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Galler ~ Blended Venezuela Papouasie - 43%

 

 

**Archived notes. 

 

I have been going through my little Doctor Who notebook where I take all of my chocolate notes, and I found this gem I forgot to blog about. I was in Belgium last year while my husband was being Knighted for his efforts with beer. In The Grand Place is a tiny little Galler shop where I picked up a couple of bars. 

This one is a milk chocolate bar and I almost forgot I bought it until I went through these bars. I kind of grabbed bars to hurry up and get out of the shop. The woman who was working there at the time was very unpleasant and would barely talk to me when I tried to ask questions. It wasn't a translation thing either. It was a rude bitch issue. But I must make note that since that time, I have gone back to Belgium, and Galler's customer service has improved immensely. But that's for another post. I will detail the dramatic change when I write about Galler's Kaori set. 

A blended bar of Criollo beans from Venezuela and Forestaro beans from Papua New Guinea. I have been really happy with the quality of milk chocolates I have been fortunate enough to taste since starting this blog. It's almost converted me to say that some of these milk chocolates are more favorable than the bittersweet, dark chocolate bars. Almost, but still some of these milk bars are changing my mind every day. 

 

Blended Venezuela Papouasie 43%

Type: Blended milk, 43%

Bean Varietal: Criollo and Forastero

Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whole milk powder, soy lecithin, natural vanilla. 

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

 

Appearance: Deep caramel color, monogrammed molding, large tabs tablet, some minor matting marks on a few of the tabs, shiny smooth surface. 

Score: 93

Snap: Light crisp sound is due to thin lines from the molding, tabs too big to snap for comparison. But very clean break lines. 

Score: 90

Aroma: Cream and smoke. Milky creamy caramel aroma with light hints of smokiness. There were some deep underlying complex fruits but the milk dominates leaving a caramel aroma. 

Score: 94

Taste: Mellow and subdued, low smokiness, light tobacco leaves taste, creamy, lightly sweet, lingering smokiness on the finish, milky aftertaste, slight strawberry fruity notes. 

Score: 85

Texture: Slightly waxy upfront, but smooths out and has a creamy texture, medium melt time. 

Score: 91

 

This was a mixed bag for me. It's very robust on the aroma, with deeply rich caramel notes, cream, and smokiness. Then the taste is totally washed out. I can't tell it's due to the blended of cacao beans or wasted out in too much milk powder. It says on the wrapper 19% is milk powder. 

The color is gorgeous, and it despite it's very delicate flavor, the creaminess of this and it's texture make for good melting chocolate for hot chocolate. It's aroma and appearance really give this bar high marks. There was a bit of a fruity aroma, but the taste ended up being like strawberries and cream mixed with a little bit of smoke and a little bit of tobacco. Nice flavor even if it was faint. 

Although I expected more from the flavor, I still adore this chocolate and it's creaminess. This is a bar for weak or sensitive palates. But in my mind it's designed for creamy hot chocolate. 

 

Final Score: 90.6

  score
B+

L.A. Burdick ~ Bolivia 68%

 

 

**Archived notes.

 

A single origin bar from Burdick's but not bean-to-bar. They source from a Swiss chocolate company. 

This is a bit of a different review. This is a chocolate that survived, marginally, through the changing seasons of a cooler spring to summer. Though these are archived notes, I wanted to show you what happens when it's my fault that the appearance is a mess. This won't be taken out on Burdick's in the review. There are some surface issues that can be scored, but I will note that in the review. Again, this is what happens when temperatures are not controlled. I write about that often when I get chocolate that hasn't been handled properly. Usually it's not my fault. But in this case it is. And for reviewing purposes I will always make a note of conditions, circumstances of travel, or longevity in my reviews. 

 

L.A. Burdick Bolivia 68%

Type: Bittersweet, 68%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, probably Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

 

Appearance: Dark chocolate brown color, it was shiny on the surface but had a few plastic matted marks on the surface from it's plastic covering and some chocolate particles on the surface. Standard square patterned molding, non-monogrammed. (Ashy, dusty, sugary appearance comes from the heat damage. This is what makes it look matted and dull. It was very shiny.)

Score: 89

Snap: Firm snap, with low and dull snap sound. Clean break lines. 

Score: 89

Aroma: Big aroma of soft roasted cacao and oak wood. Mildly astringent and tart, deep dark fruits. 

Score: 92

Taste: Soft roasted cacao, berries, pen ink, a little tangy, oak wood, sweet but balanced sugars, and a little bit of char on the lingering finish. 

Score: 93

Texture: Smooth, a little hard and waxy at first, then opens up to a nice silky texture with a medium melt time and creamy texture. 

