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Grześki has been made since 1988, and its owner Colian calls it Poland's most popular wafer. This is the hazelnut cream bar, and the roasted nut is what gives it a depth the cocoa version on our shelf does not have.
A Polish name with a long history
The story starts in Poznań, where Janusz and Wiesława Wilkoński opened the Luna chocolate works in April 1911. By 1913 the business carried the Goplana name, taken from the water nymph who in Polish legend lives in Lake Gopło, and over time its range spread from chocolate into sweets, toffees and biscuits. Colian, a family-run Polish food company based in Opatówek, has owned it since 2004.
Strictly speaking, Grześki is a separate wafer brand within Colian, created in 1988 and brought into the group in 2005, so it sits beside Goplana as a sister line. In Poland it is a fixture of the ordinary sweet aisle rather than something invented for export, and a single 36g bar is exactly the size it is meant to be.
Hazelnut cream against cocoa cream
The bar is built from sheets of wafer layered with a cream filling, then fully enrobed in milk chocolate. The hazelnut cream is smooth, with no nut pieces in it, so expect a flavour rather than a crunch. Roasting gives the nut a savoury, slightly bitter edge that follows on once the sugar has registered, which gives the palate a second thing to notice and makes the bar easier to finish.
The cocoa cream Grześki is the other bar we stock. There, a cocoa filling under a chocolate coat repeats one flavour inside and out, and nothing in the bar cuts across the sweetness. Choose that one for straightforward chocolate; choose this one if you like a nuttier, rounder bar. The pack names hazelnut and milk, so this is not one for anyone avoiding nuts or dairy.
Why it is coated, and how to eat it
The chocolate coat is about keeping quality as much as flavour. A bare wafer is porous and turns leathery within days once exposed to the air, but sealed in chocolate it stays crisp in a bag or a coat pocket for weeks. That is why the format exists: a grab-and-go bar that snaps when you finally get round to it.
Let it warm a little before eating. Straight from a cold bag the coating tastes waxy and the nut seems muted, because chocolate and nut oils release their aroma nearer to melting. Do not dunk it; the coat goes first and the wafer collapses. A black medium-roast coffee matches the hazelnut without swamping it, and a strong black tea, with milk or a slice of lemon, cuts the sugar.
The packs we stock
- Goplana Grzeski Milk Chocolate-Coated Wafer Bar With Hazelnut Cream, 36g (barcode 5900394006204)
What to drink with it
- Yorkshire Tea Gold Blend Loose Leaf Tea, 250g: A full-bodied loose leaf breakfast blend, brewed strong with milk, that suits the nutty, rounder side of this bar.
- Hyson Premium Breakfast Tea, 100 Tea Bags 180g: A brisk breakfast tea, drunk black with a slice of lemon, stops the sugar from taking over.
- Good Earth Rooibos Chai, 15 Tea Bags 34.5g: A rooibos chai whose warm spice sits well against roasted hazelnut, for a mid-afternoon break away from black tea and coffee.
Elsewhere in the Goplana range
The full range is on the Goplana brand page.
FAQ
What is a Grześki bar? A Polish layered wafer bar with a cream filling, coated in chocolate. Colian, which owns it, calls it the country's most popular wafer.
Are there pieces of hazelnut in it? No. The hazelnut is worked into a smooth cream, so it adds flavour rather than crunch.
Is the Grześki hazelnut bar suitable for a nut allergy? No. Hazelnut and milk are both named on the pack, so anyone avoiding nuts or dairy should choose something else.
How is it different from the cocoa cream Grześki? The filling. Hazelnut adds a savoury, faintly bitter depth, while the cocoa bar keeps to one chocolate flavour throughout.
What should I drink with a hazelnut wafer bar? A black medium-roast coffee first, or a strong black tea with milk or lemon to cut the sweetness.
Curator's note: Keep one in a coat pocket for the walk home and eat it standing up with a coffee. It is a bar for moving, not for the biscuit plate. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.
In short: Goplana Grześki Hazelnut Cream Wafer: Poland's layered wafer bar
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Brand | Goplana |
| Packs we stock | 36g |
| Category | Wafers |
| Dunkable | No, the coat melts and the wafer gives way |
| Best with | Medium-roast black coffee or strong black tea |
| Occasion | Mid-afternoon, on the go |
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