Comments on: New product: Belgian chocolate at Coles supermarkets

By: Y

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:14:44 +0000

Go Bart! Can't wait to read your open letter!

By: Bart Demoen

Bart Demoen — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:17:49 +0000

I am Belgian. I know about chocolate, Belgian, Swiss and others.
I live in Australia (Elwood, Vic) about 4 weeks a year, and was always appauled by the chocolate available in the big stores in Australia (and UK and USA and …). This year - just recently - I was introcuded the Belgian chocolate from Cole's …

I assure you: this Cole's chocolate has nothing in common with Belgian chocolate. If this chocolate were sold in Belgian supermarkets, it would just rot in the racks. I intend to write an open letter to Cole's and to some Melbourne newspapers, to point that out: as a Belgian chocolate eater, I feel insulted by Cole's.

Cheers

Bart Demoen

By: Duncan

Duncan — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 23:32:39 +0000

@ Y: It's even lower cocoa solids - just 26.5%. And Coles choc is definitely an example of how the label 'Belgian chocolate' has no relationship with high quality, despite manufacturers using it to connote luxury (or 'justifiable' mark-up).

By the way, Callebaut has a few different milk chocolates - I buy one at around the 34% mark (haven't got any to hand right now to check) and although I at first thought it was too sweet, it grew on me!

I also agree about the house-brand issue. It is of course the greatest way of squeezing producers and increasing supermarkets' profits. Occasionally it *does* deliver surprises (Sainsbury had some fantastic house-brand chocolate once, and German Aldi had excellent olive oil).

@ barry: There is rarely anything else to compare at that price, though for some people's tastes, Lindt Excellence Milk is probably close enough in price to be a competitor. Anyway, I don't feel we need to be happy just because a supermarket deigns to serve up a product that is a little better than the norm, but rather less good than could have been possible. Places like Priceline and small supermarkets sometimes have imported Swiss or German 'trashy' brands for the same price or less, and just occasionally these outshine Coles's new product.

By: Y

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 22:44:13 +0000

Lindt Orange is probably the only chocolate I would buy from a supermarket. I'm very wary of any Coles branded product. How long before everything on their shelves are replaced with that annoying 'You'll love Coles' range! Equally wary of the rampant use of the "belgian chocolate" tag on any product. Callebaut is a step up from Cadbury, but their milk chocolate IS pretty sweet. I think it only has something like 29% cocoa solids anyway, as opposed to Cacao Barry which is in the 30's and Valrhona Milk which is 40%.

By: barry

barry — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:28:17 +0000

oh come on now .. [edited] There is nothing else that can compare at the moment

By: Duncan

Duncan — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:05:35 +0000

Welcome, Justin. Thanks for your opinion on this. I certainly think the Coles Belgian milk is a refreshing change from all the usual suspects, notwithstanding my opinion about its sweetness.

[as an aside: there are quite a few people searching for this product, based on my site stats. Interesting the things people search for!]

By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 14:31:55 +0000

I must say that my housemates, my coworkers and I are all now addicted to the Coles Belgian milk chocolate…. and I normally go for 70% dark Green and Blacks or other Organic Fair Trade products… this one is quite impressive, and I don't think it's overly sweet. I do think it's overly milky, but then again, that's probably what I want from it.

But i agree with you on the Dark Belgian version.

By: Amelita (Squishy)

Amelita (Squishy) — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 00:31:31 +0000

That's a big let down then.