Frey Coffee & Cocoa Milk Chocolate

Since I've started chocolate blogging, airports have become a special place. Small kiosks stock the most unusual and wonderful of brands and varieties, and I picked up quite a number on a recent trip to Chennai. One of them was a bar of Frey's Coffee & Cocoa Milk Chocolate. I was drawn to it for three reasons: its attractive packaging, the fact that it was Swiss and most importantly, the coffee component in it. So, while I'm not into milk chocolate, this had stuff in it that could make me happy. Besides, I wanted to try a Frey product, because the brand claims to be the largest-selling (and by that measure, the number one) Swiss chocolate brand and is over a 100 years old.

So, this is an 'extra fine milk chocolate with a touch of ground hazelnuts, coffee & crispy cocoa nibs'. The hazelnut part is not really detectable, because the cocoa nibs part is so prominent. The chocolate, as you can see, is densely packed with these nibs and linger in your mouth towards the end. The coffee is blended well in the chocolate, but the aftertaste is mostly sweet. I ate this 100 g bar over four days, and despite trying to slowly savour it, the strongest gustatory memory of it is sweet.

At INR 270, this isn't too great a bargain according to me, but if you are a lover of milk chocolate, it might be a great pick for you.

RATING: 3.5/5

The Body Shop Chocomania range

It's that time of the year when all brands think making heart-shaped and chocolate things is going to boost their business. I can't imagine why, because what has chocolate got to do with love? CHOCOLATE IS LOVE!

However, this is The Body Shop's Deluxe edition, especially for the Valentine month *rolls eyes*. Second only to chocolate are chocolate cosmetics, because if you can't feed your face all the time, you can at least stick your nose inside a jar of cream till you are dizzy. Cosmetic ranges such as The Body Shop's Chocomania, comprising a shower cream, a scrub, a soap, a body lotion, a body butter and a lip butter, are made just so caloriephobics (losers!) can infuse the goodness of chocolate through senses other than their tongues.

No, I haven't tried these yet, but their last non-deluxe Chocomania edition was fair. The best of the line is the scrub, that smells super and has gentle scrub particles, and the worst was the body butter that pretty much feels like a thick layer of flaky, gooey gunk. The shower cream and soap are okay to use too, and the body lotion is pretty pleasing. A word of caution against the lip butter - it tastes quite terrible, so don't let anyone kiss you when you are wearing some. That would make one nasty Valentine surprise!

Overall, the product range is good, as all The Body Shop things go, and put together in a cute box, will also make your girlfriend happy. These are also 'guilt-free' products if you've got yourself a nature/social activist kind of a babe

RATING: 3/5

Price list (INR)
Body Lotion: 595
Body Scrub: 995
Lip Butter: 350
Body Butter: 995
Shower Cream: 395
Soap: 175