On the tip of my tongue: Nendo’s chocolates give texture a taste

Five different colours and flavours chocolate bars above images of their individual wrappings
Nendo's new chocolate bar is inspired by 'chocolatetexture' – the studio's existing confection, that questioned how texture and consumption affected taste
(Image credit: Akihiro Yoshida)

Japanese design company Nendo has created new chocolates for their 'by | n' range, that emphasise texture while also delivering on taste. Released in 2015, ‘chocolatetexture’ maintained a conventional chocolate texture, while playing around with form and placement; bringing to the fore questions on how the way the chocolate was being consumed – when bitten, swallowed or melted – impacted on the taste itself.

The ‘chocolatetexturebar’ takes this concept a bite further. The bar is divided into 12 segments, each with unique striped, dotted, zigzagged and chequered patterns that allow one to enter a hypothetical ‘new taste dimension’ via subtle haptic differentiation. The bar comes in five different flavours: milk, strawberry, white, bitter and matcha.

To accompany the bar is the ‘chocolatemixer’. Bottled in tiny test tubes are dried mango and raspberry candies, popping sweets that explode with flavour and heart-shaped sugar puffs to be custom-added to flask-like chocolates by lifting their white chocolate lids. Making a perfect concoction of one part flavour, one part feel has never been such fun.

Both 'chocolatetexturebar' and 'chocolatemixer' are set to be released in February.

Milk Chocolate textured bar with 12 segments

The 'chocolatetexturebar' is divided into 12 segments, each with a unique textural design for a variety of mouth-based haptic experiences

(Image credit: Akihiro Yoshida)

Milk chocolate bar showing the textured segments

The bar's segments include dotted, chequered, striped and zigzagged designs

(Image credit: Akihiro Yoshida)

Five different flavours and colours chocolate bars

The Japanese chocolate bars are available in five different flavours: milk, strawberry, white, bitter and matcha

(Image credit: Akihiro Yoshida)

One huge chocolate bar before it is divided into slabs of 12 blocks each

How one consumes chocolate – from the way it is bitten, to the way it melts on the tongue – can affect the way it is tasted

(Image credit: Akihiro Yoshida)

Popping sweets and white chocolate balls added to melting jar

'Chocolatemixture''s white chocolate top was designed to look like a cork; dried mango and raspberry candies, popping sweets that explode with flavour and heart-shaped sugar puffs are bottled in tiny test tubes, to be poured into the 'vessel'

(Image credit: Akihiro Yoshida)

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Nendo's website