Meet KitKat’s new ruby bar
We paid $7 for pink version of all-time classic at Queen St. W. pop up
The millennial pink trend refuses to die.
I’m at the KitKat Chocolatory, a pop-up shop from the chocolate company on Queen St. W. open during the month of June.
The main draw here is being able to customize your own KitKat bar by picking different chocolate bases and toppings, but I’m here to try ruby chocolate: a naturally pink and fruitflavoured chocolate that was introduced last year.
This chocolate is so special, it has its own room at the pop-up: a long, narrow room illuminated with aggressively pink neon lights with the words “The biggest discovery in chocolate in 80 years!” on the floor. At the end of the room is a little ledge of packaged boxes of ruby KitKats. I expect an axe to fall from the ceiling or spikes to come out of the floor, but the only trap I fall for is paying $7 for a pack of KitKats. OK, I’m lying: I bought four of them.
The ruby chocolate is the creation of Swiss-based chocolate supplier Barry Callebaut, which announced last September that it created a naturally deep pink chocolate with strong berry flavours without the need for additional colours or flavourings.
Chocolate experts are skeptical at how revolutionary this product is since Barry Callebaut wouldn’t reveal exactly how the chocolate was created, other than vague statements about extracting specific compounds from cocoa beans.
The company was transparent, however, that the chocolate is marketed towards millennials in press releases.
I would scoff at that, but again, I willingly waited in line and paid $30 for this stuff.
KitKat was the first company to purchase the chocolate from Barry Callebaut for mass production, first releasing it in Japan and South Korea at the end of January (KitKat has a long history of releasing unusual flavours in Japan such as soy sauce and sweet potato). In the later months the chocolate became available in the UK and Australia before arriving in Toronto this month.
In terms of tastes, my coworkers at the Star noted that the chocolate has a pleasant, fruity flavour akin to strawberries, cherries, or in the words of one photographer, fragrant cherry blossoms. It’s slightly less sugary than white chocolate and there’s also a tart aftertaste.
It’s not bad in terms mass-produced chocolate, but if you’re a millennial that wants an Instagram-worthy snap of a pink chocolate bar, head down one block to Soma for its raspberry bar that has an intense magenta colour derived from raspberries.
It also costs around the same and has a much nicer fruity flavour.
The KitKat Chocolatory is at 423 Queen St. W. until June 28. Those who cannot make it to the downtown pop-up can buy the ruby chocolate, along with other limited edition KitKat bars, in the online shop, chocolatory.kitkat.ca.