20°N & 20°S

Mast Brothers ~ Dark Chocolate + Almonds, Sea Salt, Olive Oil

Once again I am dealing with the chocolate makers who have some of the finest wrapping paper in the business for their chocolate bars. A lovely fleur-de-Lis print.

Mast Brothers in Brooklyn, NY. Dark Chocolate + Almonds, Sea Salt, and Olive Oil. Using Madagascar cocoa beans and handmade techniques to make some fine bean-to-bar offerings.

Something I have come to love about the Mast Brothers, is subtly. I have had their chocolate before and I have requested more for review. My buddy Shane Welch of Sixpoint Craft Ales in Brooklyn, often hooks me up with Mast Brothers Chocolate. But having their Dark Chocolate + Sea Salt or their Dark Chocolate + Salt and Pepper, the balance is soft and delicate on these bars. The salt is present but never overwhelming and the pepper on the salt and pepper bar is unique and worked incredibly well with chocolate.

There is also another connection to Mast Brothers that I fully support. It's their motto of American Craft. As someone who works in the craft beer industry, the idea of American Craft is something I fully appreciate and understand. Our bean-to-bar producers in the US are really coming around and making some unbelievably good chocolate. The rest of the world should sit up and take notice. As they should sit up and take notice of our craft beer scene. It's the best in the world!

Type: Flavored, Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, Madagascar beans

Ingredients: Cocoa, cane sugar, almonds, sea salt, olive oil.

Appearance: Smooth and shiny surface, almond covered underside a few streaky lines on the underside with the almonds, simple non-monogrammed molding.

Score: 93

Snap: Light, airy snap. Firm, but relatively light with an audible snap sound.

Score: 91

Aroma: Dry roasted cocoa, slight medicinal, slightly tarry, a light tart and astringent aroma.

Score: 93

Taste: Salty almonds, tart cocoa, hints of cherries, astringent cocoa, medicinal notes, and hints of tar.

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth creamy chocolate with medium melt time, with crunchy, salty almonds.

Score: 94

I don't know if I am all the way sold on the Mast Brothers using Madagascar beans as their primary base for their bars, but in this case I am very sold. The tart and astringent cocoa was balanced by the salty almonds. The nutty taste of the almonds and the salt really interact well with the brightness of the cocoa and the cherry flavors and medicinal tar flavors. Harder to detect any discernible wood flavors like cedar which is classic for a lot of Madagascar beans due to the almonds, but the almonds are a welcomed flavor.

This is a delicious bar of chocolate and very easy on the eyes with the gorgeous almonds. But unfortunately without the almonds I believe this bar of chocolate would be unbalanced. I think they need a little more work in taming these Madagascar beans. Also the almonds helped tone down a bit of the tar characters and minty medicinal notes. It's still there on the taste, but thanks to the salt and almonds, it's covered up pretty good. Or a better way to look at is is that those flavors are blended into the background more.

Still, this was very enjoyable. I enjoyed crunching this one up. I love salted almonds and these were just right on this bar.

Final Score: 93.4

score
A-

Fine & Raw ~ Bonbon Bar

Oh yes! A bar of chocolate made with all natural ingredients and filled with a truffle center.  The Bonbon bar. Word to your moms!

This bar was given to me by my friend Emily Shartin, the chocolate buyer of Formaggio Kitchen. She wanted me to try a very flavorful bar of chocolate from a solid chocolate maker in Brooklyn, NY.

Fine & Raw is a chocolate company out of Brooklyn using natural ingredients and green methods of sustainability.

FINE & RAW is a fresh new company that believes the future is beautiful. To help bring this thought to life we strive to be green and sustainable where ever possible.

We'll be the first to admit we're not perfect. From the big issues, like fairtrade and carbon foot prints, down to using energy efficient light bulbs, we're learning to be greener all the time.

