Lindt 70

Perhaps this could be entitled, "The Demise of Lindt 70."  I've been a faithful customer of the Lindt 3.5oz, 70% cocoa bar for the past several years.  I suppose it all started sometime in 2006 when I decided to give up products filled with high-fructose corn syrup.  At that time Mare had been checking her blood sugar so I thought I'd check mine.  To my surprise it was a little higher than normal and a little out of my comfort zone.  At the time I was nearing thirty years old so figured it was a good time to make a change.  I had always been a "candy man", binging on Skittles, Starburst jelly beans, and oh my, the lethal Gummi Savers.  In the past you could have included Mountain Dew in that mix, but the fierceness of that concoction had already gotten to me stomach by my mid-20's.  So here I was with a decision to make.  Do I keep binging to my heart's content and risk diabetes in my middle-age?

So I did the unthinkable and totally gave up high-fructose corn syrup for a few months.  No sugared pop, no nasty sweets.  It was very difficult and took a quite a bit of will-power.  And shockingly I lost 15 pounds in the process!  And even now I'm about the same weight, 10 pounds lighter than my high school days.  Mare calls me "Skinny", but in my defense that wasn't my point.  But oh well, I think shedding a few pounds gave me back some vertical leap and a little quicker running speed.  For a guy who has *never* been fast it's funny to hear the softball guys compliment me on speeding around the bases for an inside-the-parker.

At that time I started enjoying dark chocolate.  I felt it was a good compromise between something sweet, but without all the corn-syrup.  Good fat, good antioxidants, and tasty too; man, the stuff is almost like health food!  So I tried all kinds of dark chocolate.  I found my palette is tuned for a chocolate with 70-75% cocoa.  Of the plethora of brands I tried, I kept coming back to the Lindt 70% bar.  It was a great balance of thin bitter-sweet-crispness; I was hooked.  I suppose I'd go through a couple bars a month.  I'd get them at Target; then to my delight, Wal-Mart started carrying them.  Wow, a $2 treat to last two weeks -- what a deal!

Recently I stopped by the candy aisle to pick-up my favorite bar and saw on the package, "New Recipe."  Hmm, well, ok.  When I got home I popped a square into my mouth and instantly tasted the new recipe.  This was not good.  Gone is the crispness, replaced with a creamy, smooth mixture.  The bite of the bitterness is gone, drowned out by the smoothy sweetness.  I thought to myself, "This is not a Lindt bar, this is a Dove bar.  If I wanted a Dove bar I would have bought a Dove bar."  I thought perhaps the initial shock of the new recipe would be tempered over time, but the more of it I ate the more I disliked.  My favorite bar is no more, replaced with a lookalike of a competitor brand.

So what do you do in times like this?  You write a letter.  So I did.  I wrote a kind, but honest e-mail to Lindt and expressed my appreciation for the original recipe and distaste for the new one.  I've previously tried the 85%, 90%, and even 99% varieties, but nothing compared to the old 70%.  A few days ago I received the reply in the mailbox:

Dear Mike,

Thank you for reaching out to Lindt; we appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback with us.

We did revise the Excellence 70% Cocoa recipe.  Based on consumer research results, the new recipe is preferred due to the smoother, less bitter taste.  We received overwhelmingly positive consumer feedback about this new recipe and taste.  The new recipe is intended to balance a smooth dark chocolate flavor with a rich and creamy texture.  However, we're sorry you don't prefer the new recipe.

Unfortunately, we've stopped producing bars with the previous 70% Cocoa recipe.  However, we have enclosed a coupon for one Lindt bar (up to a $3.00 value), so that you may try another recipe within the Lindt bar range.  We recommend you try some of our other high cocoa percentage Excellence bars, including Excellence 85% Cocoa and Excellence 90% Cocoa.  These recipes feature an intense coca flavor similar to the previous 70% Cocoa recipe.

Thank you again for your feedback.  We appreciate you reaching out to us.

Sincerely,

[name omitted for privacy]
Senior Director of Quality Assurance
Lindt USA

I appreciated the letter.  It is kindly written and I accepted the coupon, buying a dark chocolate bar with hazelnuts.  However, I just have to wonder who was chosen in their consumer research study.  I'd have to think it is not a dark chocolate crowd.  Probably a set of the normal population who prefers the taste of milk chocolate, but the health benefits of the higher percentage bars.  Sure, that group would prefer a smoother, less bitter bar.  But this is already a 70% bar; by definition it is going to be bitter.  Please create a 50% or 60% bar to gain market share from Dove, but don't take away my 70% bar.

Ok, so maybe you think I'm over-reacting.  But when one of your favorite products changes it causes disruption.  Now I am back to the beginning, once again on a quest for that perfect bar.  There can be joy in the journey, trying different recipes; from the plain and simple to the exotic and fancy.  And, hey, Lindt still has the same dark truffles - if you think Gummi Savers were lethal, you should check out the truffles.  Wow.

So I've already gone through a 72% Ghirardelli and am now working on a 70% Green & Black's.  We'll see what other brands catch my fancy and perhaps even better things are in store...