Who knew there were so many flavours? Madeleine Chapman ranks them all.

This ranking has been a long time coming. When I initially thought to rank chocolate blocks, I planned to rank all the chocolate blocks, as is right. But when factoring in Cadbury, Nestle, Whittaker’s, Tony’s, Lindt plus all the various local chocolate makers, I was staring down the barrel of nearly 300 blocks of chocolate. My limit is a lot higher than most but spending $1,500 on chocolate is higher still.

Instead I have chosen the largest, most popular local chocolate-maker (and the most trusted brand in New Zealand, apparently). Whittaker’s is what I buy when I’m in the mood for chocolate, but Whittaker’s doesn’t cover (or excel at) every flavour. Shout out to Cadbury for Turkish Delight and Crunchie, Nestle for Aero and big Kit Kat, Tony’s for the best seasonal flavours, and Wellington Chocolate Factory for Coconut Milk Chocolate.

Included

All present and past (a * indicates it’s been discontinued) family block flavours, as well as flavours that are sold as novelty bars and mini slabs exclusively (yes there are a few of those).

Not included

The specialty thin blocks with the cardboard wrapping. A smart play from Whittaker’s to get into the office-Secret-Santa/obligatory-gift-for-your-neighbour market, but I am sticking with the classic, gold flavours here. Largely because there is more than one thin block flavour that overlaps with a classic flavour and that makes ranking even more difficult.

Side note: The range of thin dark blocks (70%, 76%, 86%, 92%) has a direct competitor in Lindt, which has almost those exact flavours in a thin block of the same weight with cardboard casing (Lindt released theirs a lot earlier). And guess what – the Lindt blocks are considerably cheaper. Lindt being the more affordable chocolate option? That’s a cost of living crisis, baby.

Included but kind of not

Kiwifruit and Cocoa Nib are two flavours that once existed but you’d never know because I could not find a single person who remembered eating them. They’re now discontinued which suggests they weren’t a smash hit but I’m sorry to not include them in the official ranking.

52. Coconut Ice Surprise (Blue)*

Hoo boy, even the greats get it wrong sometimes. This gender reveal chocolate, in partnership with Plunket, was a limited edition collab. Limited in that it was binary and played into very boring gender tropes. Also it was yuck.

51. Coconut Ice Surprise (Pink)*

Hoo girl, this was also yuck but somehow – despite claims it was the same chocolate – tasted a little bit less yuck than the blue one. The whole trick was that you wouldn’t know what colour you got until you opened it. Unfortunately what you did know was that whichever colour it was, it would be an extremely mediocre coconut chocolate.

50. K Bar Lime*

Remember K Bars? Remember how hard they were?

49. K Bar Pineapple*

Remember how they are basically only known for being a hard candy?

48. K Bar Raspberry*

Well this chocolate took K Bars, apparently melted them into a sugar liquid, then poured it into an otherwise fine chocolate. As effective as asking for ice cubes and being served water.

47. Oat Milk

I’ve said all I have to say about this already. In short: I’m not mad, just disappointed. I was even sent a promo block to try before it was released and then immediately said it was shit. I have not been sent any Whittaker’s chocolate since but my integrity remains intact.

46. Brewed Ginger Caramel

Too strong! If it was served in single pieces only, Brewed Ginger Caramel could be a nice little treat. But the thought of a whole block of it makes my tongue tingle.

45. L&P*

White chocolate (yes I know, it’s not technically chocolate at all) has proven the most difficult to make work in any other form. A chocolate L&P collab was always going to be difficult to pull off and I don’t think they did. Luckily Kiwiana nostalgia pulled through as far as it seeming quite popular despite being, at best, the 40th best flavour to choose.

44. Peanut Butter and Jelly

I understand what they were trying to do here, and perhaps it could work in another form, but making a chocolate that requires two quite large pieces to be eaten simultaneously is just messy. Take the work out of the snack, please.

43. Dark Ghana Fruit and Nut

We’ve come to the first proper nut flavour which means I have to make my disclaimer: I’m allergic to nuts. If that’s enough for you to completely disregard this list, I understand. I entrusted two loyal nut eaters to consult on the nut order in accordance with their tastes. Then used a very complicated formula known as “thinking about it” to weave that order into the final ranking. Whatever the case, no one cared for Dark Ghana Fruit and Nut. There’s some very specific taste required to choose this one over any other flavour.

