Candy Bar Lab

Bounty Bars used to be sold in the U.S. - up until sometime in the 90’s. I guess they were losing the domestic coconut candy bar battle to Mounds, so now you’ll have to look internationally to find one. Someone was nice enough to bring me this particular bar back from Argentina.

The first thing I noticed was the packaging. I love it. It’s very tropical and has kind of a 50’s tiki thing going. Another subtle touch that I appreciated was that the Bounty logo is repeatedly imprinted into the chocolate on the bottom of the bar (sorry, I should have snapped a picture of it). Imprinted logos on molded bars is common, but I’m not sure if that detail can be found on any other enrobed bars.

Structure
Two segments of shredded, raw coconut enrobed in milk chocolate.

Texture
This has a pretty thick chocolate shell and a soft center. Together, I think these two qualities compliment each other well. However, I had a problem with the center. It was rather dry and grainy - not as good as I was hoping for.

Taste
Besides the chocolate and coconut, I noticed a lot of vanilla flavor. It’s a bit disappointing that none of these coconut bars use any toasted coconut. I imagine that it would provide a deeper, more complex flavor to the whole bar. As I’m writing this, I’m reminded of Samoas (Girl Scout Cookies), which is one of the great cookies of all time.

Verdict
Sadly, I didn’t enjoy this bar that much. I say this is sad because I WANTED to like it more. The packaging is so appealing and they have a cool factor because they’re retro in the U.S. now. All in all, I’d eat another one of these if you handed me one, but I’d reach for a Mounds (or better yet, an Almond Joy) next time instead.

This limited edition bar is essentially a plain old Snickers with the addition of some chemicals that are supposed to “charge” you up. These boosters include caffeine, taurine, and B vitamins. Now, I understand the addition of caffeine to generate this effect - it’s a psychoactive stimulant. On the other hand, I’m disappointed they decided to add taurine. Despite being found in a bunch of energy drinks, it actually does nothing to boost energy. It was popularized by Red Bull (they like it because the word is derived from taurus - the Latin word for bull). Mars is using taurine for the marketing angle only.

In the end, if Charged tastes like a regular Snickers, but delivers a kick of caffeine, it’s a success. My concern however, is that caffeine has a notoriously bitter taste.

Structure
The center is a layer of nougat topped with a layer of caramel and peanuts; all enrobed in milk chocolate. Caffeine, taurine and B vitamines are presumably incorporated into the caramel (though I can’t confirm this).

Texture
Texturally, it’s identical to a standard Snickers, which means it’s really good. There’s chewy nougat and caramel with crunchy peanuts. All of the textures are perfectly balanced.

Taste
I was curious to see if my discerning palate would be able to catch a hint of the bitterness from the caffeine. Well, it turns out the bitterness isn’t subtle at all. A couple seconds after my first bite (which tasted great - like a regular Snickers), the aftertaste poked through. It was like the taste of chewing aspirin. I know because I could legally drink before I could swallow pills and so I chewed more than my fair share of pills growing up. Anyway, it’s not a good thing. It’s very bitter and takes about 10 seconds to go away. A real disappointment. Though, I will say that the positives of being a delicious Snickers outweighed the negatives of the aftertaste to the extent that I did finish the whole bar.

Verdict
I don’t know why anyone would choose to eat this over a regular Snickers. The benefit of a minor caffeine jolt isn’t worth the downside of the bad, bitter aftertaste. There are a number of good tasting protein bars (including Snickers brand ones) that are healthier and provide real energy - not just a kick.

I was really excited to try this bar out. The packaging describes it as milk chocolate, peanuts, and caramel. That sounds like an awesome, simple combination that’s different from any of the mainstream candy bar options in the US. The closest I could think of was the limited edition Snickers Xtreme, which I hadn’t tried.

Structure
The center is caramel with chopped peanuts and crispies (not mentioned on the packaging) mixed throughout. The whole bar is enrobed with milk chocolate.

Texture
The milk chocolate is soft and mostly imperceptible. The “caramel” center is dry and chewy. I put caramel in quotes because I’m not sure it was actually caramel. It was dense like a nougat. The peanut bits were soft and scarce. Disappointingly, there were more crispies than peanuts.

Taste
The chocolate was again an afterthought. The caramel center doesn’t have much depth of flavor - just sweetness and vanilla. The whole bar has a weird aftertaste that lingers for a few seconds after each bite. The peanuts don’t deliver any roasted peanut flavor. This is all a detailed way of saying I was disappointed in the flavor.

Verdict
This is a big pass for me. On paper, milk chocolate, caramel, peanuts and crispies should all go together very well, but the Starbar just doesn’t taste very good and the caramel center is too thick and grainy. I’d recommend a Snickers Cruncher if you’re looking for something similar.