar' this wasn't your standard chocolate bar. Although I could in one sense see the resemblance to caramel in colour, it was actually more of a half way house between milk chocolate and white chocolate.

In regards to it's ingredients the bar was very high in sugar which meant it was exceedingly sweet in taste. The thin nature of the bar stopped thisfrom becoming such an issue and prevented it from being either sickly or over powering. I felt that the melt was nicely paced and despite the flavours mainly being sugar rooted I thought the taste had a very pleasant creaminess to it.

Overall this was a good alternative to your standard chocolate bar but not quite challenging the upper tier of the Chocolate Mission ranks. When it comes down to it, the bar does taste really quite nice with it's sugary creamy taste, though one slight let down is the size and I was admittedly left still feeling a little peckish.

8.1 out of 10

February 6th: Twix PB

Fancy trying this bar for yourself? Heat to Yankee Soda & Candy - See HERE

Kcal 280 Fat 17g Fat(sats) 8g Carbs 28g

The Twix PB comes described as 'a layer of peanut butter on top of chocolate cookie, covered in milk chocolate'. As a self proclaimed Twix addict this sounded pretty delicious to me, and giving away the game entirely I have to admit this so totally was.

UPDATE July 2010: This was a bar provided to me by my friends at Yankee Soda & Candy (See website HERE). In regards to the wrapper I have to say I really liked it. In my opinion the red and gold colours are wonderfully suited to the foil packet and the Twix branding has great standout on the pack. The bar itself wasn't half bad looking either. Replacing the standard layer of caramel, the peanut butter layer looked appetising with the contrasting colour tones from the golden PB to the darker cookie base very aesthetically striking.

Upon opening the foil wrapper I didn't get the same waft of peanut butter smell that I have experienced from Reese's products, but at the same time the chocolate and nut scents were still very tempting. Speaking of the peanut butter, in regards to taste it was similarly inferior to what you get in Reese's cups, but it was still pleasantly creamy and established a tasty set of salt and nut flavours with each mouthful. This combined with both the outer chocolate and cookie base layers provided a delightful set of variable textures, with the experience flowing nicely from biting in to the crunchy biscuit, to then leading nicely on to the melting chocolate and peanut butter constituents. Both the chocolate and cookie bases were nothing special flavour wise, however they did a fine job of delivering the desired chocolate flavour hit.

Overall this bar was not only one of the more interesting propositions I have tried on the ChocolateMission yet, but it was also one of the best tasting. Before tasting this bar I wasn't altogether that sure about the switch of shortbread biscuit to cookie base, but having tasted the bar I was more than happy with it. Comparing the quality of the peanut butter to Reese's there is only one winner (those guys at Hershey!), but the Twix PB wins out in terms of the quality of the chocolate. I'm not sure I would recommend this as an everyday bar due to it's extremely high nutritional values - (17g of fat is alot), but for the occasional indulgence I'm pretty sure every peanut butter lover would enjoy it. Twix and peanut butter lovers take note ... this is one that should be on your radar.

8.4 out of 10

February 5th: M&M's Crispy

Kcal 180 Carbs 22g Fat 9.3g

These came in a standard 43g bag, which proved to be quite a substantial portion. They are averagely priced at 65p and nutritionally they were pretty good ... better than your average chocolate snack anyway!

Unfortunately In regards to taste they were also quite average. The initial taste of the sugar coating wasn't overwhelming like many other sugar coated and and the chocolate flavour hit came through nicely despite the thiness of the layer. The rice though was disappointing in terms of flavours, and offered little aside from a mild malt like taste.

Overall compared to some of the other M&M variants these were reasonably bland tasting. The crispy rice centres were by no means bad, but they certainly weren't exciting. I for one would look to other M&M flavours before choosing these.

7.3 out of 10

February 4th: Thorntons Continental Cappucino Bar

Kcal 200 Fat 13g Carbs 18g

This 'Continental' Thorntons bar encapsulates Thorntons' Continental Cappuccino truffles (like shown above) in a bar form.

