Taza 70% Dark Stone Ground Chocolate (Dominican Republic Cacao)

This is an unusual chocolate. It's different in flavor and texture from the "normal" type of chocolate bar in a way that's very discernible (but possibly difficult to convey).  Because it's so different, it's hard to even set expectations or rate this chocolate relative to others. When they packaging says "unlinke anything you have ever tasted," they aren't kidding.  My own initial reaction bordered on the shocked - the first bite seemed awful. I had to step back and consider my assumptions and then taste it again without preconceptions. And in doing that, I found that what I disliked about the texture was compensated with rich flavor.

Unlike some products (e.g. wheat bread) where "stone ground" has no implications, here the stone groundedness is fundamental. The chocolate is gritty and flavorful.

Flavor: This is a full flavored chocolate with many flavor overtones. The flavor profile is rich - the flavors follow one another in succession. The first flavor is a slight sourness, followed by a very full chocolatey round flavor and a follow-on that's sour again. There's nothing insipid or shallow about this bar!


Texture: Think mud pie. I've never eaten a piece of mud, but I imagine it would have this texture. It's sandy, semi-soft yet still holds-together muddy. I'm not a fan of this texture, which is very much not-smooth. But perhaps this is the price to pay for the full, unprocessed flavor.

Overall, this chocolate is definitely interesting, and I'd recommend it as companion piece to taste and contrast more traditional, smoother chocolates. I'm not sure that I like it well enough on its own to just enjoy it. It's too forceful in both flavor and texture.

I struggle to rate this chocolate, because it's so different, and so I find this rating to be particularly subjective. On the scale of 1-10, scores above 5 meaning 'would get again' and below 5 meaning 'don't bother with this again', I'd give this an overall 6.0.

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