Scharffen Berger Dark Chocoalte with Freshly Roasted Coffee 62% cacao Mocha

About: This is what I wrote about Scharffen Berger elsewhere:

Created on "vintage European Equipment" sounds better than "made on old stuff we bought on Ebay." It's not as if good Californian wine needed vintage casks to dominate the world wine market. But that's okay. Mr. Scharffenberger and Mr. Steinberg have created a great artisan chocolate product, bought in 2005 by the Hershey company, which has made as successful chocolate company out of selling crappy chocolate. In the last years it doesn't seem like Scharffen Berger got worse, so... whew.

So.. I like these guys. Plus, you'd think that with solid, smooth, flavorful chocolate and mixed in coffee, which you'd think could never go wrong - all that flavor - but... this bar shows that too much of a good thing isn't always a good thing.


Flavor: This is a sweet bar. That's not a sin, but you should know what you're getting into if you eat this. The chocolate is fine, and it upholdsthe Sharffen Berger expectation of solid, good flavor. The mocha is okay. You can't go wrong with coffee. But it's not that good. It's unfortunately a bit like eating a mouthful of coffee grounds. Actually, that's exactly what it is, as the bar contains ground coffee. 

Texture: Crunchy. But whereas some bars with added ingredients benefit from the texture and crunch - think toffee, for example - this bar does not. The grounds do not melt and after eating a bite, you're left with a bitter mouthful of coffee grounds that  is less than satisfying.

My rating: 6,  on the scale of 1-10, where 10 means 'mind shockingly good' and 1 means 'would not bother'. I ate the whole bar with relative enthusiasm, because coffee and chocolate are definitely BFFs. But in this case, it's a troubled relationship with the coffee needing some serious therapy. I am disappoint. 


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El Artesano Chocolate 80% Cacao con Alemndras

About: El Artesano seems to have started as a manufacturer of nougat and marzipan that has "new products," including this 70% bar, as well as milk chocolate and chocolate with other ingredients,such as orange. While I have been generally underwhelmed by the other chocolates I've found in Spain, this bar is pretty good.

Flavor: This is a nice bar. It is not stellar, but very good with satisfying flavor. There are no bitter or burned overtones, and perhaps its main weakness is the fruity flavors that are not very strong. The palate is left with a happy, satisfied flavor that wants more. The almonds come through well.

Texture: Smooth with satisfying almond crunchiness. Middle of the road creaminess, but not brittle. The almond pieces are large and satisfying.


My rating: 8,  on the scale of 1-10, where 10 means 'mind shockingly good' and 1 means 'would not bother'. Quite nice!


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Sharffen Berger Pistachio Dark Chocolate 72% Cacao

About: This is what I wrote about Scharffen Berger elsewhere:

Created on "vintage European Equipment" sounds better than "made on old stuff we bought on Ebay." It's not as if good Californian wine needed vintage casks to dominate the world wine market. But that's okay. Mr. Scharffenberger and Mr. Steinberg have created a great artisan chocolate product, bought in 2005 by the Hershey company, which has made as successful chocolate company out of selling crappy chocolate. In the last years it doesn't seem like Scharffen Berger got worse, so... whew.

I like the brand, which I see as a fairly widely available and consistently good daily bar. It's the equivalent of a good table wine that you know will satisfy, though it may not leave you breathless and willing to spend inordinate amount of money and time to get Just The Right Vintage.

Flavor: The flavor comes and goes quickly. It's solid, not bitter, full, and rounded. The pistachios are subtle - it's not like a coffee or ginger that hits you between the eyes and lets you know it's there. If the bar has a shortcoming, it is the not-so-deep and not-so-lasting flavor. But don't get me wrong, the depth that's there is good.

Texture: Smooth and creamy. The softly crunch pistachios are pleasant and add a rich creaminess to the overall experience. The chocolate itself is quite smooth, I have to say. And if you think of this as your daily chocolate, you will feel you're living very well!

My rating: 8,  on the scale of 1-10, where 10 means 'mind shockingly good' and 1 means 'would not bother'. I like.


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L'amourette English Toffee 72% cacao

About: This brand is popular in the San Francisco bay area, which is not surprising given their provenance.I'm not sure how widely distributed the chocolate past the bay area, but it deserves to be. L'amourette has a broad range of flavors and solidly good chocolate. This bar, with its toffee crunchiness is a bit on the sweet side, as would be expected, but it's solidly good.


Flavor: I found this bar slightly bitter. Perhaps the notion that "bitter sweet" chocolate must have some bitterness make people accept less that a completely smooth taste experience, but there are many chocolates now that bring out a solidly smooth and rich flavor without the bitterness that comes from... well.. who knows where. Some must come from the roasting process, and some perhaps from insufficient conching. At the end, though.. here we are. It's a bit awkward, but while the chocolate flavor is rich and full and long lasting, the slight bitterness is there. The toffee is nice, though.

Texture: The light crunch from the toffee pieces is pleasant, and the chocolate itself, while not mindbogglingly smooth, is smooth enough.

My rating: Good. 7.5   -   on the scale of 1-10, where 10 means 'mind shockingly good' and 1 means 'would not bother'. L'Amourette has many flavored chocolates, and they're all worth tasting. 




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Hachez 88% Orange cocoa d'arriba

About: The more Hachez chocolate that I eat, the more excited I become about it. At the upper echelons of quality, the differences between bars is subtle. But this bar is world-class excellent. Go get some. Now!


