Taste test: Christmas chocolate coins
Cadbury's out the running, but who takes the crown for the best chocolate coins this Christmas?
Suspecting a marketing ploy, I was a little cynical about Cadbury’s announcement that it wouldn’t be making chocolate coins this year.
But with no sign of them re-emerging, we decided to find out where to find the tastiest chocolate coin on the high street this year.
Note that we’re not looking for the best chocolate here. Chocolate coins are notoriously over-sweet and most have a very low cocoa content. But who can say they don’t feel the tug of nostalgia when they see children discovering them in their stockings on Christmas Day?
We put a range of milk chocolate coins from discounters and supermarkets out for a blind taste test. Here are the results.
The best chocolate coins
7th place: Sainsbury’s – 4.9/10
A poor score for Sainsbury’s. “Doesn’t taste like chocolate,”, “crumbly”, and “tastes really, really, really cheap” said our testers.
5th place (joint): Tesco – 5.3/10
“Quite bland” and “flat flavoured”, “too sweet” and also “creamy”. At least there’s a little praise in the mix for Tesco’s offering, but it’s unremarkable really.
5th place (joint): Aldi – 5.3/10
Aldi gets a similar response. “Cardboard” and “chalky” were among the comments, but one person said “nice, just the right amount of milkiness.” Another said that it “wasn’t horrible.” .
4th place: Lidl – 5.4/10
Just scraping to a higher rank than its discount competitor, Lidl’s coins also come with some chocolate notes. But they didn’t particularly excite us: “too sweet” and “doesn’t really taste of much” were recurring themes.
3rd place: Asda – 5.6/10
Asda does a little better with some positive comments: “less sugary”, “nice thickness” and “creamy chocolate.” However, one taster described it as “grim, a wall of awful chocolate.” Oh dear.
2nd place: Co-op – 5.8/10
In second place comes Co-op, with coins from the Loved By Us range. It’s not particularly loved by Lovefood though. “Plain”, “average” and “fine” are among the less than effusive comments. Nothing special here, but it’s inoffensive by comparison to some of its competitors.
1st place: M&S – 7.2/10
The winner by a distance, Marks and Spencer’s coins are “the creamiest of the bunch”, “smooth” and score highly for their “rich” flavour. If you’re looking for the best quality, this is a good choice, although you will pay more for the privilege.
Do you ever buy chocolate coins from independent producers, or anywhere else? Reckon they’d beat the high street offerings? Let us know in the Comments below.
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