Vilniaus Pergalé Pergalē: Coconut centres

Product name: Vilniaus Pergalé Pergalē: Coconut centres
Purchase details: £1.00 for a 100g box (Poundland)
Calories: 499 per box
Country of origin: Lithuania 

This box of Vilniaus Pergalé Pergalē: Coconut centres recently caught my eye in Poundland as, not only did they contain white chocolate and coconut, but they looked like a cheap version of Lindt Lindor. Granted, the fillings looked moist and bitty in comparison to Lindt’s truffles, but they even had the pale blue and white colour theme used for Lindor: Coconut!

These 55% white chocolate-containing ‘candies with coconut filling’ came individually wrapped in coconut-depicting, paper-lined foil wrappers. The chocolates were almost like a rose, in shape, and I was pleased to see that their chocolate shells looked nice and thick, albeit slightly scuffed. Compared to the image on the box, the fillings didn’t look nearly as wet, and appeared to have more of a truffle-like texture than I was expecting. However, it was moist and sticky to the touch.

The chocolates did have a coconut aroma but, oddly, this seemed to be mixed with a hint of alcohol. The white chocolate itself was sweet with a milky taste that reminded me of the coating used on Wall’s Magnum: White. This melted nicely but not all that comfortably since the chocolates were quite large for the mouth!

When first biting into the soft, wet filling, the taste that hit me was almost like melon, but this then settled into a coconut flavour, helped along by a bittiness provided by the ‘coconut chips’ that accounted for 2.8% of the product. I would still have liked a stronger coconut taste but what really disappointed me was the taste of alcohol. This was only mild, to start with, but since I’m a non-drinker, I found the warm feeling at the back of my throat unmistakable. On checking the ingredients, I saw that the chocolates did, indeed, contain ‘ethyl alcohol’. I persevered anyway but I found that that the boozy taste only got stronger and I felt that this was such a shame as it was completely unnecessary for what would have been a perfectly acceptable product as it was.

I thought that this was a good concept for a chocolate treat but, for me, the inclusion of alcohol ruined it. Whether or not someone who actually likes alcohol would enjoy these, I’m not sure, but I did feel that, without the alcohol, these were decent enough. The flavours from the chocolate and coconut may not have been the strongest in the world, and they may not have been mind-blowing, but they were certainly enjoyable. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 6.5/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.13/10