Score: 92

 

This is interesting chocolate. It's very subdued and mild. This is a good midway chocolate for the milk to dark fans. It has a big roasted nose of deep berries and rich oak wood, but it's flavor comes off as soft roasted cacao, balanced sugars, mellow fruits and berries, and a slight hint of lingering char on the finish. Some mild pen ink and hints of bitter astringency, but not enough to over power. 

This could have been a much more dynamic bar, but I kind of like it's subdued quality. You don't always need kick-you-in-face robust flavors to have a worthy bar of chocolate. 

 

Final Score: 91

   score
 B+

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+

The Chocolate Line ~ Bruges

 

 

Left virtually abandoned by my chocolate twitter pals on where the good chocolate is to be found in Belgium, I was forced to fend for myself in a barrage of terrible tourist chocolate. Bruges, the historic and beautifully preserved Belgian town, is not unlike Brussels when it comes to the onslaught of crappy tourist chocolate. Someone really needs to publish a guide book on how to navigate the throngs of chocolate shops. 

Having said that, there are some saving graces. In Bruges, the saving grace is a popular and crowded little shop called The Chocolate Line. It was as though people had come from far and wide just to visit this shop. I found it online when I had a rare internet connection. Good thing I found them too. There is a lot of bad chocolate around Bruges. And it all claims to be the "Finest Belgian Chocolate."

The Chocolate Line was founded by Fabienne De Staerke and Dominique Persoone in 1992. Dominique dubs himself a "Shock-o-Latier," to push the boundaries in flavors. 

The people who worked there were very nice despite the crowded shop. The pushy and rude patrons did not discourage me from getting a taste of something worth while. Although, I wished I had more time to linger and search the store. I really wanted to buy the Tequila. The gentleman behind the counter with glasses, forgive me, I can't remember his name, patiently gathered up truffles for me and even recommended a few to try like the Bacon truffle and the Sun-Dried Tomato truffle. He even slipped me a Snobifram, raspberry cream chocolate cup to try while purchasing my goods. Very generous and thoughtful. That raspberry cup was fantastic too.

 

 

Admittedly, these truffles were meant to be eaten on the boat. We were on a barge for a beer cruise that took us from Amsterdam through Antwerp, Ghent, and Bruges. I could have had them boxed, but the kind man beind the counter said it would be cheaper just to take them as is. I agreed and had intended to eat them after dinner. But our fantastic dinners on our boat were so fantastic and filling, we simply had no room to eat them. This was probably a good thing anyway. I am never stingy and will always share. Now, I selfishly have them all to myself. The condition these truffles are in are because I traveled with them from Bruges to Brussels, and then in my carry on the way home and stopped at 3 airports. They managed to survive relatively intact, but their appearance was not the way the store had given to them to me. 

 

The Bacon

Sadly the one truffle that suffered the most abuse on it's journey to my house. Milk chocolate coating, smells of salt and bacon fat. Creamy peanut butter and tastes like cured ham. Small bits of crispy bacon. Perhaps a bit too skimpy on the bacon, but the flavors are full and very apparent. 

Like Vosges, the bacon flavor is full but the bacon itself is lackluster. I need my chocolatiers to stop being stingy with the bacon and please put in real pieces. Go big or go home! Truffles are not meant to last so why not be realistic with the bacon? Your fans would appreciate it. Trust me on this one. 

 

Framboos

Bitter ganache with pure raspberry juice.

Firm deep rich chocolate ganache, extremely sour, tangy, and tart with the pure raspberry juice. A bit of a puckerer this one is. Full of flavor, but the raspberry is way too tart. Stick-you-in-the-glands-of-you-neck sour. While some people will surely love the extreme tanginess of this truffle, I found it to be over-the-top. Lingering chocolate on the aftertaste, but it is virtually destroyed by the raspberry. You get rich chocolate right up front and then it's all but destroyed and left whimpering on the final lingering finish of this truffle. The ganache was super rich too. Kind of sad really. 

Definitely different than the overly sweet and sugary raspberry truffles on the market. But this is a palate killing truffle. The Snobifram is much better and much more delicate.

 

Wasabi 

 

Bitter ganache, marzipan, with Japanese wasabi. 

Pungent but not spicy hot wasabi. Chocolate shell, top layer of green wasabi marzipan, and deeply rich chocolate ganache. Wasabi is very dominating right up front, but quickly dies away and leaves a wonderfully rich chocolate ganache taste. Delicious truffle. This had the balance the Framboos was missing. It has very bold and strong flavors and each one is allowed to shine. 