Our cacao is fairtrade and comes from a small cacao farmers co-op that practices sustainable farming. Cacao is a shade grown plant requiring a foliage canopy to grow. Our cacao farmers maintain the rainforests which provide natural symbiotic canopies for the plant. The farmers also grow an heirloom variety of cacao, which promotes bio-diversity of plant species within the rainforest ecosystem.

All our ingredients are organic, which means no unnecessary toxins, chemicals or pollutants are pumped into the environment. Our packaging is recycled and the inks we use are non-toxic and vegetable based.

We want the planet to be strong so it can grow more chocolate.

I have only had one previous experience with Fine & Raw. I reviewed their Mesquite bar. A strange bar that one was. Funky flavors mixed with chocolate. Bizarre yet fun. It's one of those bars that you have to try at least once and you might not enjoy it just as a bar. I found it kind of odd but then I started to think about melting it down and making variants of Mole sauces with it. It was only after thinking about what could be done with it that I fully began to appreciate it. 

I am not going to lie though. I was mostly excited for the Mesquite bar because of the wrapper. A vintage cowgirl with a lasso. It's pretty bad ass. 

Type: Filled bar.

Bean Varietal: Unknown, beans from Ecuador.

Ingredients: Raw cacao paste, cacao butter, blue agave, virgin coconut oil, cacao powder, himalayan sea salt.

Sample Size: 2oz or 54g

Description:

Dark raw chocolate bar with a thin line of bonbon truffle running down the inside center (2oz).

Appearance: Very damaged. This could come from a number of reasons, but it had a very oily and greasy feel to the bar. The oils in this bar began to separate from the cocoa. The foil wrapper was completely saturated with oils. It has a soft truffle center but the shell of the filled bar was very soft. This gave way to a poor snap character. I doubt there would have been a viable snap character anyway with the soft truffle center. But there would have been a small sound with a crisp chocolate shell. I don't know if this bar is always supposed to be this soft or if some how there was an issue along the way with heat exposure or any other reasons. 

I have had a similar experience with a set of truffles that came to me from Patric. They were Elbow truffles made with Patric chocolate. They tasted so fantastic, but they got damaged along the way some how. They had a matted appearance and a bit of a sunken in effect from super soft truffle centers. It's a hard call when things like this happen. They might look messed up, but still they tasted like heaven. This bar was no exception.

Because of this I am not reviewing this chocolate like a standard bar. I am going to talk about the taste, texture, and aroma. I will give it one overall score.

Aroma: Huge coconuts, almonds, and rich roasted cocoa. Once again, a bar of chocolate that smells like a deeply rich Almond Joy. Obviously the coconut oils impact the aroma. I was hoping that the coconut was a natural aroma based on other chocolates I have reviewed with a robust coconut and almond aroma. But none the less, this aroma is unbelievably good. The bar was so fragrant that my entire living room smelled like rich coconut and almonds.

Taste: Coconuts, lovely hits of sea salt, rich roasted cocoa, nice bitter notes blended with sweet cocoa notes, and slight bit of astringency on the first taste.

Balanced flavors with the sea salt, richly roasted cocoa, and coconut make for a fantastic tasting bar. It's delicious and robust. It has a good balance of sweet salty, and bitter cocoa.

Texture: Soft chocolate shell, a bit oily on the surface, smooth soft center, creamy, melts fast.

The taste, creamy texture, and aroma completely save the day for this bar. I just wanted to eat more and more of it. The sea salt gave this bar a perfect balance. Rich cocoa notes big coconut taste and aroma, bittersweet and sweet cocoa tastes where rounded out by the contrasting sea salt taste. Excellent flavors and tastes.

It may not be totally fair to not score this bar based on appearance and snap, but this is an unusual bar of chocolate as it's filled with a truffle center. I am not sure where the issue happened with it's appearance, but it deserves a solid letter grade based on how good it smells and tastes. It's quite a fantastic bar of chocolate overall.

score
A

Neuhaus ~ São Tomé 74%

If you know Belgian chocolate, then I am quite sure you have heard of Neuhaus. A large bean-to-bar company with wide distribution who are well known for their pralines and truffles.

