Luxurious dark chocolate sits as the base, while a cool mint creme is on top, this is how Hershey described their new Mint & Dark Chocolate Kit-Kat. just before its launch in April 2019. With multiple health benefits and a delightfully cooling aroma, the virtues of perennial herb menthe (mint to the layman) could fill a small candy shop. In toothpaste, mouthwash, and floss it cleans flawlessly. The whole oral landscape relies on mint. Mint tea soothes our anxious nerves, mint gum lets us make our worries heard, and mint sprigs make Vietnamese summer rolls delicious enough to postpone our hunger until they bring out the Pho.
Unfortunately, some people will always take a good thing too far. These are the sort of people that try to force mint onto sugary treats where mint just does not belong. Ice cream, which is a dairy based frozen treat, is already cold. Taking a bite of mint chocolate chip ice cream is like swishing unexpectedly with ice water.
For the record, I have no problem with Lifesavers, Altoids, and Mentos. They are closer to candy than toothpaste but they still claim their truth proudly and do not hide behind a chocolatey disguise; they are called Mints.
However, when I first saw that Hershey had created a mint & dark chocolate Kit Kat I was deeply disappointed. Mostly because I thought for one happy second that the green packaging indicated matcha flavor. Matcha -unlike mint- is a delicious tea based flavor which belongs in everything, but alas this is a separate article. Green tea flavored Kit-Kats already exist and are often sold in Asian supermarkets.
After my roommates found out about my stance on mint, they added it to the list of universally popular foods I’m just not that into (cheesecake is overrated and so is tiramisu). In a rare effort to become a more open minded person – but mostly to appease my haters – I decided to give mint Kit-Kat bars a chance.
The appalling scent of artificial toothpaste hit me as soon as I opened the package. The Kit-Kat is dark chocolate colored on the bottom and a perfectly lovely teal on top. Behr calls it Irish Folklore. I know because I painted my room Irish Folklore six months ago. Now, whenever I look at my elegant walls I’ll have the scent of this peppermint oil monstrosity in my nostrils.
But the truth is it does not taste bad. A little strange at first, as all blasphemous combinations do, but the chocolate is creamy and the texture wields the characteristic Kit-Kat crunch. It is the sort of snack you eat a bite of and it tastes kinda weird but you’re not satisfied so you eat another bite and then it’s gone. The smell is minty, but the taste really isn’t that strong. By the end I no longer even felt like I was eating chocolate covered toothpaste. I might very well like peppermint candies now. Maybe I’ll give those York Peppermint Patties another try. Catch me next weekend binging on Junior Mints. For this life changing outlook and inspiring my personal pursuit of expansion, I give 5 stars to the new mint & dark chocolate Kit-Kat. Touché Hershey.
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