 

The Havana

 

Ganache with a distillate of Havana leaves. 

Again, not the prettiest shape they could be in due to traveling. But the cigar design is intact. Tastes like smoky leaves and rich chocolate. Not lit leaves, but rich natural smoky flavor. The ganache almost has a boozy quality to it. I am not sure of the distillate was an alcohol or a hydrosol, but it definitely has a boozy quality to it. That smoky tobacco leaves taste is fantastic. You won't feel like you are puffing a Cuban, but it certainly tastes like you had one in your mouth before you lit it. Definitely has nice, rich lingering tobacco notes on the finish. 

 

Italiaanse Javanais

 

White chocolate ganache with fresh basil, a chutney of sun dried tomatoes, marzipan with black olives. 

I thought this one was just going to be a sun dried tomato truffle. I am very happy to lean that this is a complete foodie truffle. 

It ends up being too funky. Basil dominates right up front. It tastes like a sweet candy pizza. I wanted to like this one too. The black olives are there but not as much as I would have hoped for. The tomato is there too but the sugary marzipan interferes with the natural sweetness of the tomato chutney. While the cool factor is there, it's not enjoyable at all. The chocolate does not match at all with the flavors of this truffle. 

The savory flavors do end up lingering on the palate which isn't a bad thing, but the flavors shoudln't have been mixed with all that sugar. 

 

 

Cabernet-Sauvignon

 

A caramel with Cabernet-Sauvignon and pine seeds praline. 

Big oak-y wine flavor right off the bat. Tangy wine mixed with soft runny caramel. It's a bit of a shock at first with that tangy wine, but then it finishes with extremely oak-y flavors. It's a bit of vinegar taste mixed with the buttery caramel at first, but then it finishes sweet with the chocolate and levely pine seeds. There is definitely a lot going on with this caramel. The wine is a bit of a shock and almost out of place but ends up being balanced or smoothed out by the chocolate, butter in the caramel, and pine seeds. 

Overall I like this quite a bit. But it's a bit odd and almost doesn't work at first. 

 

Espelette 

 

Bitter ganache with mazipan and slightly smoked "Espelette."

Another truffle that took a beating as far as it's appearance goes. But so far despie what they look like, they have all tasted fine. Fine as far as freshness goes. I can't speak for the Italiaase Javanais. 

A bit of a jelly or gel-like consistency in the middle. Virtually no pepper taste at all. A mild numbing sensation on the tongue at the finish of the truffle is all you get that indicates chili pepper. There is no smoky flavor. It's just a sweet jelly-like chocolate ganache center full of rich chocolate flavors and a bit f a nmbing at the end. No heat, and not chili flavor. Bit of a let down to be honest. Chocolate and chili's are wonderful together and in chocolate, it's one of the few ways I can tolerate spicy chili heat. 

 

The Creole

 

Bitter ganache with Arabica espresso coffee. 

Soft rich ganache but again, another let down of a truffle as far as flavor goes. Where is the coffee. Arabica espresso should have yeilded a nice bitter and roasted rich flavor. There is virtually none. I even saved this truffle for last anticipating a big robust taste. It's a delicious chocolate truffle. There is nothing bad about it. It's super rich and chocolate-y. But the coffee flavor or lack there of is weak. There is just a tiny bit of lingering coffee grinds taste on the finish. Takes a while to present itself. It's Europe people. Once again, go big or go home. 

 

I liked these truffles. A few misses with the coffee, and bacon and a big miss with the candy pizza truffle. But this is a chocolatier who isn't afraid to play around with flavors. Perhaps maybe a bit too timid on some flavors and then over the top on others. The Havana and the Wasabi were the best.  Still, this was better than 99% of the tourist chocolate crap to be found all over Bruges. Brussels is no exception. The Chocolate Line will be recommended should anyone need chocolate advice for Bruges. Maybe stay away from the candy pizza truffle, though. 

 

 

My favorite way to have hot chocolate lately. Chocolate on a wooden spoon to be stirred into some scaled milk. An ingenious idea really. But this looks like a huge block of chocolate for one hot chocolate. I got it in milk because I felt like the dark chocolate would have been too rich. I think even this milk chocolate block will also be intensely rich. 

 

 

 

I did pick up some chocolate lipstick. Will I ever wear this as real lipstick? Sure! It goes on dark and then rubs into a light brown color that isn't Halloween-ish. The only problem is, it tastes like brownies and won't last five minutes on my lips without being licked off. 

