20°N & 20°S

Seattle Chocolates ~ Birthday Cake

 

 

Seattle Chocolates 

Birthday Cake filled truffle bar in milk chocolate. Yellow cake mix with confetti bits wrapped in milk chocolate. 

 

Birthday Cake

Type: Filled, truffle/candy bar.

Bean Varietal: N/A

Ingredients: White Chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, whey powder, soya lecithin, pure vanillia), Milk Chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, chocolate liquor, soya lecithin, pure vanilla), Confetti cake mix (unbleached wheat flour, sugar, colored bits [sugar, corn syrup, corn, palm oil, modified food starch, colors {elderberry juice, spinach extract, paprika, tumeric, citric acid}, baking soda, natural vanilla flavor, cream of tartar, salt, carob bean gum, guar gum), palm kernal oil. 

Sample Size: 2.5oz or 70g

 

Milk chocolate surface with Seattle Chocolates signature wavy patterned surface. Four large tablets. Shiny surface and creamy milk chocolate color with some slight surface marks. 

Smelled a bit artificial out of the package. The milk chocolate gives off a bit of a smoky and creamy aroma. Once spilt open, the center gives way to a creamy milk chocolate aroma. 

Nice and fully filled center. The center was a blend of white chocolate with cake mix and confetti's. The center was a little hard at first with crispy crunchy confetti bits. It melts away to a softer creamier texture. 

The white chocolate is a big distraction. If you are a white chocolate fan than this will be good, but if you were expecting cake flavor, it's dominated by the white chocolate. The milk chocolate was artificial tasting too and ends up being more distracting to the cake idea too. There is nothing really cake-like about this bar at all. Except with it's appearance when you break into the bar. It looks like a layer of cake covered in chocolate but the confetti's barely pop out. 

I wanted to like this bar because it sounded like fun and it sounded like a good idea. They ruined it with white chocolate in the center and the white and milk chocolate tasted completely artificial which ruined the taste for me completely. I don't mind white chocolate that much but it overpowered this bar and left no yellow cake taste. The confetti's added a fun crunchy texture, but the rest of it was hard and waxy at first until it began to open up and melt on the palate. 

Playful? Yes. Tasty? Disappointed. 

 

  score
 D-

 

Chuao ~ Panko in Semisweet 60%

 

Another fun and unusual filled chocolate bar from Chuao Chocolatier. I loved the Milk Chocolate and Potato Chips bar. Crumbled salty chips broken up into a milk chocolate bar. As if you even need to ask if that would be good. It was amazing. 

Today we have panko. Japanese bread crumbs typically used for their fine texture and coating for breading and frying things.

 

Click to enlarge images.

 

 

 

 

Panko in Chocolate Bar

 

Type: Filled Semisweet, 60%

Varietal: Hybrid

Ingredients: Dark chocolate (cacao, sugar, cacao butter, soy lecithin, vanilla), panko (unbleached wheat flour, dextrose, yeast, salt), salt. 

Sample Size: 80g or 2.8oz

 

Appearance: Deep dark chocolate color, very dark brown, Shiny and beautiful bar with almost a glittery-like effect from the panko on the top of the surface. Monogrammed tablet, textured surface on the back with a well blended and filled bar. 

Score: 94

Snap: Deep, firm snap with fairly loud and crisp snap sound, crumbly break lines due to the panko. 

Score: 90

Aroma: Sweet, deep and hidden berry notes, pen ink, lightly smoky, roasted cacao and tobacco notes.  

Score: 90

Taste: Tangy acid notes, very fruity, big berries and sweet cacao, very small hits of salt. 

Score: 91

Texture: Smooth but very hard chocolate, a little waxy, medium melt time, very gritty panko crumbs but a nice crispy crunch. 

Score: 87

 

Beautiful looking bar. Nice shiny and unblemished surface with the panko on the top almost looking like glitter. Click the first picture in the set of the bars to see what I mean about that glittery effect. Cool surface on the back and proves that the bar is evenly distributed with panko crumbs. 

Good, very strong snap. I only scored it lower because of it's grit it leaves when snapped. That is of course, due to the panko, but I have to say it is one of the more messier bars when snapping a piece off. But the firmness of it and the sound was excellent. 

