Manoa’s Hawaiian Coffee Beans 60% Dark Milk “Breakfast Bar” combines dark milk chocolate with locally roasted Hawaiian coffee and a generous amount of cocoa nibs. This shows that the chocolate maker, Manoa, wants to impress. The underside of the bar is covered with large pieces of nibs, giving it a pronounced crunch and plenty of texture.
Despite being made with milk chocolate, the flavour is closer to a sweet dark chocolate, with only a subtle milky character. I found the chocolate itself relatively restrained, without the pronounced tropical or fruit-forward flavours I might associate with Hawaiian cacao. Instead, the profile is fairly neutral, allowing the coffee and cocoa nibs to contribute more of the character. This is a bar with a bit of thought behind it.
The nibs provide a particularly enjoyable contrast to the smooth chocolate, adding both crunch and a more pronounced cocoa character. Sometimes raw nibs can be a bit rough or tough, these are not. Combined with the coffee, they also give the bar a distinctly breakfast-oriented quality that makes the name feel appropriate.
Manoa makes the bar using locally grown Hawaiian cacao and locally roasted coffee, giving it a strong connection to Hawaii’s growing chocolate and coffee culture. For me, however, the chocolate itself was less distinctive than I had expected. It was nevertheless an enjoyable bar, particularly for those who appreciate the combination of coffee, dark chocolate and plenty of texture.
Overall Rating: 7 out of 10