Ruby chocolate taste-test was a surprise!

A couple of days ago I decided to try the new ruby chocolate and compare it to white, milk and dark. I was hoping to get all of them in the same brand but couldn’t find one that had all four types. I settled on ruby and dark by President’s Choice and white and milk by Lindt. I also purchased some ruby hot cocoa mix by President’s Choice.

While many people say ruby chocolate has a sweet-tart taste with a berry flavour, some have said it is mild and similar to white chocolate. An article on Nest & Glow suggested that the berry flavour is merely the pink colour tricking the mind into tasting berries when people are really just tasting the citric acid. A spirited debate about that followed in the comment section. Ruby chocolate has less cocoa mass than milk chocolate but more than white chocolate. Given that I find white chocolate very bland, I wasn’t sure if I would like the ruby variety. To see if it tasted better with a little help from other ingredients, I purchased both a plain bar and one with added coconut and raspberry.

I started my taste-test with the Lindt white chocolate which had a sweet, bland taste (as expected). Then I tried a plain ruby piece and it was not like white chocolate at all. As I savoured it, there was a familiar milk chocolate flavour, only milder and a bit . . . fresher. It was missing that duskiness one normally tastes in chocolate but it was definitely a chocolate taste. A sweet berry-like flavour emerged at the end creating a very pleasant finish. All in all, it was quite nice and I was surprised at how much I liked it! Next I tried the milk chocolate. It tasted as expected and I noticed both the similarities and the differences between it and the ruby piece. After that I sampled the ruby with coconut and raspberry. There was a hint of coconut and a wee bit more berry flavour throughout the taste experience. It had the same berry finish as the plain piece. The biggest difference I noticed was the crunchier texture. I saved the 70% dark chocolate for last because its stronger flavour might have lingered on the palette and altered the taste of the other varieties. In comparison to white and milk, I found the dark chocolate to be the least similar to ruby chocolate.

When I was done sampling, I had Carl, my S/O, do a blind taste-test to see if he had a similar experience without any visual cues beforehand. He had never tasted ruby chocolate before but was familiar with the other three types. I gave him white, ruby, milk, dark and ruby coconut raspberry in that order. He positively identified each one which means the berry flavour in the ruby is probably ** not ** coming from any visual cues; it does have its own distinct chocolate flavour. Carl has never liked white chocolate but he liked the ruby as much as the milk and the dark.

If I was ranking these types of chocolate myself, I’d have to say that the plain ruby and the milk chocolate were tied for first place (well . . . the ruby would be slightly ahead of the milk because it’s novel, but not enough to kick the milk chocolate down a notch). Second place would be the ruby with coconut and raspberry. The white and dark would tie for third place with one being too bland and the other being a bit too strong (eaten together they actually pair nicely).

Unfortunately I did not enjoy the hot cocoa. When I opened it, I was surprised to see that it was a white powder instead of pink, but then realized the powder consisted of milk and sugar and the ruby chocolate was mixed in as chocolate chips that would melt in the hot water. That was definitely unusual. When I tasted it as a hot drink, I found the flavour was lacking and it was WAY too sweet. I will use up the tin by adding a small amount to coffee (or unsweetened hot cocoa) along with some stevia. I think I would like hot ruby cocoa with more of the actual cocoa and less sugar. Maybe I will be able to find it online.

For the past year I’ve been on a low-carb diet so doing this experiment meant eating more sugar than I normally would. Because of that I won’t likely be buying the ruby bars very often unless President’s Choice comes out with a sugar-free or low-carb option. Perhaps I will be able to find that online too as I did enjoy the ruby bars. If you want to try them for Valentine’s Day (and are reading this post shortly after it was published) you still have enough time to get them from various President’s Choice retail outlets.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! 🍏💕🥰