The aroma was kind of weak. It had all the hallmarks of big South American chocolate but it was so subdued. I wonder if the sugar content had something to do with that or if the panko crumbs stifled the aroma. But it did have berry notes, smoke, and tobacco. All trademarks I have come to know from Venezuelan beans.

A bit acidic in the first taste. Tangy and tart. Very sweet and sugary with big berry flavors. Not enough salt to handle the sugar content of this semisweet bar. The panko didn't have as much of a toasted taste as I wanted and pretty much just added a crispy texture and absorbed all the flavors of the chocolate. I found it to be too sweet over all. There simply wasn't enough salt for this bar. The sugars from the chocolate completely trumped the salt and panko. 

The panko ended up being a bit annoying for me in the end. It didn't add enough flavor, just a crispy texture that I did like, but then it ended up being gritty and kind of obnoxious as I was trying to focus on the finishing flavors but ended up rinsing my mouth to clear it of the crumbs. 

I think this is one of those bars that sounds good on paper but didn't come out as well as it could have. Put this on milk chocolate, and add more salt and you would have a winner despite the lingering grittypanko crumbs on the finish. The creaminess of the milk chocolate, the added creamy milk flavors and the salt would help tone down the acidity of the chocolate and the huge berry flavors and allow all the flavors to present themselves nicely. 

A milk chocolate would be a nicer melting chocolate as well. I get that you are supposed to bite into and crunch it up. But there was still a slight hard waxy texture to the chocolate. It should have been smoother and softer to accommodate or not get in the way of the crispy panko. 

 

Final Score: 90.4

  score
B+

 

Galler ~ Kaori

 

I have to preface this post by saying my customer service experience at Galler has changed. And when I say changed I mean it was a night and day difference in the attitudes of the people who work there. 

The first time I walked into Galler, in Central Place in Brussels, the woman behind the counter was rude, bored, and barely lifted a finger to help me. Offered no information about anything and it wasn't because of a language barrier. She spoke English and was completely rude. But that was last year. 

This year I was back in Belgium only this time I was in Bruges, when I found another Galler store. I reluctantly went in, but found an excellent shop person behind the counter. He not only talked to me, he went through every product, even let me sample some of the chocolates on his own prompting. He gave me a curry truffle and it was fantastic. Beautifully spiced, not over done and balanced well with milk chocolate. I was so happy and completely over the moon with the night and day difference in customer service. I even told him about what happened the last time I was in Belgium. He said no more. Galler had made it a point to focus more on customer service. This makes me wonder who else had issues in the past. But no matter, things have definitely changed and for the better. They have also taken a more hands on approach to the chocolate. When I went to buy the Kaori sets, he told me he just packaged them. They make and package certain things right there in the small stores now. Freshness is important. I couldn't be more pleased. 

 

Kaori: Perfume, scent, fragrance. 

"The Japanese call a beautiful calligraphy 'calligraphy with taste'. The emotion is in the movement and in the expression of what resonates within us." 

 

Chocolates: 

Saffron

Cardamon

Yuzu

Ginger

Vanilla and Coconut

Strawberry and Balsamic

 

Compositions: 

Orange and Cocoa Nibs

Matcha and Opium Poppy

Kalamansi

 

The idea is to take each flavored chocolate stick, which is kind of like a truffle or bon bon stick, and dip them into the flavor pots creating different flavor combinations. Unless you lick each chocolate before dipping, it doesn't work so well without the Kalamansi which is the pot that looks like honey. Kalamansi is an Asian citrus fruit with tangy, sour notes. 

The orange and nib pot is pretty flavorful with orange and slight tannins with the bitter cocoa nibs. The matcha and opium poppy pot is very earthy. 

 

The best flavor profiles: 

Vanilla and Coconut with the Kalamansi and Matcha and Opium Poppy.

Cardamom with Kalamansi and Orange and Cocoa Nibs.

Ginger with Kalamansi and Matcha and Opium Poppy.

Saffron with Kalamansi and Orange and Cocao Nibs.

Yuzu (so tangy and powerful in it's own right) works well with both. 

Strawberry and Balsamic with Matcha and Opium Poppy. 