With history stemming back all the way to 1875, including inventing the praline which in Belgium is a truffle but still called a praline, in 1912 and creating royal collections specially made in 1960 for they have a long standing history and reputation for fine Belgian chocolates. 

In 1912, Jean Neuhaus junior, grandson of the founder, took over the business.  He gave free rein to his creativity and invented the first filled chocolate  bouchée, which he named "praline".

In 1958 and 1960, Belgium celebrated the marriages of King Baudouin and Fabiola and of Prince Albert with Paola.  To commemorate these occasions Neuhaus created 4 royal pralines named Baudouin, Fabiola, Albert and Paola.

A little clarification on Truffles, Pralines, and Bonbon's via The Nibble.

• As mentioned on Page 1, in 1912, Jean Neuhaus created the molded, filled chocolate bonbon and called these filled chocolate shells pralines, the same word used to describe the caramelized almonds that had been made by the French (and known to the Belgians, who speak French) since 1636. The word praline in French refers to the sugar-coated almond. Why did Neuhaus use the same word for his filled bonbons? We don’t know, but it sure has created confusion ever since.

Some chocolatiers

subsequently enrobed their ganache centers (i.e., the original truffles), either by hand dipping (the way all chocolates were coated prior to Neuhaus’ invention) or in hard chocolate shells. In France or America, these enrobed ganaches would be called truffles. In Belgium, they are still called pralines.

Thus, when chocolatiers immigrated to the U.S., they might be selling pralines, truffles, bonbons or assorted chocolates, depending on their nationality. And, although the name of what they sold differed, the product might be the same.

This bar comes from their Origine collection. São Tomé and Principe are islands off the coast of Gabon right near the equator in the Gulf of Guinea. It's a Portuguese-speaking nation with São Tomé being the larger southern island.

[Image via Step Up OLPC]

[Image via Wissenladen.de]

Check out this post about São Tomé and Principe called "Chocolate Island" from Sarahan Vibe. 

[Image via Saharan Vibe]

Type: Bittersweet, 74%

Bean Varietal: Not indicated, possible Forastero.

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, soya lecithin.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

Lot #: 09259

Appearance: Square bar with simple "N" monogram, a bit dusty from chocolate particles and a small corner nick that ruins the smooth shiny appearance. Deep dark brown color.

Score: 91

Snap: Deep firm crisp snap, clean but asymmetrical break lines.

Score: 94

Aroma: Big coconut aroma, coffee beans, almonds, wood, small floral hints. Smells like a fresh and natural Almond Joy. Huge coconuts but mixed in with roasted cocoa and coffee beans. Amazing aroma.

Score: 97

Taste: Nutty, wood characters up front, cinnamon, coconuts, almonds, dry,  mildly bitter, no acidity, a little hint of smokiness and a bright green character towards the finish. Slight hints of bananas. Big roasted cocoa finish through retro-olfaction.

Score: 94

Texture: Smooth, creamy, a bit waxy, but still very smooth, medium melt time.

Score: 92

I am sure some of the chocolate purists will turn their noses up to a mass produced Belgian chocolate producer, but this is the second single origin bar from a mass produced company that really hits all the right marks. It's not as raw as a smaller chocolate maker might produce, but that makes it a bit more palatable for the masses. There isn't anything wrong with that, but as I said some chocolate purists might turn their snobby noses up at that notion that chocolate can be flavorful and delicious and not so overly nuanced.

This bar had an amazing aroma of almonds and coconuts, and a big wood taste with ripe green features and spicy notes. It finishes creamy and soft like most Belgian chocolate do. It had a bit of a waxy texture but it only lasted for a second.

This is chocolate you want to start a good tasting with. It's very solid for an beginning taste and then you want to work yourself into more raw and less refined chocolates.

I can see this being a work chocolate. The one you keep in your desk and take small bites off of when you desperately need a chocolate break. It's mild enough for that kind of thing, but complex enough in it's flavors to satisfy a deep craving.