The soft coffee centre is topped by a layer of thin chocolate truffle, which is encased in a white chocolate coating and finished off with a dusting of cocoa powder.

It looked classy and it had a taste to match. The outer white chocolate was divine in taste and had a heavily vanilla noted taste that melted with a delightful ease and softness. The truffle filling was creamy and smooth, though perhaps could of been slightly stronger flavoured in terms of coffee strength.

Overall this was a really classy bar that tasted superb. In another light it was a little on the expensive side for it's small size and it didn't overly satisfy my hunger to the levels I possibly wanted it to. These small gripes are the only things preventing it from challenging the top 5 of Chocolate Mission.

7.8 out of 10

February 3rd: Hersheys Take 5 Peanut Butter

Kcal 220 Fat 11g Fat(sats) 7g Carbs 23g

This was a new concept to me - pretzels in a candy bar! These are amazingly popular in the US and I had been encouraged to try these by reviews from across the pond.

Described as two large pretzels covered in carmel, peanut butter and a peanut coating sounded intresting. The pretzel flavour was an intresting concept but for me did not fuse well with the caramel and peanut butter. The saltyness was unlike what you get with nuts but more like salty crisps; for me this is didnt fuse well.

The peanut coating failed to establish any sort of flavour agaisnt the other layers. Generally the flavours dont mix too well - especially the pretzels taste like they shouldnt be paired with the overly sweet toppings.

Overall the bar didnt do much for me - never good for an expensive import. One thing I do appreciate about the bar is its originality. If this sounds like your sort of thing its definately worth a go.

6.8 out of 10

*Credit to Cybele at www.Candyblog.com for the pictures

February 2nd: Hersheys Cookies n Chocolate

Kcal 230 Fat 12g Fat(sats) 7g Carbs 26g

I cant say I was especially looking forward to this but it certainly surprised me.

This bar was similar to the Cookies n Crème but instead had the standard Hersheys milk chocolate with cookie pieces. The chocolate was creamy and some of the better milk chocolate I have had recently; which is suprising for a mass producded bar.

The cookie bits were a nice added element to the chocolate and provided a nice crispy crunch.

This came in a 40g bar which was just the right size - it didnt get sickly like the cookie n creme. One thing to note is that this was a limited edition bar which is now out of distribution in the US.

Overall this was above all expectations and one of the best bars I have had recently; its definately worth its place in the upper tier of the Chocolate Mission stakes.

8.9 out of 10

February 1st: Green & Black's White Chocolate

Kcal 573 Fat 36.6g Carbs 53.5g (per 100.0g)

REVIEW-REVISITED - 04/09/2010

Anyone who knows me will know that I'm a bit of stubborn person when it comes to forming an opinion. Generally if I form an opinion on something, I stick with it! Even I however couldn't ignore the amount of e-mails I received along the lines of "Jim you are wrong about Green & Black's White Chocolate, it's a lot better than you say it is" (actual quote!). As you will see in my previous review below, the last time I tried the bar I acknowledged the fact it had promise, but I thought it could have been even better. After receiving what felt like the 100th e-mail telling me to give it another try - I did just that!

Unlike the rest of the Green & Black's range this bar hasn't changed at all in terms of it's wrapper or presentation in the last year - this was all down to a retest of the taste.

Well what can I say!? After sampling a good deal of the 100.0g bar I'm willing to admit that I thought a better of it. The milk based undertones of what I percieved originally were maintained, however both the cream and vanilla elements came across as much more pronounced in the taste, with both having far longer sustained flavour longevity. The vanilla pod pieces no longer felt rough in the texture, with the chocolate melt feeling so much smoother and almost butter like. Compared to what I percieved last time this chocolate taste so much more satisfying and richer - it was almost likea completely different product.

Overall this Green & Black's White Chocolate was well worthy of a higher score than I gave it last time. I don't think I have got many of my reviews wrong down the years, but having tested this one I'm happy I have revisited to give it due credit. This is a fantastic white chocolate that needs to be tried by anyone that considers themselves a white chocolate fan. Would I still prefer to have a Nestle Milkybar!? Err no thanks!

