April 6th: Cadbury Bournville Orange / Old Jamaica (UK)

I have to admit I wasn't overly excited when Cadbury announced that they were launching two new variants under the Bournville brand. Frankly I think Cadbury Bournville is far from being good quality dark chocolate - you only have to take a quick look at my review (HERE) to see how little I rate it.

Despite this I saw both these 'new' 180.0g bars on offer in Tesco (2 for £2!!), so I thought I would do the honourable thing for my readership and give them a review. Below are my thoughts on both the flavours:

 

Cadbury Bournville Orange:

Kcal 485 Fat 25.1g Fat(sats) 15.4g Carbs 60.8g

When I first saw this 'Orange' variant I assumed that the orange element would be implemented using the same 'orange chips' used in the old Dairy Milk with Orange bar. One look at the wrapper and it was confirmed I was entirely WRONG! This bar actually contained 'real orange pieces' .... a whole 12% in fact!

The use of the orange colouring for the wrapper was obvious, yet well implemented. I also thought that the orange pieces looked very plentiful and well distributed throughout the Cadbury branded blocks. The orange element was also very evident from the smell which had a very enticing fruity edge to its subtle cocoa hints. Despite eating this bar over the course of three days the aroma didn't seem to get any weaker, and nicely set the mood each time I reached for a piece.

Again I was hardly impressed by the standard of the dark chocolate ... however, in the presence of other ingredients its lack of flavour mattered less. The chocolate did establish a weak, unsweetened cocoa flavour base to each block, however it was the orange that really made this bar shine. The orange pieces had a fantastic juicy nature to them, which not only provided a fantastic change up in textures, but also a very nice burst of zesty orange flavours. The taste was long lasting which certainly made for a fulfilling chocolate.

Overall I was extremely impressed with this bar. It was certainly a case of the fantastic orange element making up for the lacking flavour of the chocolate, however I guessed it could be argued that a stronger tasting chocolate could take something away from the orange pieces. This is genuinely one of the better chocolate orange combinations I have tried, and is well worth checking out if your a fan of that combination.

8.4 out of 10 

 

Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica (UK):
Kcal 465 Fat 23.4g Fat(sats) 14.3g Carbs 59.6g

Why have I put UK in the title!? Because I have reviewed the Aussie version of the Cadbury Old Jamaica before thats why!! Review HERE! Looking at the wrapper there were a few fundamental differences. The first was the truly horrible choice of violet colour for the packaging of this UK version!? Seriously what hell!? Secondly the words 'Rum flavouring' ... indeed our bar doesn't actually contain any rum. Lastly the level of cocoa implemented in our bar was stated as 39%, compared to the 'Old Gold' chocolate in the Aussie version which had 45% cocoa. 

I have already mentioned my disliking for the wrapper, however I thought the bar itself looked pretty good with the raisins dispersed generously and consistently throughout. Despite the lack of real rum the smell was largely dominated by it, though there was also a curious offish dairy hint evident as well.  

Just as I expected this was a bar thats flavours were firmly rooted in the rum flavouring and raisins. Just as with the other Orange variant I found the cocoa flavours really quite weak and just lacking the depth of flavour I wanted. Fortunately the raisin and rum elements duly made up for this and both added the expected sugary, alcohol flavours to taste. The combination of both was truly delicious, the raisins in particular seemed to bring strong bursts of flavour when their chewy textures were bitten into. The resulting taste provided a really quite rich and satisfying chocolate. 

Overall it has been a long time since I had the Aussie version, but I can say that our UK version is pretty much on a par with it. The Bournville chocolate was again lacking flavour, however just as with the 'Orange' variant the added interest from the extra raisin and rum ingredients made this less important, and allowed the flavour theme of the bar too come through in the taste more. No doubt the reintroduction of this bar to the UK will be making some old school Cadbury fans very happy, I bet this bar gathers a fair share of new fans as well.

7.5 out of 10