 

This is a wonderful and unique tasting experience. The flavors and spices were perfect and the tasting cups were a fun and interesting mix and match set up. This is a perfect gift to bring over to a dinner party or to share with friends who really like tastings and flavors. For people who really appreciate this kind of thing. And no, I won't say foodies because I deeply hate the term and the obnoxious trends around it. This is for people who enjoy nice things. 

Really fun, really tasty, and a simple elegant design. You can sit around for ages reflecting on each flavor and each combination. Cardamon was my favorite stick flavor. The yuzu was my least favorite only because it's tanginess surpassed the other flavor combinations. Though it did work quite well with both, it was just a bit too tangy.

If you bring one of these over for a dinner party, you will be a big hit amongst your friends.  

**Forgive the appearance of the chocolate sticks. They suffered through some heat issues traveling back to the States with me. This was due to the aggravating situation at the Le Meridian Hotel in Brussels. They had no working a/c, only heat and it was dreadful and miserable for the one night staying there. It was the reason my Westvleteren 12 truffles had melted to ugly shapes. That's in another post. I expect other chocolates that I brought back in bar form to have the same issues. But the ashy appearance is due to that. When I opened one of the Kaori boxes on our beer boat cruise in Belgium, they were shiny and beautiful. 

Zotter ~ Labooko Soya & Green Tea

 

Artist: Andreas H. Gratze

 

** Archived notes. 

 

 

Zotter

Labooko Duo bars Lactose Free Soya and Green Tea

Duo flavor bars from Zotter with soy and green tea flavors. Both lactose free for those with special dietary needs.

As mentioned on the packaging, both bars are soy bars with soy powders replacing the milk powders. This would otherwise, qualify as milk chocolate with the lower cocoa percentages and balance of milk solids. And as promised by the Zotter brand, these are organic bars with organic and fair trade ingredients and non-genetically modified soy products. 

 

 

Green Tea

Type: Soy, 30%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cocoa butter, raw cane sugar, soy milk powder, whole cane sugar, sesame, green tea powder, vanilla, salt, cocoa mass, soy lecithin.

Sample Size: 35g or 1.23oz

 

Appearance: Creamy soft green color, monogrammed molding with signature blown dry ripples on the surface, *broken piece*, small flecks of green tea or matcha mixed in, large chocolate particle pieces on the surface. 

Score: 91

Snap: Light crisp snap, clean break lines, decent snap sound. 

Score: 93

Aroma: Cream and matcha, earthy, dirt, and copper.

Score: 94

Taste: Green tea, matcha, creamy, milky, earthy and dirty, fresh tea, lingering soy flavors, sweet, fruit flavors, possibly strawberries, no cocoa flavors. 

Score: 94

Texture: Hard, long melt time, waxy. 

Score: 82

Tastes like a creamy, milky cup of sweetened green tea. Delicious and not one ounce of real milk in this bar. A little bit of lingering soy on the finish. Clean finish despite the robust matcha and cream flavors upfront. Sweet but not sugary, an excellent balance. And a little bit fruity. I can't tell what kind of fruit I am tasting, but it's got that fruity vibe making an appearance at the finish. Almost like strawberries. 

The texture is the only issue with this bar. It's not soft, it's fairly hard and waxy and doesn't really open up to a quick melt or softer center. It's full flavored, but not silky or creamy in texture. The nose gives off an impression that it might be creamy, soft. 

I recommend this to people who may not be fans of white chocolate. It has all of the hallmarks of delicious white chocolate, the creamy aroma and milky taste without the lingering milk aftertaste. The soy helps make the creamy flavor pop, but also keep it's in check on the finish. It tastes like full earthy green tea and cream and not loaded with sugar. This would make a great introduction to white chocolates despite not being actual white chocolate. A starter chocolate or gateway chocolate if you will.  

**I am not deducting from the appearance based on the broken bit. This chocolate has travel quite a way to get to me and anything could have happened. I noted the broken bit but again, points weren't taken off for that. 

 

Final Score: 90.8

  score
B+

 

 

 

Soya

Type: Soy, 40%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Raw cane sugar, cocoa butter, soy milk powder, cocoa mass, sesame, whole cane sugar, vanilla, salt, soy lecithin. 