42. Tweats

Tweats are fine for a harmless obligatory snack bowl at an event, but ultimately popping candy is a child’s treat/tweat, and this is a 4,000-word list for mature sweet lovers, thank you very much.

41. Dark Caramel*

This is an old flavour that has been discontinued so kind of has to be a bit low, but from what I remember, the dark chocolate (which wasn’t that dark) was a nice subtle counter to the very sweet caramel. RIP.

40. Dark Orange

This one used to be available in a family block but is now only sold as little snack bars, and I get it. Dark Orange is a boutique flavour, not a block flavour, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was eventually repackaged to be a thin block flavour. You heard it here first.

39. Almond and Cranberry

These are so hard to find. Not available in a large block, and I don’t think it ever has been, you have to really be invested to spend the time tracking down a supermarket selling Almond and Cranberry mini slabs. The more likely scenario is someone gives you a mini slab in dark red packaging and you get excited thinking it’s Almond Gold and then are disappointed when you find out it’s Almond and Cranberry.

38. Honey Bubble Crunch*

This was a tragic case of the whole being less than the sum of its parts. Rice bubbles? Yes. Honey nougat? Go on. White chocolate? Absolutely. All together? Far too sweet, even for me. The funky packaging was cool but I don’t think it helped.

37. Fruit and Nut

This one is yummier than the name suggests, but only slightly. I actually think I would love Fruit and Nut. I’m all for a crunch and a chew within a chocolate but unfortunately every nut eater said this was not good so here it is.

36. Ginger Bread

This one has been polarising. Some hate it and some love it. I actually quite liked it (I was glad they didn’t follow in their cursed liquid K Bar steps) but it’s a testament to the quality of this whole list that “quite liked it” places you in the bottom third.

35. White Raspberry*

I remember this one being quite good and a fun flavour. There aren’t a lot of this genre any more (meaning, tiny bits of something) but for a while they were all the rage (think, Hokey Pokey from Whittaker’s and popping candy being in everything). This is a nostalgic favourite but not enough to ask for its return.

34. Berry Forest

Ever wondered why there are two Whittaker’s flavours with berries and biscuits? Well strap in for Story Time with Mad. In 2010, Cadbury’s Black Forest block was a bestseller in New Zealand, and Cadbury itself commanded a huge 51% share of the local chocolate market. So Whittaker’s set out to change that, registering a trademark for “Berry Forest” with the intention of releasing a competing block.

Cadbury said hey, excuse me, that’s quite similar to Black Forest so we’re going to take you to court. The companies fought over how similar the words “black” and “berry” were and whether consumers would know the difference. This went on for years. In the meantime, Black Forest was continuing to sell well as the sole crunchy berry chocolate.

Then in 2012, Whittaker’s released Berry & Biscuit, a completely different wink wink block of chocolate. It was a hit and a welcome addition to the Whittaker’s slate. In 2014, a judge ruled that Black Forest and Berry Forest were different enough names, and granted Whittaker’s the right to continue with its trademark. The judge theorised that Whittaker’s would use the name and trademark on its existing Berry & Biscuit block. This next part is my own theory and has not been confirmed or denied by Whittaker’s.

By then, Berry & Biscuit was a staple and a name change wouldn’t make a difference, or would just confuse consumers. So Whittaker’s took its legal win and did nothing with it for five years. Cut to 2020 and a brand new, exciting flavour is announced: Berry Forest.

This is technically different to Berry & Biscuit (one has fruit pieces, the other has fruit-flavoured jelly pieces) but is virtually identical to the casual shopper. My theory? Whittaker’s thought it had to have “forest” in the name for a block like that to sell against the mighty Black Forest. While spending thousands of dollars battling in court for the word, it released Berry & Biscuit and realised actually it didn’t matter. But they’d gone too far and so, after winning, waited for a quiet period (Covid) then released a somewhat pointless flavour for the petty reason of using the name Cadbury didn’t want them to use.

I’m so sorry for spending 400 words on one low entry but that’s why Berry Forest is at 34.

