The chocolate coating is an Instagrammable lurid lipstick pink with the promise of a unique “intense fruity taste”.
UK consumers will next week be the first in Europe able to buy Nestlé’s four-finger KitKat, made with so-called ruby chocolate from specially selected cocoa beans.
KitKat is the first major brand in the UK to feature this innovative but “naturally coloured” new chocolate, made from ruby cocoa beans grown in the Ivory Coast, Ecuador and Brazil.
It was created by Swiss chocolatier Barry Callebaut - the world’s largest cocoa processor - which spent more than a decade unlocking and experimenting with the beans’ colours and flavours.
The flavour is described by the company as “a tension between berry-fruitiness and luscious smoothness” but no extra colours or flavours are added to create the pinky hue, which instead comes from a powder extracted during the processing. It is not as sweet as milk chocolate, according to its creators, with a lighter flavour instead.
Ruby chocolate – a fourth chocolate after traditional dark, milk and white – has been attracting huge interest from chocolate connoisseurs throughout the world since it was first revealed in September last year. It is claimed to be the first new natural colour for chocolate since Nestlé unveiled white chocolate more than 80 years ago.
The new KitKat was introduced earlier this year in Japan and Korea, where consumers are no strangers to unusual variations of the popular confectionery. In Japan the varieties on sale at any given time stretch to dozens, including purple sweet potato, edamame bean and wasabi. In the UK it will go on sale in branches of Tesco on 16 April.
“We know that a new type of KitKat is a really big deal and we are very excited to be able to offer a different type of chocolate for fans to try” said Alex Gonnella, marketing director for Nestlé’s UK confectionery business. “Ruby chocolate is a big innovation in confectionery and we are very proud that KitKat is the first major brand in the UK to feature this exciting new chocolate.”
Pablo Perversi, chief innovation, quality and sustainability officer at Barry Callebaut, said: “I am very pleased to see the result of our partnership with Nestlé – the iconic four-finger KitKat made with our ruby chocolate. Consumers across the world will be intrigued by the unique taste of this crispy delight.”
Following the UK launch, the product will go on sale across Europe and the US.