 

Westvleteren 12 Truffles

 

 

As some of you may or may not know, I have just come back from a fabulous boat cruise through Amsterdam and Belgium. The trip was dedicated to beer. One of the prized locations we visited was the abbey of Sint Sixtus of Westvleteren in Belgium. Makers of one of the most sought after beers in the world, Westvleteren 12, a Belgian Quadruple ale that sits around 10% abv. Sint Sixtus is a Trappist monastery that makes beer to sustain their peaceful and quite lifestyles that they solely dedicate to God. 

The reason the beer is so coveted is because it is not sold in stores. There are rumors that this will be changing for a few places around Belgium, but out of respect for the monks, they ask that the beer is not sold outside of the monistary. Unfortunately their efforts have gone in vain for some who seek to exploit them. Ebay, greedy restaurants who happen to have a stock pile, and other selfish for-profit traders have shone a bad light on this coveted beer. Now, there is a limit from the Abbey as to how much you can buy, sometimes they don't even sell it to you at all. Their intentions were to make a beer that would sustain their lifestyles, not create greed and fervour. 

Other reasons are it's intensely rich flavors and strong abv content. Seems like a lot of hardcore beer geeks covet the abv factor over drinkability at times, but that's not to slight Westvleteren 12. It is a delicious beer. Their blonde ale goes largely ignored by the geeks as does the bruin which is a fabulous and rich beer in it's own right. They rate highly, but are never talked about or traded as fiercely. 

 

Conditions Westvleteren Trappist is sold only to individual customers. Every customer agrees not to re-sell the beer to any third party.

In our case we were allowed to visit, buy beer in very generous portions, and even sit with the monks for a very special prayer service. This was most generous of them and a moment I will be forever grateful for. It was a Lou Reed-kind of moment with perfect weather, and a grateful group of tourists. 

 

When we arrived, we sat in the cafe, In De Vrede (In the Shadow of Sint-Sixtus Abbey), located at the abbey to enjoy a little lunch and some free flowing Westvleteren beers from draft. They had a small gift shop where I found the truffles. They sell a variety of items such as gingerbread, Westvleteren washed-rind cheese, and pates. 

We proceeded to have lunch and beers. 

 

Westvleteren 6 or Blond and Westvleteren 8 or Bruin. 

 

Pumpkin soup with fresh cream. 

 

Ham sandwich and chicken sandwich. Belgian-style! 

 

 

And of course the famed Westvleteren 12.

 

 

This beer has not been a particular favorite of mine. I have found the beer to be too big, too hot, and too sweet to be enjoyable. Maybe I have had improperly stored beers before. Now, I like it much better from the source. I always knew it would be different having it fresh at the source, but previous experiences with the beer haven't been that great. Today, I am happy to report it is a much better beer than I anticipated. It's much smoother and not at all hot like I had tasted before. Still not my favorite though. The blond is truly the underrated beer of Westvleteren. But the 12 is perfect for chocolate.

 

These were supposed to be opened and tasted on the beer boat cruise, but we had so much food and beers that no one really had room to eat it. I am reserving the post about the food served to us on the boat for my Pork Chops & Chicken blog. Unfortunately, while staying in Brussels at the end of the trip for one day, it ruined my Westvleteren Truffles. At least in appearance. The room we stayed in had no A/C and was overly hot. We couldn't even open windows to air the place out. It was miserable to even sleep in there let alone try and store chocolate. So the truffles melted a bit. I was able to recover them by putting them in the fridge as soon as I got home. They just aren't pretty anymore. 

 

I have almost no information about these truffles except that they were made at the cafe and with the Westy 12. I have no idea what kind of chocolate they used or it's percentage. 

The aroma on both is very boozy, sweet, malty from the beer. The plain or rolled in cocoa powder truffles have no characteristics of the chocolate except for some very slight nuttiness. Taste is like eating brownie batter with a bit of some heat behind it. Taste a little fruity too like some deep cherries hidden underneath the chocolate. Faint, but still there. Nice lingering beer taste on the finish. These are delicious and much like the beer, a very nice surprise in how different it tastes. I was expecting rich chocolate and overbearing beer tastes due to it's nose. It's quite the opposite. It's quite the surprise. 

The coconut ones have a sweet and light aroma of coconut as well as a big boozy aroma too. The coconut adds a nice, sweeter flavor and richer note. Same brownie batter like taste with some boozy heat. But much softer and better with the coconut. 

The texture has smooth chocolate for a the shell and a bit cake-y in the center which gave way to that brownie-like taste. 

These are pretty awesome and very different than I expected. They will make a fantastic gift if you ever get yourself to Belgium to visit the abbey. Just make sure you store them right until you get home to eat them.