Sample Size: 35g or 1.23oz

 

Appearance: Soft milk chocolate color, up close it's a bit like lightly creamed coffee and a touch translucent, monogrammed logo with signature blown dry ripple marks on the surface, a little ashy, and chocolate particles on the surface. 

Score: 91

Snap: Very firm snap, clearly audible, clean break lines.

Score: 96

Aroma: Soy, tiny hint of astringency, slight hints of nuts, cream, mildly smoky tobacco, and black licorice. 

Score: 94

Taste: Soft cocoa, cinnamon and licorice up front, creamy soy in the middle mixed with the spiciness of the licorice and cinnamon. Soy milk finish. 

Score: 93

Texture: Hard, waxy, a bit drying on the palate, and slightly chalky, long melt time.

Score: 84

 

There is a lot going on with this chocolate. Insanely good snap quality, interesting coffee like color, and the complexity of the nose and flavor make this an odd yet delightful bar. 

The nose smelled like soy and had a tiny bit of tartness or astringency up front, that goes away once the bar has breathed a bit. The cream, tobacco, and licorice dominate giving it a unique aroma. The taste is all cocoa and licorice with cinnamon and cream. Soy completely dominates and rounds out the finish with tiny hints of lingering cinnamon and licorice. 

Once again the texture is the worst part of this. Of all the crazy good things happening with the aroma and taste, the texture doesn't match. It's hard and waxy and a bit chalky. It does open a bit creamier than the Green Tea, but still in the same boat, too hard. 

But what a surprise this turned out to be? So many interesting flavors. I wish I knew which origin or blend of cacao Zotter decided to use for these bars. If they could just manage the texture better, these make for some very good tasting bars. A bit heavy on the soy taste for the Soya bar, but with everything else going on in the flavor, it balances nicely. I do think some milk purists might take issue with that especially on the Soya bar, but not so much the Green Tea bar. It's creamy and milky. As a milk lover and purist myself, I rather enjoyed these. And besides these aren't for the milk lovers anyway. These are for the lactose intolerant. 

Final Score: 91.6

 score
B+

Beacon Hill Chocolates

 

 

Beacon Hill Chocolates

I had a very nice time stopping by this little gem on Charles St. in Boston. I had been meaning to get over there for some time. I finally got my chance and I was very happy with them. The ladies who work there are very attentive and sweet. They are passionate and will engage you in good conversations about chocolate. They will gladly walk you through everything in the store. I haven't run into customer service this good in a while. 

This, however, is their evil plan. They are so nice to you that you wind up with the whole store in your hands before you leave. At least I did anyway. I went in for one thing and came out with more bars of chocolate, S'Mores pops, a scoop of mint chocolate gelato, truffles, and hot chocolates. It could have been a lot worse. I already have a ton of bars back logged for review and archived notes to post, but no, I just had to walk out with even more stuff. Their evil plan of "kill with exceptional kindness" completely worked on me. 

Today I am going to highlight the S'Mores Pops and the mixed truffle assortment I bought. Click to enlarge pictures. 

 

Handmade S'Mores Pops. 

 

 

 

Truffles

Creme Brulee: White chocolate vanilla bean ganache with raspberry Chambord jelly in a white chocolate shell.

 

Very pretty truffle. I love the surface design. Very sweet, good creamy white chocolate and white chocolate vanilla bean ganache, with lovely raspberry Chambord filling. But I failto see how this is really like creme brulee except for the vanilla bean. It's very vanilla and lovely raspberry, but no burnt sugar taste. Still a very pretty truffle. I liked this one a lot. 

 

Key Lime: Hand painted white chocolate shell and key lime ganache.

 

Tangy truffle, buttery white chocolate balance. Lingering flowery key lime taste. Very nice truffle. 

 

Salted Butter Caramel Butterfly: Robust, burnt caramel is enhanced with savory salted butter in a milk chocolate butterfly shell.

 

Sweet, buttery, and creamy with very soft and gooey caramel center, nice milk chocolate shell. A little burnt flavors, but not as described and no salty characters. This is a delicious sweet caramel truffle, but the lack of slat was a little disappointing. I can't say it wasn't great though. It was awesome. It just didn't taste like it was described. 

