January 22nd: Moser Roth Mousse au Lait Noisette

Kcal 219 Fat 15.2g Fat(sats) 8.5g Carbs 17.3g (per 37.5g bar)

With thanks once again to ChocolateMission reader Susie I today got my hands on yet another offering from Germany's Moser Roth brand. Moser Roth were one of the pleasant surprises of 2009 as time and time again they served up some great tasting offerings at a fraction of the going market rate. Exclusively produced for Aldi, Moser Roth has previously proven that great quality and an affordable price can be obtained so you can imagine I was relatively excited by the prospect of 'milk chocolate filled with hazelnut milk cream'. This is the first review of Moser Roth's Mousse range you will see in the next few weeks, as I have another two variants awaiting their run at the rating system.

This chocolate came in an odd sounding 187.5g size that was split into five nicely sized smaller 37.5g servings. As I have said in previous reviews Moser Roth do a great job with their packaging and this bar was yet another fine example of how good they really are. The outer box was a glorious marine blue colour and was decorated with some tempting looking pictures of chocolates and whole hazelnuts. Inside the the smaller bars were kept within some sleek looking paper sleeves and looked particularly appetising when cross-sectioned with the inner hazelnut creme having real stand out against the darker coloured chocolate. As great as the inner chocolate looked I have to admit I was little disappointed by the aromas that emanated from the wrappers which generated no more than average amounts of interest with some dairy chocolate scents.

One thing that Moser Roth continually impress me with is the quality of their chocolate, which at times I would say is getting close to being as full flavoured as brands such a Lindt. Although I wouldn't say the cream influences are quite as profound the taste was still wonderfully smooth and flowed with strong milk tones that were ever present throughout the duration on my tongue. Sitting below the crisp outer chocolate the inner hazelnut cream filling had a delightfully soft feel in the mouth with its differentiated drier, almost nougat like texture. Whereas I would day the feel in the mouth was pretty much spot on the flavours of the inner filling unfortunately not as grand as I had hoped. Indeed when the centre hazelnut creme was encountered the taste took a sweet turn, flipping from a fresh milky taste to a more powdery dried milk focus. What was disappointing was that the hazelnut element was really lost in the grand scheme of things, with only a mild note of nut detectable amongst the dominant dairy influences. The taste was by no stretch of the imagination bad in any manner but at the same time I was left disappointed by the lacking presence of the hazelnut. Despite the lacklustre nut flavours on offer I still felt like that a single 37.5g bar made for an entirely adequate snack and made my way through the whole five bars in about a week with some help from some colleagues.

Overall this wasn't the best Moser Roth chocolate I have ever tasted but if this is a case of them getting the enhancing flavour wrong then it was still better than the poorer efforts of some other well known manufacturers. On the positive side the quality of the chocolate was still pretty high and it made for a decent coating for what was a centre filling that didn't deliver what was desired. To avoid me moaning too much another thing I have to mention is the fact that the product was presented gloriously and I was once again impressed with the care that was given to the construction of the packaging and the crafting of the inner branded bars. I guess if you place this bar in the context of a direct competitor such as the Lint Mousse au Chocolat range than it does pale a little in comparison but this would be comparing it with a real high quality Lindt offering. With two other Moser Roth Mousse bars left to review I am hoping for greater things.

7.5 out of 10