Lindt Lindor Truffle Ranking

2023-05-29

My partner, her friend* and I visited the Lindt Factory in Kilchberg back in April and figured, since we had access to what we thought was (but definitely wasn't) their full repertoire of chocolate, we'd buy one of each Lindt Lindor Truffles (hereby referred to as Lindt balls) and rate them. We identified 21 unique Lindt balls, split into 4 broad categories:

• Milk chocolate
• Dark chocolate
• White chocolate
• Misc chocolate

The ranking proceeded as follows. Ball by ball, we split them in half, ate them, then added our notes and scores to separate pages of a spreadsheet. Scoring was done using a 0-10 scale, where 5 represents met expectations but nothing overly positive or negative to say, while veering in either direction indicates exceptionality. We shared our notes and scores at the end of the tasting session/day. This process repeated for 4 non-consecutive days**, the results of which are below, with notes copied verbatim from the spreadsheet.

*the friend is incredibly lactose intolerant and did not participate in the experiment.

**the original plan was to eat one category per day, but there were only two dark chocolates, three misc, and a whole load of milk, so we ended up splitting them into four similar-ish sized groups.

Milk Chocolate

Milk

Partner: 8, It's aclassic. I tend to reach for it myself even when other options are available.

Me: 8, Creamy, milky, sweet, hint of caramel. Everythign I want in a lindt ball

Caramel

Partner: 1, Caramel flavour tastes too fake.

Me: 3, Caramel is too sweet, almost alcohol undertones, detracts from the chocolate

Salted Caramel

Partner: 1, Caramel flavour tastes too fake. Barely taste a difference between caramel and salted caramel.

Me: 4: Salt cuts the sweetness and liquor of regular caramel a bit, more balanced, but still too much for such a refined palate

Hazelnut Nocciola

Partner: 7, It's basically the milk chocolate with little hazelnut pieces in it. Adds a nice crunch but I don't think it enhanced beyond the milk.

Me: 6, Hazelnut is nice addition, mild, nice minor crunch. Perhaps worthy of a 7?

Nocciolatte

Partner: 9, LOVED the nut. I took the whole nut. Added great texture and a nice roasted flavour.

Me: 5, A less strong version of Hazelnut Nocciola that really doesn't bring anything else to the table. Didn't get the nut, my partner stole it and gave it an 8

Milk Mint

Partner: 8, The flavour was stronger that I was expecting. Gave abit of that nice cool minty-ness. I think I like the peppermint bark one better though for its chunks of candy cane.

Me: 5, Minty, cool, fresh, but not exceptional

Milk and White

Partner: 8, Very similar to milk...perhaps a bti sweeter. I am a fan of both milk and white chocolate so it's just a combo of 2 classics.

Me: 7, The creaminess we know and love from pure Milk, with the je-ne-sais-quoi of White, without the white being so overpowering and guilt-inducing for its sweetness

Double Chocolate

Partner: 6, There's something kinda fake tasking about it (smiliar to the caramel one)

Me: 5, Milk chocolate carved out and stuffed with dark, but only introduces alcohol, no bitterness, and therefore the sum is less than the parts

Blood Orange

Partner: 4, Similar to Terry's chocolate oranges (which I do love) but I would rather Terry's any day.

Me: 3, Moderately strong orange flavour ruins an otherwise competent chocolate

Pistachio

Partner: 7, A very strong pistachio flavour, which was surprising. The flavour was also very natural. I think my only issue with it is that pistachio is not one of my mains.

Me: 7, A welcome depature from the hazelnut hivemind, another nut is finally given the limelight. Surprisingly buttery, nuttiness whispering in the background. Overall, a subtle yet unique chocolate, maybe 7

Milk Coconut

Partner: 7, Reminds me of Hawaii! Quite nice, but not in the same ranks as a classic.

Me: 4, Nice milk chocolate, coconut should be saved for curry, not desserts

Dark Chocolate

60% Dark

Partner: 8, Lovely. Not overly sweet, not overly bitter. A good classic.

Me: 7, A surprising amount of liquor undertones, but not unpleasant, sprinkling of bitterness that makes coming back for seconds and thirds and fourths less guilty. Cacao powder remniscent of baking

70% Dark

Partner: 8, Same level as the 60% and the milk. They just serve to hit different cravings.

Me: 8, A true dark chocolate, with liquor undertones gone, sweetness mostly smothered under cacao powder, perfectly balances sweetness and bitterness. Perhaps even worthy of a 9

White Chocolate

White

Partner: 8, Also a beloved classic. Certainyl sweeter than the milk and dark options but serves its own delectable purpose.

Me: 4, Simultaneously creamy and grainy, too sweet, tastes a little fake, like icing sugar

Matcha

Partner: 10, Absoluetely exquisite. I want more. Not too sweet, a good strong matcha flavour...bravo.

Me: 5, Not as sweet as pure white, but also not exceptionally a fan of matcha in chocolate. Overall, acceptable

Strawberries and Cream

Partner: 3, Very artificial tasting and overly sweet. Not quite my cup of tea.

Me: 2, Creamy, but that's all I can compliment. Strawberry? More like I want to vomit berry. Fake news, fake fruits, little vomit monsters dancing on the tongue. Disgusting

Stracciatella

Partner: 8, Very lovely. Like a cookies and cream flavour. Has a nice texture and great classic flavour.

Me: 4, Am I crazy, or does this taste a little like coconut? Still too sweet, like most white chocolates tend to be. The little nibs add a fun cranch, but don't do enough to distinguish it from regular old white chocolate

Misc Chocolate

Fioretto Nougat

Partner: 8, Quite nice, a bit lacking in flavour but the texture was lovely. Had a nice crunch.

Me: 6, Like Hazelnut Nocciola, but with rice crispies in the shell to add additional texture. Not sure if the texture is really that beneficial or detrimental though; it just is. Also has better presentation,

MozartKugel

Partner: 2, it's not the worst thing, but it's certainly not my thing. I'm not big on marzipan, it's very sweet and floral/fruity and I don't understand how almonds could produce such a terrible thing

Me: 1, Disgusting, and a simulacrum of chocolate. Grainy, like rotting coconut, smells awful, terrible mouthfeel, never again. I hate Mozart

Fioretto Marzipan

Partner: 3, the crunch was nice but the flavor leaves a strange after taste. it's overly sweet and oddly floral.

Me: 2, Like the Mozart ball, but with some crunch and slightly less offensive taste and smell. Still grainy. What a terrible way to finish this experiment

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Analysis

With pandas doing all the heavy lifting, average scores:

And standard deviations:

And finally histograms:

An easy takeaway is our overall feelings towards Lindt balls: my partner is clearly a huge fan, whereas they're not exceptional to me, minus a couple standouts. She also likes white chocolate quite a bit more. I'm glad we can hate on marzipan together though, as well as enjoy good old milk and dark chocolate.

I'm only a little salty about her taking the whole nut from the Nocciolatte.