 

Chocolate Martini Truffle: Dark chocolate ganache flavored with Grey Goose Vodka, dipped in a rich dark chocolate shell with a hand painted martini glass.

 

Deep rich chocolate, robust vodka flavor, no heat or esters, but definitely there on the vodka taste, and almost has a hint of cinnamon to it. Very rich truffle. 

 

Blood Orange Fleur de Lis: Dark chocolate ganache infused with lush blood orange inside a hand painted Fleur de Lis dark chocolate shell.

 

Deep bitter, but fresh orange taste, deep rich chocolate. The Blood orange balanced sweeter with the chocolate and has very nice lingering orange oils. 

 

Pumpkin Spice: Hand painted milk chocolate ganache with pumpkin pie spices. 

 

 

This was a mystery truffle at first. I didn't have a list of the truffles I bought. But then I took a bite and was happy to find it was a pumpkin pie spiced truffles. I am not sure if this actually has pumpkin puree in it, but it was creamy, soft, very warming, wonderfully spiced, and buttery. The milk chocolate was the right way to go with this truffle. Loved it! 

 

These next truffles are a little ashy due to me having to wait to eat them. I reviewed half the box because I couldn't sit here and eat 12 truffles in one sitting. Then I had to go to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival. The ashiness is due to me leaving them, and were not the condition I bought them in. See the box of truffles pic above. 

 

Dragonfly: Dark chocolate ganache with essence of Kaffir Lime leaves and silky coconut milk embedded with a piece of candied ginger.

 

This one wasn't my favorite. This is my problem though. I am not a big fan of candied ginger. This however was very light in flavor. It was pleasant and not overwhelming except for the ginger to me. There was barely a coconut taste, the ginger dominates but is toned down by the chocolate and the Kafir lime leaves were a nice rounding flavor on the truffle. It's actually quite nice. You will just have to forgive me as I can't personally stand candied ginger. 

 

Lavender Truffle: A delicate milk chocolate truffle infused with French lavender blossoms, coated in 64% dark chocolate.

 

Very robust lavender taste. This was a bit too much for me. It wasn't fresh lavender, it was musky like stinky, French soap. Perhaps milk chocolate was too soft for the lavender. The shell was a lot more illustrious when I first got it. This picture isn't doing it justice on how pretty it was. But frankly speaking, it was too funky for me. 

 

Seduction: Combination of Portuguese Port Wine and chocolate ganache.  

 

 

 

This is a really nice truffle. Deeply rich, and fruity. Complex fruits like deep raisins and a bit of a balsamic taste. Very nice. 

 

Chile-Limon Mayan Truffle: A special blend of dark and milk chocolate ganache infused with Southwestern chilies and house-made lime marmalade.

 

Lightly spicy as far as the heat goes, a little warming, but spicy chili taste, and slightly tangy. Soft smooth texture, but I wish it had more of that lime taste. And as someone who is a total wuss about spicy heat, I felt like it could have been more on the chili's. But the flavor was right. This was a pretty cool truffle over all. 

 

Dark Chocolate Cat: Extra-bittersweet ganache in the shape of a cat with sunflower seeds for ears, enrobed in dark chocolate.

 

I call this the Bruiser because it looks like one of my wild "chirruns," Miss Bruiser Alstrom. This is a straight up super rich dark chocolate truffle from Moonstruck in Oregon. Cute and fun Halloween truffles. This may be a bit too rich for kids, but still cute none the less. And little sunflower seeds for ears. 

 

Olive Oil and Sea Salt: Dark chocolate ganache infused with a touch of olive oil and topped with sea salt. 

 

Nice savory olive oil taste and good balance of salt with the dark chocolate. I kind of wish this one was a caramel. But the dark chocolate held on to the olive oil taste well. Really nice truffle. 

Mitzi Blue ~ With Love

 

 

Mitzi Blue "With Love," given to me by Angelo Scarnera, from London as part of our ritual trading of chocolate for beer. In Austria this is called "Mit Liebe." I kind of wish some of the products meant for UK markets or US markets kept the German words. At least in this case anyway. Mit Liebe just sounds better.

A bean-to-bar line from Josef Zotter based around a love affair with a car. The Story of Mitzi Blue from inside of the package. Click to enlarge.