33. Creamy Milk Caramel*

I could’ve sworn this was the same flavour as Creamy Caramel (currently available) but have been told it has a different caramel recipe. One assumes it was an upgrade.

32. Dark Almond

People who prefer darker chocolate will prefer the dark almond option to the milk option (Almond Gold) but I am not one of those people and neither are the two nut eaters I roped into doing this.

31. Hokey Pokey*

Breaking news: this is not Hokey Pokey Crunch. This is an old flavour that, from memory, had smaller and stickier bits of hokey pokey in it. A good flavour that was probably before its time but also it’s hard to get on board with sticky teeth.

30. The Full Eighty*

This was classic New Zealand Rugby. A collab to mark a Rugby World Cup and a flavour where the brief appeared to be “we want everything”. It’s got nuts, it’s got fruits, it’s got “protein puffs”, whatever that is. It also had probably the worst packaging of any flavour. Very much a rugby chocolate and best left as a flash in the pan.

29. Dark Salted Caramel

The picture on the sleeve suggests a mostly caramel treat but in reality the dark and the salted really overpower any sort of caramel. Which is great if you want a dark salted chocolate, less great if you want a dark salted caramel chocolate as advertised.

28. Ghana Peppermint

There’s a place for this chocolate and that place is after dinner with your grandma, one piece each, maybe two, then folding the wrapper down and putting it back in the fridge where it will stay for at least a month before being opened again.

27. Dark Cacao

It’s fine! It’s like Dark Block but darker. You get it.

26. Brazil Nut*

When I was nine years old, my mum brought home a big bag of Brazil nuts and we spent the afternoon cracking them open and eating them. An hour later, my face was twice its usual size, my eyes had swelled shut and my throat had giant lumps on it. And that’s how I found out I was allergic to nuts. It is also, I assume, why this block was discontinued. Out of respect.

25. Jelly Tip

A novelty flavour had no right being genuinely good but Jelly Tip came along and gave us the closest thing Whittaker’s has to a Turkish delight.

24. Peanut Block

Some things rely on a specific portion size to reach their full potential and the peanut slab is best as a slab, rather than a block. It’s not science, it’s vibes.

23. Hundreds and Thousands*

This block had every reason to suck. When you actually think about hundreds and thousands biscuits, they’re a whole lot of nothing. And I love a whole lot of nothing, but not necessarily a whole block of it. And YET, having the actual biscuit crunch with a shocking amount of the pink stuff was inspired. It feels obvious but when you think about some of the aforementioned product collabs, doing the obvious is clearly harder than it sounds.

22. Rum and Raisin

Put away your judge’s robes for one second and appreciate that Rum and Raisin isn’t as bad as everyone thinks it is. It isn’t great, sure, but for such a random combination, it holds its own. I thought it would be a good nibble flavour but actually I ate quite a lot of it.

21. Milk Strawberry*

Outside of a caramel, it’s really hard to make a liquid-centre chocolate work. Maybe I need to be more open-minded about the gooey possibilities but there must be a reason these types of flavours never last. The reason I’m putting this one so high is because I have fond childhood memories of it and am allowing nostalgia to cloud my judgement.

20. Toffee Milk Block

Originally sold as a family block and now (rightly) only available in the novelty size, Toffee Milk Block kept the crunch of its name and remains the only good tiny-bits-in-chocolate flavour from Whittaker’s. I wonder if they discontinued the block because the packaging was ruining the gold wall at the supermarket? Just a theory.

19. Blondie

It’s amazing and funny and sad that Whittaker’s can be years (years!) behind Cadbury on a flavour and then still be the favourite. Cadbury put out Caramilk years ago and everyone went bananas. We at The Spinoff were sent a huge box of them and consumed approx. one block each per day for a week. We have no memory of this time.

And now, way late, we have Blondie. And it’s unsurprisingly very good and very creamy (only 24% cocoa!) and I’m surprised they didn’t try to name it Caramel Milk just to piss Cadbury off again.

18. Dark Mocha*

Now that Dark Mocha has been discontinued, there is no coffee flavour family block. There are multiple ones in the thin block range, which suggests coffee is just a flavour best served in small portions. But my scattered memories of this are positive.

