December 2nd: Nestle Coffee Crisp (Original Post - October 17th 2009)

I'm sure that many of you are scratching your heads but please let me explain :D What with this site containing thousands of reviews for chocolates from all over the globe you can probably imagine that I get my fair share of e-mails and comments telling me that my views on a particular product are 'wrong'.

My response to 99.0% of these e-mails (if they are courteous enough to warrant one!), normally goes along the lines of "this is just my opinion" ... "there isn't the time in the world to re-review products" ... "they only get the one shot" etc.

There is one product however, that has managed to justify a second look at given the sheer amount of contact I have received about it's original review - see below. One ChocolateMission reader in particular (by the name of Patrick), felt so strongly that my original review was so wide off the mark, that he sent me a box (yes a box!) of these Nestle Coffee Crisp to give another try .... I had to oblige.

Since I last reviewed the product over a year ago, the packaging and presentation hadn't really changed. Aside from a tweaks to the on-pack graphics the bar looked no different from the last time I saw it - no differences there.

Piercing the film wrapper the smells of biscuity chocolate immediately suggested that a finer proposition may be at hand. Indeed, whilst the outer layer of milk chocolate was still criminally thin, it was at least fresher tasting and more forthcoming with it's sweet, milk based flavours. Breaking the bar in to pieces, the crisper, snapping sound of the wafer was evidence enough that this bar was in fact in ten times better condition than the one I tried for my last review. In addition to being superior in texture, the wheaty biscuit flavours were far more Kit Kat like, and obviously all the better for it. The coffee cream, whilst still underpowered for my taste, also offered a more in it's contribution to the taste with it's creamy cappuccino like influence. The bar in totality still wasn't the satisfying thing ever, but the greater flavour contribution certainly made it more fulfilling than the last time I reviewed it.

Overall this isn't the best chocolate bar in the world, but in life you sometimes just have to hold your hands up and say you got something wrong, and this is one of those instances for myself :D This bar was never worthy of the rating it originally received and I would now like to rescind that and replace it with the far more reflective score of 7.3 out of 10. Whilst I would say there is room for improvement with almost every component of the Coffee Crisp, the combination of them all do make for a tasty tasting wafer bar that is certainly worth a look at if you are a fan of Kit Kats and the such. So there you have it ChocolateMission readers :D you were all right .... now quit it with the e-mails :D about the damn Coffee Crisp haha!

7.3 out of 10



Original Post - October 17th 2009
Kcal 260 Fat 13.0g Fat(sats) 7.0g Carbs 34.0g

This has been a bar that has managed to allude me for quite a while though I kindly had one sent to me by ChocolateMission reader Eric last week. The Nestle Coffee Crisp is a product that doesn't come with any formal description on the wrapper though as you probably ascertained it is a wafer based bar with coffee creme filling, covered in milk chocolate. What the packaging did state was that the bar was produced in Switzerland which didn't surprise me all that much given that Nestle have such a strong presence in the country. Given my love for coffee flavoured chocolates I was well and truly looking forward to this one and devoured it during a mid morning coffee break.

For a wafer based bar I was surprised to see that it actually weighed 50.0g and amassed a rather large 260 calories and 13.0g of fat which kinda contradicted the on pack slogan of 'makes a nice light snack'. In regards to looks the product on the whole was presented pretty well. I didn't care much for the yellow film wrapper but at the same time it was distinctly Nestle like with its bold red branding. On closer inspection the bar itself had distinct layers of chocolate, wafer and inner creme, though it noticeably lacked a real aroma of real note apart from a very minor biscuit scent.

From the photo above you will be able to see the thinness of the outer chocolate layer so I guess it really wont surprise you to hear that it was really not that impactful in regards to flavour. The milk chocolate was pretty quick in its melt and it's milk chocolaty flavours felt like they were sucked up by the drier wafer as soon as they transcended into a liquor state. Where the chocolate was poor the wafer element was even worse - it was almost flavourless aside from a minor malt note and had a very stale like texture that yielded with very little crispness when bitten into. Had it not been for the relatively tasty coffee creme this bar would have been an absolute disaster but even that wasn't anything that special. Looking on the positive side of things the inner creme added a degree of welcome moistness to the reservoir dry wafer, as well as bringing a mild coffee influence to what on the whole was product severely lacking in flavour. Despite consuming the whole bar in one sitting I neither found that it fulfilled my hunger or left me wanting more - what a disappointment!

Overall I guess it says it all that I was reaching for the wrapper to check the best before date after only my first bite. Frankly I couldn't believe that Nestle could get a wafer based bar so wrong what with them being the kings of the sector with their glorious Kit Kat range. Conversely to the Kit Kat model this bar had a wafer thin layer of outer chocolate and criminally poor inner wafer that was not only horrible in terms of texture but also devoid of flavour almost completely. As I said in the paragraph above without the sound quality coffee creme layer this bar would have been an absolute car crash ... and we are talking pile up proportions here!! As you can probably tell this is not a bar I would have again in the near future and it is not one I would recommend you get involved with anytime soon. Even though I am a huge fan of coffee flavoured chocolate I can't defend this bar on any level, it is simply just really poor.

4.8 out of 10