 

 

With Love:

A chocolate as beautiful as love. In love? Beloved? Liked? Out of love? In love again? Enchanted and thrilled? As beautiful as love is the unbelievably fine taste of the wonderful Mitzi Blue® With Love, a chocolate able to express in a very romantic way the unique feeling of loving somebody. But love is not only written on the package, this chocolate is made with love. This variety is made with love for lovers, and that is why it looks different. Enchantingly light-coloured, finely conched and – to everybody’s surprise – covered with flowers. Seduction at the highest taste levels, something that may be given with love at any time.

 

With Love is white chocolate with 31% cocoa butter content. It's covered in flower petals of blue corn flowers, red roses, and yellow marigolds. It's very pretty and certainly special enough to hand over to someone you love.

 

Dear Angelo,

I heart you too, homie. Friends fo lyfe yo!

Mit Liebe, Candice

 

 

 

Mit Liebe

 

Type: White chocolate, 31% cocoa butter

Ingredients: Raw cane sugar, cocoa butter, full cream powder, sweet whey powder, whole cane sugar, mixed flowers (roses, corn flowers, and marigolds) vanilla, salt, soy lecithin. (Almonds??)

**Fair trade and organic ingredients.

Sample Size: 50g or 1.76oz

 

Appearance: Circle tablet, shiny back surface covered in pretty flower petals. The front is a simple monogrammed design. Gorgeous almond color. Soft and muted and not yellowish-white.

Score: 95

Snap: Low thud sound, slightly firm snap quality.

Score: 89*

Aroma: Delicate cinnamon toast and cream. Very simple and not much else happening.

Score: 93

Taste: Cinnamon, cream, buttery, slight nutty characters, a bit of a perfume-y character from the petals, but it's softly folded into the flavors of cinnamon and nuts. Distinctive rose flavor though. A blended cinnamon and milky aftertaste.

Score: 94

Texture: Super soft and creamy texture, the petals on the surface are dry, but soften really quickly, fast melt time.

Score: 94

 

*The score on the Snap is adjusted a bit for white chocolate. I factor in cocoa butter content and how thick the bar is. This had a relatively good snap to it, it just had no sound. Which is why is scored a bit lower than what it should have been based on it's feel.

Very pretty bar of chocolate. The color of the white chocolate was a beautiful almond color and not a weird neon white color you sometimes see with white chocolate. Simple molding with beautifully accented flowers all over the back surface.

I was slightly confused by the almonds in the ingredients. It says it contains almonds online, but not on the package. It does have a slight nutty character. It confuses me if I am really tasting almonds or just a natural flavor profile from the cocoa butter and ingredients.

The aroma and taste were fabulous. I am not one who is generally sold on white chocolate, but I don't turn my nose up at it and I will always try it. It smelled and tasted like cinnamon and cream. Awesomely buttery and sweet. It had a little bit of a flowery taste with distinctive rose flavors. It was also a bit nutty with a texture to die for. So creamy and soft. The petals were a bit dry on the palate at first, but it's a small detail considering how soft the white chocolate was.

There was a slight milky after taste that I didn't care for, but It took a few tastes of the bar for that to be present. It's a classic flavor of white chocolate I have come to not like. But again the rest of this bar tasted so good, I was willing to over look the aftertaste this time. It wasn't anything like the Hand-Scooped Black Cherries with Vanilla bar. Plus the cinnamon lingers a bit so it's a milky cinnamon flavor. There were some cloying spice notes towards the end. But again, a minor detail like the milky after taste that wasn't enough to interfere or ruin this fantastic bar of white chocolate.

I recommend this bar for the non-believers of white chocolate. Originally I was going to write that this is a good bar to give to your lover, unless they are a chocolate snob. But I think this will be good enough for the snobs after all.

Final Score: 93

    score
    A-

Zotter ~ Hand-Scooped Black Cherries with Vanilla

 

 

Zotter "Hand-Scooped" Black Cherries with Vanilla. Artwork by Andreas H. Gratze.

 

Black Cherries with Vanilla

Fine Bitter Couverture 60%

A fine dark chocolate that has the air of a chartbreaker. A black-cherry fruit puree and its layer of vanilla-almond nougat are determined to make it to the top.