Final Score: 93.6

score
A-

Vosges ~ Bacon Caramel Toffee

Vosges Bacon and Caramel Toffee

What on earth could exist in a finer combination than chocolate, caramel toffee, and bacon? Nothing! The answer is nothing.

Vosges has a collection of chocolate and bacon goodies. I took the plunge and ordered their Bacon & Eggs, Bacon Caramel Toffee, and a few of the Mo's Bacon Chocolate bars. Oh and lest I forget, their Mo's Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix.

Word is Bomb!

"I began experimenting with bacon + chocolate at the tender age of 6, while eating chocolate chip pancakes drenched in Aunt Jemima® syrup, as children often do. Beside my chocolate-laden cakes laid three strips of sizzlin' bacon, just barely touching a sweet pool of maple syrup. And then, the magic—just a bite of the bacon was too salty and I yearned for the sweet kiss of chocolate and syrup, so I combined the two. In retrospect, perhaps this was a turning point; for on that plate something magical happened, the beginnings of a combination so ethereal and delicious that it would haunt my thoughts until I found the medium to express it–chocolate.

From there, it was just a matter of time…and what began as a love of salt and sweet quickly unraveled into an obsession. No sooner could I wait to unveil the royal coupling in solid bar form, a deep milk chocolate with bits and pieces of applewood smoked bacon and just a sprinkling of Alder salt. Really, what doesn't taste better with bacon?"
–Katrina

Now I have to admit, I wasn't so easy on the Bacon & Eggs review. I had a taste in mind when I ordered these, and I didn't feel like they hit the mark for me personally. They were kind of small, kind of expensive, and overly sweet. I felt like salt was missing from the equation. It needed to be a salt caramel in the center and larger bacon bits. I also felt like they should have been in milk chocolate, not dark.

But then I tasted these bad boys and all was right with the universe again. This is what it's all about. Sweet and salty caramel toffee covered in chocolate with bits of bacon throughout the square, and yes they are covered in milk chocolate. The exact right balance I was looking for.

There is only one problem with these though. They taste so fucking good (excuse my language), and there isn't nearly enough in the package they come in. This is like drug dealer stuff. "Let's get them hooked on our special crack in the form of Bacon Caramel Toffee, and they will be begging for more! Muhahahahah!"

Damn you Vosges! DAMN YOU!!!

They did come in a silver package and were not just nestled in the box. Once again I do find this product kind of pricey for the amount you get, about $12 for four ounces or five chocolate covered squares. But based on the way these taste, I would say it's totally worth it. Vosges are crack dealers. You need to know what you are getting into with them. You will be hooked.

Ingredients: Toffee (58.6%) (sugar and butter), Milk Chocolate (42%) (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa mass, soy lecithin, vanilla), Uncured Bacon (10%) (pork, sea salt, raw sugar, white pepper, dry juniper berries, celery juice, lactic acid-starter culutre) salt, corn syrup, water, flavoring: natural hickory smoke.

The bacon revolution continues. 

Paul A. Young ~ 100% Manjari

Paul A. Young

Type: Extra bittersweet, 100%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: 100% Madagascar cocoa beans from Valrhona.

Sample Size: 50g 1.76oz



Appearance: Deep dark brown color, matted looking bar, spotted surface, simple non-monogrammed molding.

Score: 89

Snap: Very firm snap with excellent crisp snap sound and clean break lines.

Score: 94

Aroma: Pure roasted cocoa, fruit forward, very green, bananas, coffee, sweet and a little astringent on the nose. Fairly simple and straight forward on the nose. Not a lot of complications with this aroma. What is there presents itself and that is all.

Score: 95

Taste: Extremely bitter, wood, tar, acidic, berries are present but completely buried but bitterness, there is big green taste on the finish even some bananas but the bitterness once again completely overtakes the palate.