17. Hazelnut Block

A solid block but also “I don’t like the stuff that gets stuck in my teeth”. Sadly, the humble whole hazelnut has been eaten by its own child, Hazella.

16. White Macadamia*

For some reason this flavour (RIP) vibes like the bougiest flavour of them all. The white chocolate AND the most expensive nut? This is a suburban chocolate and you know it.

15. Dark Ghana

There’s a small but extremely vocal group of New Zealanders who believe Dark Ghana is the best flavour. I don’t really know what to say to that because I genuinely don’t understand it. The one person I know who regularly buys Dark Ghana said he buys it only because it means he won’t eat half a block at once. If the reason to buy something is to not eat it, that’s quite sad.

But at the same time I’m aware that I may simply have an unrefined palate so will show respect to the 72%ers with a top 15 placing. I have occasionally used a bit of Dark Ghana in a cookie (alongside Dark and Creamy Milk) and it was pretty good so there’s that.

14. Peanut Butter

Surprisingly good (so I’ve heard) considering a peanut butter flavour had a high chance of feeling a bit too novel and fun. Unfortunately it wouldn’t be as good as good peanut butter on its own so it can’t go any higher than this.

13. Milk Madagascar*

Milk Madagascar was Creamy Milk before the invention of five-roll refined (which I still don’t understand tbh). Other than that, I remember it being far superior to Dairy Milk and the go-to whenever Whittaker’s was on special. Does it taste exactly the same as Creamy Milk? We’ll never know, which makes it very hard to accurately place on the ranking.

12. Hokey Pokey Crunch

The younger sibling (or maybe child?) of Hokey Pokey, Hokey Pokey Crunch has inched its way towards the iconic Crunchie and honestly, well done. Perhaps an unpopular opinion but I reckon there’s too much Crunchie in a Crunchie. The small, bite-sized ones are perfect because the chocolate-crunch ratio is more even, which makes Hokey Pokey Crunch a near ideal ratio. Some might argue the pieces are a bit big for a block flavour, but it allows for a bit of air and crisp which I like.

A storage theory: There’s always debate about whether chocolate should be kept in the fridge or the pantry. I say both. Plain blocks and those with liquid centres (particularly caramel) should go in the fridge. Blocks with bits in them (biscuits, fruit, nuts) should go in the pantry. The beauty of a crunchy flavour is the pairing of soft chocolate with crunchy nugget. By storing in the fridge, you’re making the whole thing crunchy and losing that lovely contrast.

11. Almond Gold

I love the name of this flavour as a blatant attempt to make it feel fancy – this isn’t just a nut chocolate, this is gold. And it worked. Nut eaters are obsessed with Almond Gold. “A much better version of a peanut block” was one succinct review.

10. Dark Block

The best block for baking, Dark Block gets us out of the immediately-melts-on-your-fingers creamy territory without going too far into the so-dark-it’s-somehow-grainy territory. It’s the block you get when you feel a little bit childlike for always buying Creamy Milk. My one qualm is with the name. Dark Ghana is 72% and any other flavours with “Dark Ghana” in the name use 72% chocolate (makes sense). Dark Block is 50% and yet all the other “Dark” flavours use 62% chocolate (does not make sense).

9. Berry and Biscuit

I already wrote a full novel about Berry & Biscuit’s launch (they’ve since changed all the “&”s to “and”s so that’s another useless fun fact for you) so let’s talk about taste. It’s good. It’s good because the fruit actually tastes fruity and doesn’t get stuck in your teeth as much as the Berry Forest jellies.

8. Cornflake Slab*

Oh how I miss the Cornflake Slab. We hardly knew ye. I swear this flavour was launched and then discontinued in the space of a year. Or maybe it was just launched when I couldn’t afford Whittaker’s so I didn’t notice until it was gone. Either way, at the end of its run I definitely swallowed my pride and bought share bags of Cornflake Slabs (there was no block option) knowing full well I wasn’t sharing with anyone. Bring back Cornflake Slab please.

7. White Chocolate

Is this controversial? I’ve lost all perspective. White chocolate has had a tough go of it thanks to Milky Bar and Dream being everyone’s first thought. And everyone knows those two flavours don’t really taste like chocolate at all. But Whittaker’s White Chocolate does. I can only eat a little bit of it at a time due to my own dairy issues but if you want the smoothest sweet, White Chocolate is the block for you.