8.6 out of 10



ORIGINAL REVIEW - 01/02/2008

Kcal 202 Fat 12.8g Carbs 18.7g

Green & Black's is range of chocolate bars owned by Cadbury. The idea of the range is that they are supposed to offer consumers a more prestigous chocolate option in the same places of distribution that you can buy any mass consumer chocolate product. This 35.0g bar cost me a pretty pricey £0.80, which is verging on double what you pay for something like a Cadbury Dream or Nestle Milkybar. On the wrapper the bar came described simply as 'white chocolate with Madagascan vanilla.

Presentation wise it thought the bar was nice. I like the cream colour wrapper, and I liked the autheticity of the specs of vanilla within the chocolate.

Moving onto the taste I think it can be best described as quite weak with a mild offering of vanilla. The chocolate avoided being cheap and sickly tasting like the Cadbury Dream, however I think there was room for greater flavour generation. One thing that did spoil the experience for me somewhat were the small bits of vanilla pod which could be felt in the melt of the chocolate which created a somewhat uncomfortable texture.

Overall white chocolate isn't something I would consider myself very knowleadgble about, but I would say this was of a fair to decent standard. Despite having a pretty pleasant vanilla hinted milky taste, the flavours didn't have great longevity and thus didn't create the impression they could of done had they been stronger. Given the price I'm not sure I would consistently pay pay double the price of a Milkybar if I fancied a white chocolate.

7.6 out of 10

January 31st: Cadbury Starbar

***UPDATE***

New wrapper added 02/01/2011


Kcal 260 Fat 14.8g Carbs 26g

The Cadbury Starbar is one of the oldest Cadburys bars on the market and comes described as choc nougat,peanuts and rice wrapped in layers of caramel and chocolate.

The bar itself is very substantial and weighs in at 53g. Not surprisingly it's not the best nutritionally, and is rather high in both fat calories.

Taste wise the bar was quite unique, but it did slightly remind me of the Cadburys Boost. Each mouthful started with a nice flavour hit of cadbury chocolate, with the sweet caramel following soon after. Lining the middle of the bar, the nougat was by far the dominant element in the taste, with the peanuts and rice cereal failing to register much of an impression.

Overall I thought this was a bit of disappointing chocolate, and it was one that wasn't all that much to my taste. Personally I didn't think the ingredients mixed all that well, and the nougat pretty much cancelled out the peanuts and rice cereal in the taste. Something that the Chocolate Mission is proving so far, is that sometimes less is more - what I mean by that is that I often found that the better bars are ones that concentrate on just having a single focus in their enhancing flavours. I guess it is still early days though, who knows what the future will bring.

6.0 out of 10

January 30th: Paynes Raisin Poppets

Kcal 152 Fat 5g Carbs 24.8g

This was the final variant of poppets that I had left to try and in truth was the blandest.

The contents of the pack read 50% Milk Chocolate 50% Raisins.

The raisins themselves were well rather flavourless and added little in that department - they added a chewy softness which is what you expect but in truth they were extremely bland.

The milk chocolate coating wasnt too much better - like the toffee variant the 'milk' chocolate was tasteless and rather waxy.

Overall good nutritionally but never going to set the world alight tastewise and really quite poor.

5.0 out of 10

January 29th: Nestle Milkybar

**UPDATE 31.03.10**

The Milkybar Chunky is no longer available. The standard sized bar is the one pictured above.

Kcal 137

Another white chocolate offering and definitely the best so far. This bar came in a 37.0g bar. Admiteddly the wrapper is rather childish, though that is unsurprising given the target market.

Taking the chocolate out the wrapper the bar was easily snappable, and had a smell of sweet fragrant vanilla and had a far more appertising aroma than previous Cadbury and Hershey white chocolate alternatives.

Taste wise it was serisouly sweet, but still maintained a delicious milk and cream based undertone that straight away struck me as superior to both the Cadbuys Dream and Hersheys Cookies n Creme. Despite this being an extremelly sweet chocolate I couldn't help myself but consume the whole thing in one sitting.

