Bahlsen PiCK UP! Choco & Milk: The All-Chocolate Version

Swap the plain biscuit for a cocoa one and the PiCK UP! stops being a bar of two halves and becomes one continuous chocolate bite. Whether that is an improvement depends on whether the contrast was what you liked in the first place.

One chocolate note, end to end

Every PiCK UP! follows one plan: a solid slab of milk chocolate held inside two crisp biscuits, a format Bahlsen launched in 1999. The Choco & Milk version keeps the slab and changes only the shell, which here is a cocoa biscuit. It looks darker, it eats a little drier, and the step you normally feel between plain biscuit and sweet chocolate all but vanishes.

That is the whole trade. The plain bar tastes of two things meeting; this one tastes of a single thing from the first snap to the finish, rounder and a shade deeper. Do not mistake it for a dark bar, though. Both chocolates in the name are milk, and the cocoa in the biscuit trims the sweetness slightly without coming close to bitterness.

Choosing between the PiCK UP! bars

The Bahlsen bars on our shelf run to the plain milk chocolate PiCK UP!, this cocoa version, a salted caramel bar and the ten-bar Minis. Choco & Milk and the plain bar match pack for pack: five bars of 28g, each sealed on its own, 140g in the pack. So the only real decision is the biscuit, and it comes down to whether you want contrast or depth.

Our view: anyone who found the plain shell a little dull, or who eats these cold for the chocolate, should start here. Anyone who enjoys tasting the join between biscuit and filling should stay with the original. And if it is genuine bitterness you are after, look at Choco Leibniz Dark instead, where the butter biscuit is set into a tablet of dark chocolate.

Serve it chilled, drink it black

Twenty minutes in the fridge suits this bar even better than the plain one. The chill firms the centre and sharpens the break, and the darker biscuit is at its best eaten firm and cool. Take it out just before eating, since the benefit fades as the bar warms back up.

Do not dunk it. Two thin biscuit halves around a solid centre give way within seconds in hot liquid, and the cocoa shell is no sturdier than the plain one. Because the bar brings no bitterness of its own, let the drink supply it: a black filter coffee or an espresso provides the counterweight, while a sweet latte or a mild milky tea just piles sugar on sugar.

The packs we stock

• Bahlsen Pick Up! Choco & Milk Chocolate Biscuit Bars Multipack, 5 Pack 140g (barcode 4017100284687)

What the label says

The published ingredient list for Bahlsen Pick Up! Choco & Milk Chocolate Biscuit Bars Multipack, 5 Pack 140g (barcode 4017100284687) says it contains wheat (gluten), milk and nuts (hazelnuts). Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.

Ingredients, as published: WHEAT flour, sugar, vegetable fats (palm, coconut), cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whole MILK powder (4.6%), glucose syrup, skimmed MILK powder (1.1%), whey products (MILK), clarified BUTTER, salt, flavourings, raising agents: sodium carbonates, diphosphates; emulsifier: lecithins; ground HAZELNUTS, starch (WHEAT), acid: citric acid.

Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The pack in your hands is the final word.

What to drink with it

• L'Or Espresso Ristretto Coffee Pods, 10 Pods 52g: a short, intense black coffee that supplies the bitterness this bar leaves out.
• Kenco Smooth Instant Coffee Paper Refill, 150g: a mug of black instant at the desk, which is where a sealed bar usually ends up being eaten.
• Yorkshire Tea Original Loose Leaf Tea, 250g: if it has to be tea, a strong pot of this, brewed long enough to push back against the chocolate.
• Clipper Fairtrade Everyday Tea, 80 Pack 232g: a sturdy everyday bag for a strong mug; keep the milk to a splash so the cup keeps its grip.

Elsewhere in the Bahlsen range

• Bahlsen Choco Leibniz Caramel Flavour, 111g
• Bahlsen Choco Leibniz Dark Chocolate Biscuits, 111g
• Bahlsen Choco Leibniz Milk Chocolate Biscuits, 111g
• Bahlsen Choco Leibniz Orange, 111g
• Bahlsen Hazelnut Cream and Choc, 100g
• Bahlsen Pick Up! Milk Chocolate Biscuit Bars Multipack, 5 Pack 140g

The full range is on the Bahlsen brand page.

FAQ

Is PiCK UP! Choco & Milk a dark chocolate bar? No. Both chocolates are milk. The cocoa biscuit takes a little off the sweetness, but the bar is still firmly sweet.

What does the label list for allergens? Per the published ingredient list for this barcode it contains wheat (gluten), milk and hazelnuts. Check the current UK pack before buying, as recipes and allergen advice can change.

How big is each bar? Each bar is 28g, and there are five in the pack. They are sealed separately, so opening one leaves the other four as they were.

Can you dunk a Choco & Milk bar? Better not. The thin halves soften in seconds and the chocolate centre tends to finish up at the bottom of the mug.

What should I drink with it? Black, unsweetened coffee first and a strong tea second. Anything sweetened doubles the sugar without adding any contrast.

Curator's note: This is the one for anyone who found the plain biscuit a bit of a passenger. Straight from the fridge with a short black coffee, it makes more sense than the plain bar does. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Bahlsen PiCK UP! Choco & Milk: The All-Chocolate Version

More from the tea wiki

• Tea and Biscuits
• Biscuit Dunking Physics: The Real Science
• Tea Pairing Principles: Reason, Don't Memorise
• Tea With Cake: The Pairing That Never Fails (If You Get It Right)
• Tea and Food Pairing: The Five Principles
• Tea with Chocolate: Pair by Cocoa Percentage
• Tea and Chocolate Pairing

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