Score: 91

Texture: Smooth, creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 92

This was extremely bitter and almost sour tasting due to the extreme acidity. It hits all the right technical marks, but 100% bitter cocoa is just not for me. Especially with the characteristics of Madagascar beans being typically tart and acidic anyway even with sugar and cocoa butter smoothing it out. It's hard to rationalize that too because I like extraordinarily hoppy beers like big American Double IPA's and even Triple IPA's, I have a palate for extremely bitter offerings. But this is a different kind of bitter that I just do not enjoy. I gave the taste higher marks for the individual notes you can taste, but it's not as high for all the notes that were obliterated by it's intense bitterness. The berry notes were just dying to present themselves but just could not stand up to how deeply bitter this chocolate is.

But this is a statement chocolate. This isn't just for those who enjoy the insanely bitter side of chocolate, this is for the integrity of chocolate, that this is what it is without fluff and no additives. Like a model without make up, a cake without frosting, or bread without butter and jam.

If you are someone who loves black, robust coffee with no sugar or cream or a straight up espresso, this might be something you would enjoy. It's something you would want to have to gain a better understand of raw chocolate, and then expand on with different percentages and blends using the same kind of beans. As a base if you will.


Final Score: 92.2

score
B+

Paul A. Young ~ Madagascar 64%

Paul A. Young  Madagascar 64%

Couverture chocolate from Valrhona using their Manjari 64%. Paul Young uses a simple style for moldings and packaging. He uses the finest quality cocoa beans for couverture chocolate to make more worldly-style products versus the sweeter styles I am coming to know as a classic hallmark of British chocolate.

Again, for a Paul A. Young review there is barely any information available about there products. I have talked to one of the people behind Paul Young and we had a quick discussion about the website having more information. They were very nice and receptive. I think they should bulk up their website a bit with more information. I did explain my background with reviewing and I understand most people will not require as much information as I am seeking, but it would help if more people asked for the information about what kinds of beans are being used and where they come from. People should learn about the things they put in their bodies.

So without a lot of information and other posts with information about Paul himself or Manjari beans themselves, this doesn't need to be a redundant post. I will just get right into the review.








Type: Bittersweet, 64%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cocoa butter, sugar, soya lecithin, vanilla.

Sample Size: 50g or 1.76oz



Appearance: Simple, non-monogrammed molding, smooth, shiny surface, but a bit matted from plastic packaging, but significantly less that then other bars.

Score: 91

Snap: An excellent firm crisp snap. Clean break lines with a decent snap sound.

Score: 94

Aroma: Like a fresh poured beer! It smelled overwhelming like a dry Irish stout. A little sweet with roasted cocoa notes, but crack open a Guinness or a O'hara's and inhale deeply. That's what this chocolate smelled like with roasted cocoa in the finish. I have never encountered this before. But as a beer person, I love it.

Score: 96

Taste: Bright, big fruits upfront, huge cherries and strawberries, sweet, tangy, but not too acidic or I should say it doesn't jab you in the neck with acidity. Hints of cedar wood, a bit astringent and bitter as a lingering finish on the palate.

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth, a bit creamy once it opens up, slight tannins, a bit drying on the palate, medium melt time.

Score: 93

I have had Valrhona's actual bar of Manjari before but it wasn't this fruity. I have had others who have also used Manjari as a couverture, but I don't know how Paul Young managed to get this bar so fruity and delicious. It's sweeter than other bars who use Valrhona as couverture chocolate. I love how fruity this was. It was fantastic.

The stout aroma was quite fascinating too. I opened it up and took a big inhale of it's aroma and I felt like I was drinking a beer. I called my husband into make sure I was on the right page with that description of the aroma. I trust my senses, but it's not everyday you get a chocolate that smells like a stout. He confirmed that aroma without any prompting.

I would love to pick Paul Young's brain and find out how he managed to draw out such a strong fruit flavor and the stout aroma.

Final score: 94

score
A-

Rococo ~ Basil & Persian Lime 65%

Rococo Basil and Persian Lime

Sadly, this was the last bar of chocolate from Rococo in my British Chocolate Invasion collection. I don't want my journey with Rococo to end here. I have become a fan and I look forward to getting back to London, where I can visit one of their shops.