Overall I have to admit I am a little biased when it comes to Milkybar and it brings back so many wonderful nostalgic feelings from my childhood. Whilst I will admit that is isn't a high quality white chocolate made from the finest ingrdients, there is something about the sweet, milky taste that makes for a very comforting and enjoyable experience. Without the nostalgic feelings you might be left thinking this is a very average white chocolate, but for me personally it does the job nicely :D

8.5 out of 10

January 28th: Aero Bubbles Peppermint

Kcal 193 Fat 12.3g Fat(sats) 10.8g

These were a pleasant surprise.

They wernt top of my list as most wanting to try as I thought they wouldn’t be substanstial enough but was I wrong!

The bubbles feel light in the pack but when emptied you get an awful lot of them.

In colour they are intresting with the green colour and smell wise they smell as they should...minty.

Texture wise they are similar to a flake if a little lighter; they have a real gradule melt on the tongue feeling and the taste is one of the better mint chocolates avalible.

Overall above all expectations - very nice and looking at its score is challenging for a place in the top 5 of Chocolate Mission

8.6 out of 10

January 27th: Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut

Kcal 255 Fat 15g

Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut was never a bar I bought all that often in my childhood, but had been around since I can remember. The bar comes billed as 'raisins and almonds in Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate', and can be found in a variety of different shapes and sizes, ranging from the 50.0g bar I tried for today's review, to the large 230.0g sharing size.

Like the rest of Cadburys' range the wrapper has changed several times down the years. The wrapper you can see above is the one as of August 2010 (I updated this review then!!!), and I personally think it looks pretty great with it's modern matted material feel and clean visual presentation. Although the wrapper has seen significant changes, one thing that has always stayed the same is the fantastic looking chocolate which has always been plentiful in it's fruit and nut protioning.

Fast forwarding to the all important taste test it wont surprise you to hear that I have always really enjoyed the Dairy Milk chocolate. I will hold up my hands and admit I am huge fan of Dairy Milk chocolate. It may not be too everyones taste but I personally delight in the sweet, cream based chocolate flavour hit it so consistently delivers with each bite. The differentiation it has from almost all other chocolates, is something that can't be sniffed at - there is only one Dairy Milk! In terms of this particular variety, both the fruit and nut did manage to come to the party, though I have to say neither were optimal in terms of their input. Taste wise both the raisins and the almonds were not as impactful as other fruit and nut bars I have tasted. That said the almonds were the ingridient with the most cut through, and added a pleasant nuttiness to each and every block where present. In regards to textures I felt both were a little more competent, with the fruit added a unique chewyness and the nuts proving to be fresh and crunchy to the bite.

Overall this was never going to be anything other than a product I enjoyed given that it was predominently made with one of my favourite milk chocolates. Whilst I didn't think the fruit or nut elements were the best as flavour enhancing, neither detracted from my liking of the milk chocolate which was every bit as wonderful as in any other Cadbury. The total bar proved to be a fufilling experience which also adds weight to the case of my recommendation. I may not rate this bar as highly as the likes of the Cadbury Caramel, but I would certainly say it is worth a try if you fancy something a little different from one of our proudest brands.

8.3 out of 10

January 26th: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Kcal 230 Fat 11g Fat(sats) 6g

Reese's peanut butter cups are an all time classic - A thickish layer of chocolate covers a peanut butter centre - sounds good huh!?

The dividing of the cups was relatively easy and not the messy experience I was expecting. The smell of the cups was gorgeous poignant peanut butter scents emerged as soon as I opened the packet ... yum!

The taste itself was delightfully pleasent, though there wew a few issues. The chocolate was bit on the bland side, and had an odd waxy texture that didn't feel the nicest when melting. With that said, the peanut butter was nothing short of amazing. It was sweet, nutty and with an amazing saltyness that made for an amazingly moreish taste.

Overall despite the disappointing chocolate this was one tasty product. The only better peanut butter chocolate product I have had are the white chocolate cups, which I would have to say are ever so slightly to my preference. These are an all time classic, and I urge you to try them if you have never had the pleasure.

8.0 out of 10