Flavor: Full flavored and very smooth. Many high cocoa content bars are bitter or sour, but this bar is flavorful without any unpleasant "oh I must suffer through this sour bit to get to the chocolate flavor" going on. It's Just the right level of sweetness (IMHO), with a nice follow through that leaves you satisfied and wanting more.The orange flavor comes through strongly, and mixes with the very (very!) full chocolate flavor with a long flavor profile.

Texture: Very very very smooth. Wow.


My rating: 9.5  on the scale of 1-10, where 10 means 'mind shockingly good' and 1 means 'would not bother'. I was mind-numbed. This is amazing chocolate.




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Bissinger's Fig Balsamic Truffle 75% dark chocolate

About: If you review what I've written about Bissinger's chocolate elsewhere, you'll know I like them. Like all converts, I'm a bit of a zealot. When you start out scoffing at expected quality of a manufacturer and discover they're pretty great, you can't help but toot about it loudly. That's what happened here.


Flavor: The chocolate here is 75% cocoa mass, but I'm sure the bar overall isn't 75% cocoa mass - the fig-ish filling is sweet and surely drops the overall cocoa mass percentage. That filling is indeed sweet, and flavorful, so this bar is not for the sweet-averse

Texture: Smooth, creamy, excellent.

My rating: 8.8,  on the scale of 1-10, where 10 means 'mind shockingly good' and 1 means 'would not bother'. Give me more!




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TCHO TCHUNKY TCHOTELLA Milk chocolate blended with roasted haselnuts, hazelnut butter and sea salt

 




















About: TCHO is yet another San Francisco made chocolate bar, but it's not yet another chocolate. I've been consistently impressed by their bars, which they claim go "beyond fair trade" and go from "tree-to-Bean-to-Bar." The extent to which this affects the lifestyles and economies of chocolate growers is hard to say - but they are doing something very right flavor-wise. 

Flavor: This is a milk chocolate that somehow slipped into my mouth. Oy. It's cloyingly sweet, as you'd expect from a milk chocolate, and I don't fault TCHO for that. In fact, if it wasn't so excellent, I wouldn't mention it at all. But it is excellent. The hazelnut flavor hits you like a baseball bat, and then it hits you again and again. You will not eat this and wonder what kind of bar this is. And just when you've been bowled over by the full, rich flavor, the texture hits you.

Texture: Of course, it's easier to be smooth and creamy if you live life as a milk chocolate bar, but TCHO hit it with this bar. But this may be the smoothest, creamiest chocolate bar I've ever eaten. If I consider some other milk chocolates that accidentally crossed my palate, I'm amazed at what passes for acceptable. This bar sets the.. um.. bar.

My rating: 9, for a milk chocolate bar. I wouldn't eat this, and I barely finished this bar, because I don't like sweet milk chocolate. But f you are going to eat a chocolate bar, and you like hazelnuts - this is your bar.



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Lindt Excellence Smooth Dark 70% Cocoa

About: It's interesting that a broad and excellent distribution system somehow devalues a product, because it's ubiquity detract from the sense that it's rare and hence exceptional.   You can buy this chocolate everywhere in the world, and you're getting a decent bar. Lindt has some fantastic chocolates, and in my (shudder) days of eating milk chocolate, their ganache-filled Lindt balls seduced me. For me, this is a fine fall-back chocolate that perhaps shows that the reflexive denigration of broadly available products isn't always off. The chocolate is good, but not excellent.

Flavor: This chocolate has a solid flavor, though perhaps its texture is its true strong point. The vanilla comes through and complements the cacao flavor nicely. If you eat this chocolate in isolation, you will not be dissatisfied. It's a very (no really, very) smooth experience with a full chocolate flavor. But if you compare to another good bar, you'll see that the flavor falls short. Weak attack; weak follow through; and not so much there there... Good, but not excellent, and not as good as some other  go to "daily" bars.

Texture: Very very smooth. This chocolate tastes as if it's very well conched. It's really creamy and very satisfying in this regard.


My rating: 7.5  on the scale of 1-10, where 10 means 'mind shockingly good' and 1 means 'would not bother'. A good, solid bar.




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Cachet Premium Belgian Chocolate Rosta Rica 71% Dark Chocolate

About: Not much Cachet here, I have to say. I was disappointed. Cachet chocolate is brand of Kim's chocolate, founded in 1987 in Belgium. Many Belgian chocolates proclaim their Belgian origins, but I always see this as a sign of weakness. Perhaps I should be charitable and see it as a sign of weakness on the consumer side, not the corporate marketing side. Perhaps stupid consumers just think any chocolate that's made in Belgium is great. But anyone that knows there their towel is knows that bloody Belgium isn't a haven for chocolate perfection, and Cachet exemplifies that.

Cachet has a broad product line, and I suppose I'll have to try some of their other bars. They have flavored and filled bars, as well as boxed chocolate for all occasions. With such a broad product line, they must be doing something right -- I just didn't see what it was with this particular bar. 


Flavor: It's the chocolate equivalent of the frumpy girl next door. Nothing wrong with her. Nothing particularly good about her either. Got the requisite two arms and legs, but doesn't ignite any spark in you. Just like that. The flavor is weak - chocolate with the volume set to 4. What was that? A bit of earthy tone? Not sure. It comes on slow and leaves fast. 

Texture: This bar's downfall is the texture, which is brittle. The chocolate, if you chew it, breaks into a million little pieces in your mouth which all refuse to melt and give up their flavor. After a bit of jawing on it, it resigns to defeat and gives up some flavor, grudgingly. 


My rating: A 5 on the scale of 1-10, where 10 means 'mind shockingly good' and 1 means 'would not bother'. If there's nothing else, it's still chocolate, but why eat this when there are so many better options.




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