 

Type: Filled bar, Semisweet 60%

Infredients: Raw cane sugar, almonds, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, fructose-glucose syrup, dried sweet cherries, full cream milk powder, cherry brandy, sweet whey powder, whole cane sugar, vanilla, salt, soy lecithin.

**Fair trade and organic ingredients.

Sample Size: 70g or 2.47oz

 

Major bloom on this bar. I like these Hand-scooped bars, but the chocolate coatings are very temperamental and finicky. This bar was the most bloomed out the three I have tried so far. And they are not past expiration or close to it. I can go as far as to say there may have been a big shift in temperature from transport or where they were bought in London. But I doubt that's the case. I think these bars are just delicate and temperamental.

Smells like cherries and a bit sweet like the kirsch brandy. Just a tad hint of that boozy character, but sweet overall with cherries, sugar, and vanilla.

Very sweet taste. Rich, sweet and slightly tart cherries, sweet vanilla filling, and semisweet chocolate rounding out the flavor. It's nice that the chocolate is at least present for this bar. On the other bars it was there but the fillings in the bar over took the chocolate. Then again, the chocolate is supposed to be an accent and not the main focus. But nice that you can taste it. 

There is a bit if a funky taste on the finish though that I do not like. I am left with a funky milk taste and milk breath. Something is artificial about it. The entire bar tasted good up until the finish. It's a leftover by-product of either too much milk powder in this bar or too much sugar and milk combined. It kind of ruins it for me.

I feel like this could have scored higher despite the bloom and overly sweet content of this bar because it tasted good, but it's the aftertaste that I can't get behind. The cherries were good, the vanilla was strong but good, the chocolate taste on the end was nice, but that finish kills it. It's not often I give something a score like this.

 

   score
 D+

Zotter ~ Hand -Scooped Scotch Whisky

 

 

Zotter "Hand-Scooped" Scotch Whisky with Highland Harvest Organic Scotch. Artwork by Andreas H. Gratze.

 

 

Scotch Whisky

Nobel bitter couverture 70%

The 'smoky flavour' of whisky and the dry acidulous flavour of dark chocolate blend together for that perfect combination.

 

Type: Filled bar, bittersweet, 70%

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, raw cane sugar, cocoa butter, whisky (6%), milk, fructose-glucose syrup, full cream milk powder, whole cane sugar, salt, vanilla.

**Fair Trade and organic ingredients.

Sample Size: 2.47oz or 70g

Highland Harvest Organic Scotch Whisky

 

Nice shiny surface with the blow dried chocolate waves on the surface. A few marks on the surface but probably from the packaging rubbing against the chocolate ripples. Still shiny though and in great shape.

Smells boozy and chocolate-y. A lot like the Grape (Grappa), Cheese and Walnut bar. Smells more like the sweet richness of the chocolate than it does of peaty scotch.

From the Caskstore page about the Whisky:

Deep golden amber color. Buttery caramelized nuts, anise, vanilla frosting, and dried fruit aromas. A soft silky entry leads to a dryish medium body of honeyed nut toast, caramel, honey, and spice flavors with wet grain and delicate mineral fade. A smooth, delicately flavorful, and evenly meshed blend.

Rich bittersweet chocolate and full scotch flavors without being overbearing. Has a bit of scotch esters and some slight peat characters, the buttery quality described on the page about the whisky comes through in a great way and interacts nicely with the sweet chocolate. Definite vanilla, cream, and honey from the scotch. There is a really nice flowery overtone to the bar as well which is either coming from the chocolate, or the scotch's honey notes, or a combination of the two. Either way, its really nice. And a nice nutty character just before the finish. Lot's of flavor profiles going on.

For someone who isn't a big scotch fan, this was very enjoyable. It is was it says it is too, unlike the Bacon Bits bar. Just a creamy center of chocolate and scotch covered in dark chocolate. A nice balance of esters, sugars, butter, and cream. And all organic ingredients including the whisky which falls inline with Zotter's principles perfectly.

 

   score
   A-

Zotter ~ Hand-Scooped Bacon Bits

 

 

Zotter "Hand-Scooped" Bacon Bits bar. Artwork by Andreas H. Gratze.

