Review: CLIF Cool Mint Chocolate Bar

I have not been shy on this blog about my historical indifference and even dislike toward the mint and chocolate combination.  That said, I've been trying to have more products with that combination recently and I've actually been having more positive experiences than negatives, so I'm more open to it now.  So, that leads me to another CLIF Bar review of a product that I've stayed away from for a long time solely because of my dislike of that combination.  Since it's time to grow up, today's review leads me to this CLIF Cool Mint Chocolate Bar that I picked up for $1.00 at Meijer.  The bar weighs in at the standard CLIF weight of 2.4 ounces and it has 250 calories with ten grams of protein.  This one also contains caffeine, so YAHOO!!!!

As I took this out of the wrapper, I can honestly say that I was surprised by how it looked.  I expected the bar to have the standard CLIF oat mix and I expected there to be chocolate in that mix, but what I did not expect was there to be a cool mint swirl on top of the bar.  I would go so far as to say that the aforementioned surprise I felt was definitely a pleasant one.  The cool mint smell itself smelled kind of like toothpaste, but while that may not be an appetizing thought, that mint smell itself is still appealing.  As I said, the rest of the bar was just the standard CLIF mix with some chocolate thrown in.

As I bit into this, I encountered the standard (gold standard in their minds) chewy oat mix of the bar with occasional airy crunch of soy crisps mixed in.  It had a very mild taste of chocolate and was basically what I would have expected.  Nothing great, but nothing bad.  What was the real difference maker of this bar was the cool mint swirl on top.  While it may have smelled like toothpaste, it didn't taste that way and although the mint was supposedly "cool", that doesn't mean that it lacked flavor because that was quite strong.  While it was strong, it worked with the very tame chocolate and I know that I always draw this comparison, but when matched together, the chocolate and mint had a flavor that was synonymous with an Andes mint.  Granted, there was not any melting chocolate decadence here like in the candy, but the flavor itself was a near match.

Buy It or Fly By It?  I can say that I liked this, so I'll give it a BUY IT rating.  That said, it you aren't a mint person, you will definitely not like this bar because that mint comes on very strong, as I said.  If you are just kind of so-so about mint flavor, be prepared to have your socks knocked off by this like I was.  I liked it, but not everyone will, so keep that in mind.

BUY IT!!