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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