 

 

 

Bacon Bits

Noble bitter couverture 70%

Contest of nutty flavours. Cracklings roasted in a crispy fashion and then caramelised develop nutty flavours. Hazelnut nougat competes for this nutty taste. Refined with cinnamon and coated in noble bitter chocolate.

 

Type: Filled candy bar, nougat, Noble bitter couverture, 70%

Ingredients: Raw cane sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, hazelnuts (16%), bacon crackling (7%), full cream milk powder, skimmed milk powder, butter, whole cane sugar, salt, cinnamon, vanilla.

*Fair trade and certified organic ingredients.

Sample Size: 2.47oz or 70g

 

Ashy and bloom-y chocolate coating. Rippled wavy surface pattern from the chocolate being blown and cooled.

Smells like cinnamon and walnuts even though it's ingredients contain hazelnuts. No smokey or bacon aroma. Cinnamon dominates everything even the chocolate.

Hazelnut and cinnamon taste, very sweet, slightly salty with small bits of crispy bacon crackles, soft chocolate coating, soft nougat-like center, and crunchy, sweet, caramelized bacon.

The namesake simply doesn't hold up. It's called Bacon Bits, and while it does have it in there, it's very disappointing with the amount. I expected it to be more loaded with bacon. It's basically just a cinnamon-y gianduja bar with scant amounts of bacon crunchies in it. This cinnamon and hazelnut also dominate the flavor of the chocolate.

I think this bar tastes very good. It's actually really good and it's texture is very nice and creamy with the crunchy caramalized bacon for added texture contrast. But I wanted more bacon. The bacon is also candy-like. Barely any smokey flavor to it at all. But there is a little bit of a salt kick which helps balance out the sweet bar, but not enough though.

I don't know exactly how to grade this bar. For taste it would get a strong B+ or even an A-. But technically since it's called Bacon Bits it should be more bacon-y and that's what you should be left with when eating this bar. But you don't get left with bacon. And while it tastes great, it should be called something like "Cinnamon Gianduja," to more accurately name this bar.

 

   score
  C+

 

Chocolate Oatmeal Face Mask

 

 

Okay, so remember a few weeks ago I made a quick post about chocolate face masks and how to make them yourself at home? Well, I went ahead and tried one and it worked really well.

Make sure you wash your skin before applying. A helpful and natural tip is to cleanse the face, then use witch hazel as a toner. Also use on a Q-Tip with apple cider vinegar for any trouble spots before using the mask. You want that on on your skin first. You can also use the apple cider vinegar on the trouble spots after you wash the mask off. And be sure to moisturize.

I took some old scraps that had gone passed their prime for eating. Chocolate does have an extremely long shelf life, but these were passed that. Mostly I take chocolate bars, eat enough to review and fully understand, then I take the left over scraps and bake with it. But recently my stock pile is just too much. So, this is a good way to use the chocolate in a constructive way without having to throw it away.

 

I took leftover scraps of a Patric Chocolate Madagascar bar, L'Artisan du Chocolat Jamaica, and some Paul A. Young Valrhona bar scraps. All bitter sweet and 70% and over. I melted them down over a double boiler, I pulled the chocolate off before it all completely melted. Then I added oatmeal and honey and I let it cool down.

 

On whim, I decided to go ahead an add course turbinado sugar after the mixture had cooled so it wouldn't melt the sugar crystals.

 

Duck lips just for Gingerkiller!

 

I slathered it all over my face and waited for about 15 to 20 minutes. It was a bit messy to apply, but the trick is to go around the face more than once with the mixture. Each time you go around, it goes on thicker and thicker. The oatmeal might fall off a bit but overall it stayed on pretty good.

Washing it off, the oatmeal and sugar acted as a face scrub. It felt a little waxy as it was being washed off and I thought I might have to do a second wash with some face soap. But, I didn't have to. It all washed off clean, and my skin was brighter and extremely soft.

Having a glass of red wine while you mask is also fun. The antioxidants in wine is good for you to. You will feel like you are in a spa. Wine, masks, and Ed Norton on tv. La vita è bella!

It will be a while until I see any long term effects because I plan to do this more often. But for now my skin is actually brighter and my face feels a lot softer. Fantastic chocolate experiment.