Our taste testers were:
Rachel: 32 year old woman, extreme chocolate lover
Jeff: 31 year old man, enjoys chocolate, picky eater
Kelly: 32 year old female
Ben: 30 year old male
Alice: 10 year old girl, part time host of online cooking show, enjoys chocolate

Each taste tester tried each bar, and rated it on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best chocolate ever, and 1 being “yucky”. As a benchmark, we rated a plain Hershey bar and a Nestle Crunch bar as 8 on the scale. All of the bars were large, 100g compared to the 43 g of a “plain, old” Hershey bar. The bars were split into 10 squares, wrapped in gold foil (reminiscent of a Wonka Golden Ticket), and placed in a cardboard outer wrapper with graphics and information geared toward a sophisticated chocolate eater. The cardboard packaging even had instructions for how to open it!

After a bit of quick research, I read that in the April 2007 edition of “Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry”, a research team from the Nestlé Research Center (Lausanne, Switzerland) reported on Polyphenols. They claim these “powerful antioxidants” positively affect arterial function, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, insulin sensitivity and oxidative stress. The packaging says it each bar is “a good source of magnesium which helps build strong bones” and “contains 300 mg of Polyphenols per serving.”

What’s really going to sell chocolate, though, is taste.

The Cerise is dark chocolate with cherry flavored pieces. Rachel is not a fan of cherry, and at first did not want to try this flavor. Kelly said she is not a big fan of fruit mixed with chocolate. We can happily say that instead of the cherry being a thick, oozing filling, as is often the case with candy, the cherry was in small bits, about the size of Nerds candy, but softer. It is 64% cocoa solids. The ingredients do list cherries, as well as apple and pineapple, surprisingly. Alice rated the cherry bar a 5.5, Jeff gave it a 4 and Rachel & Kelly gave it a 6. Ben thought the cherry flavor got a bit lost, but gave it a 7. We noted that the cherry bar had no after taste.

In the end, Rachel enjoyed the cherry that she didn’t even want to try – due to the blend of sweet fruit flavor with semi-dark chocolate.

Of the 4 new Nestle Noir bars, this one was my least favourite. The idea of chocolate and cherry is a good one in theory, but frankly if I have a craving for chocolate covered cherries I'm going to go out and get chocolate covered cherries! The bar was ok, but not fantastic. I wouldn't buy it.

i liked the chewy texture of the tiny dried cherry bits in the chocolate.....but i found the union between bitter dark chocolate and sour fruity bits wasn't so successful......i think the cherry bits would work better if they weren't so sour and if enveloped in a sweeter, milk chocolate bar.

I'm on NutriSystem so I've been spreading the Nestle Noir love around. I shared this with my co-workers at a team meeting. I got to watch six other women enjoy the Nestle Noir Cherry bar. Everyone loved the dark chocolate mixed with dried cherries. I was expecting at least one dissenter because her husband travels to Switzerland and is always brining home exquisite Swiss chocolate. Guess what? She truly enjoyed this chocolate, cherry treat. Guess I'll have to wait until I reach my goal weight first but this is on my list of one of the treats to try - in moderation, of course. ;)

This bar disappointed me. I adore dried cherries, and really wanted to like the Noir Cherry. I came away from the bar wishing that the cherries had been much, much bigger then they were. The size of the cherry pieces, and the ratio of cherry to bar made their presence more irritating then anything else - kind of like when you get a seed from a strawberry stuck between your teeth.

Just not worth it.

This chocolate was absolutely heavenly for me. Its a little bit more bitter than your average bar, but the little chunks of cherry make it absolutely divine and delicious! I would recommend this chocolate to any cherry lover!!! This chocolate bar would definitely be a special treat that you would not want to share :)

I usually really dislike chocolate with fruity fillings. This is a major exception to that rule! The base is the same velvety chocolate I love in the other Nestle Noir bars, with the addition of tiny cherry bits sprinkled through. You get that mini burst of fruity flavor but none of the disgusting cherry liqueur goop like other brands use.

I think that other flavors like orange or cranberry as others have suggested might be even better. I did enjoy this bar, but do prefer the simpler varieties just a little better. Still, thumbs up!

I didn't have high hopes for this one as I've never been a fan of flavoured chocolate. Nestle Noir Cherry gets a thumbs down from me. While I found the taste a bit funny (tangy bitterness anyone?), what bothers me more is the texture. This is very chewy because of the cherries. This was my least favourite of the bunch.

If you'd like to try just one of the chocolate bars in the Nestle Noir line, I suggest you skip this one. The others are fantastic!

To be honest, I wasn't really a huge fan of this one. I did not so much enjoy the cherry bits that were in the chocolate. It just seemed to be too sweet for me.

The chocolate part itself was good, but I'm wondering if it might be better if there were dried cranberries instead..?

Out of all the chocolate bars sampled from Nestle, the taste of this one was my least favourite. Overall I would say that the taste of this one was just ok.

I have never been a big fan of cherry chocolate but this Noir Cherry had surpassed my expectations. In short, it was delicious and I'd totally buy this again. The dark chocolate was rich and smooth. The chewy cherry chunks add a fruity kick to the bitter sweet chocolate without being overpowering. I shared this with a friend of mine and she also loved the taste of this cherry/chocolate combo. Yummy!!