6. Creamy Caramel

You don’t realise what a stranglehold Cadbury has historically had on New Zealanders until you find yourself wondering what the hell Creamy Caramel is. But Whittaker’s answer to Caramello is actually the true king, due to its base chocolate just being that much better. Creamy Caramel isn’t for the faint of heart but there’s no denying it’s a classic.

5. Dark Peppermint

The most underrated flavour, in my opinion. Dark Peppermint is so disrespected it isn’t even available as a block. Where Dark Ghana Peppermint is an assault on the senses, Dark Peppermint is subtle and classy. Dark chocolate with a peppermint taste but no “bits” or “liquid”. Similar to Dark Orange in its execution but more useful in that it’s not too sweet and feels sophisticated. I would have Dark Peppermint for dessert, but the barriers to access are high (many dairies and supermarkets don’t sell the novelty size and there’s something weird about buying the share bags with all those wrappers).

But if I walked into someone’s home and they had a little bowl of little Dark Peppermints, I’d know I was in safe hands.

4. Macadamia Block*

Even I know that macadamia nuts are elite. Some blocks are cheaper to make than others and Macadamia Block must surely have been the most expensive. There must’ve been like $10 worth of macadamias in one $5 block of chocolate. But it was beautiful while it lasted, and when Whittaker’s announced its end the reason given was that because they basically made nothing from selling it, they couldn’t spend a lot of resource on making it.

In other words, Whittaker’s made a flavour that was too good and too popular to sustain. That’s powerful.

3. Hazella

Is Whittaker’s about to be sued by Nutella for using half of its iconic hazelnut chocolate product name to sell its own hazelnut chocolate product? I had assumed this was a Nutella collab but there’s no evidence of that. And if it’s not associated with Nutella then what the hell does Hazella mean? All I’m saying is it’s a little suspicious, and not the first time a name threatens trouble for the company.

I actually ate this one despite my allergies because everyone was going nuts for it (no pun intended) and it was literally slowing down production of every other flavour due to being so popular. It’s good (obviously) but I do wonder if everyone has been conditioned to think creamy hazelnut praline is superior after a childhood of Guylian seashells being the only fancy chocolate. What is Hazella if not a smoother, more affordable seashell? But the sale numbers don’t lie, so well done to bronze medallist Hazella, and I await an explanation on the name.

2. Creamy Milk

Look, Creamy Milk has to be here. It’s the staple flavour and the one you buy if you want to please everyone. It’s also involved in about half of the other flavours so really it has placed dozens of times already. As I said many words ago, I don’t know what five roll refined means but it’s clearly something good. And when I was living in Porirua within smelling distance of the Whittaker’s factory, it was Creamy Milk that smelled incredible twice a day, on the dot.

A foolproof Whittaker’s purchase is one Creamy Milk and one “other”.

1. Coconut Block

Of course it’s Coconut Block. I actually had a few different flavours battling it out for the top spot throughout this process but only Coconut Block felt right. It is really hard to make a good coconut chocolate, illustrated perfectly by the fact that the first place and the last place flavours are both coconut. You either nail it or it’s terrible.

Lots of brands, here and overseas, have half-decent versions of every other flavour on this list. There’s a lot of classic milk chocolate that will be gladly bought and eaten. You can’t step outside without bumping into a new artisanal dark chocolate maker. Chocolate-coated nuts are just as good, if not better, than nuts in a chocolate block. Same for raisins and even fruit.

But coconut? Only Whittaker’s has truly nailed the mighty Pacific fruit that is the coconut.

The Creamy Milk works so beautiful with coconut shavings that are both not too dry and not too chewy. There’s so much coconut in every piece and yet it almost feels like you’re eating a plain chocolate, it’s so moreish. There are a few other coconut chocolate options in New Zealand but all share the same, inevitable waxy aftertaste. Imagine how little we would think of coconut in chocolate if it weren’t for Whittaker’s.

For that reason – for accomplishing something that no one else has even come close to – it stands out in a crowded field.

Coconut Block is the best Whittaker’s flavour.