Originally published at The Green Man Review!

Remember those Andes Mints? Yeah, they still make ‘em, but when was the last time you actually had one? If it was less than a few years ago, I’m jealous. They used to be everywhere, from next to your bill at the restaurant, to on your pillow at your hotel, and of course there was at least one relative who kept a passel of them in the fridge for when family dropped by. Though I see them every so often around the December holidays, they seem to be laying low on the daily.

There is a substitute clamoring for your attention, however. Someone who’s eager to fill the void in your heart and stomach. Yep, Kit Kat has made all sorts of flavors in the past (and a huge number of flavors in Japan) , but this one seems to be the one that would play well even in Peoria. Mint and dark chocolate. Sounds refined, no? Yes. And I’m not just saying that because I’m a dark chocolate addict. This bar – with it’s four sticks of deep dark chocolate and grasshopper-cocktail green “creme” coating – looks to be just the thing for chocolate lovers who want to hark back to yesteryear. (Or just stave off the need for Thin Mints ‘til the next Girl Scouts cookie season.) 

These sticks have a scent that definitely remind me of those Girl Scout cookies, though with a heftier whiff of chocolate-mint coating. My taste buds readied themselves as my salivary glands did their thing. And I was not disappointed. There’s a perfect ratio of mint, chocolate, and crispy wafer here. In fact, while other Kit Kats I’ve tried seem to dole out luxuriously thick coatings, this bar isn’t stingy, it just gives you more crunch. I have a feeling that if they’d done the exact same amount of coating on these bars, the mint would be too much all at once, drowning the dark chocolate. And if they’d decided to lessen the mint and go thick dark chocolate? The deep cocoa of that coating wouldn’t have quite hit the mark. Instead, the ever-so-slight difference in coating helps all three of these flavors shine both separately, and together.

I’ve always kind of thought as chocolate mints as a cold weather treat. Maybe it’s the mint cocoa I love so well, maybe it’s the whole “chocolate mints during the holidays” thing. This Kit Kat melts much faster than its Andes counterpart, so if you decide to throw caution to the wind and tear into one right about now? (#FunkSoulBrother) Make sure to pop it into the freezer for a bit beforehand. You – and your non-coated fingertips – can thank me later.