What is a Persian lime? Well for us, it's just a fancy name for limes commonly found in any grocery store or the. That's not to say this is a bad or generic combination by any means. These limes have a distinctive taste which I think work well with basil.

Description

The Tahiti lime tree is moderately vigorous, medium to large, up to 15 or 20 ft (4.5-6 m), with nearly thornless, widespread, drooping branches. The leaves are broad-lanceolate, with winged petioles; young shoots are purplish. Flowers, borne off and on during the year but mainly in January, are slightly purple-tinged. The fruit is oval, obovate, oblong or short-elliptical, usually rounded at the base, occasionally ribbed or with a short neck; the apex is rounded with a brief nipple; 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 in (4-6.25 cm) wide, 2 to 3 in (5-7.5 cm) high; peel is vivid green until ripe when it becomes pale-yellow; smooth, thin, tightly clinging; pulp is light greenish-yellow when ripe, in 10 segments, tender, acid, but without the distinctive bouquet of the Mexican lime; usually seedless, rarely with one or a few seeds, especially if planted among a number of other Citrus species. The Tahiti lime flowers have no viable pollen.

Origin and Distribution

The origin of the Tahiti lime is unknown. It is presumed to be a hybrid of the Mexican lime and citron, or, less likely, the lemon, and it is genetically a triploid though only the normal 18 chromosomes have been reported. Dr. Groff, in a reference to Citrus aurantifolia in his "Culture and Varieties of Siamese Pummelos . . . ", said: ". . .it is represented by a large variety known as Manow klom and by a small one known as Manow yai." One might speculate as to whether the large variety might be the female parent of the Tahiti lime. At any rate, it is believed that the Tahiti was introduced into the Mediterranean region by way of Iran (formerly called Persia). It is said that, for some centuries, a virtually identical lime called 'Sakhesli' has been cultivated on the island of Djerba off the coast of Tunisia, and that the local name means "from Sakhos", an old Arabic name for Chios, a Grecian island. Portuguese traders probably carried it to Brazil, and it was apparently taken to Australia from Brazil about 1824. It reached California from Tahiti between 1850 and 1880 and had arrived in Florida by 1883. It was being grown at Lake Placid in 1897. This lime was adopted into cultivation in California but is not extensively grown there, the bulk of California's lime crop being mainly the Mexican lime. In Florida, the Tahiti quickly took the place of the more sensitive small lime and the lemon. Following World War I, the Tahiti lime became a well-established commercial crop. At first, there was market resistance, buyers viewing the Tahiti lime as a "green lemon", and, for some time, Canadians would not accept it because they were accustomed to the more flavorful Mexican lime. In the 1930's, many Florida citrus growers planted limes for extra income and, in 1949, the development of limeade concentrate provided further impetus to the Tahiti lime industry.

In 1954, Libby, McNeil & Libby topworked 100 acres (40 ha) of grapefruit trees in Florida to Tahiti lime. Production increased 60% from 1970 to 1980. In 1979, the total crop was valued at close to $9 million. Nearly 1 million bushels (250 limes per bushel) were shipped fresh and the same amount was processed. By 1980, there were approximately 8,000 acres (about 3,250 ha) of commercial groves. Five years later, Dade County shipped 110 million lbs (50 million kg) of fresh fruit worth about $14 million to the growers, from a total of 6,500 acres (2,630 ha). Florida produces 90% of the national crop, for marketing fresh and for canned lime juice, frozen lime juice, frozen lime juice concentrate, frozen limeade and powdered lime juice. The Florida Lime and Avocado Administrative Committee conducts research on production and carries on national promotional activity.

  

[Source: Perdue University]

Type: Flavored Bittersweet, 65%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, Persian limes, basil essential oil, soya lecithin.

Sample Size: 70g or 2.4oz



Appearance: Deep dark brown with a glossy surface. Classic molding from the 17th century chocolate molds used by Rococo. A few spots of matting from sticking to the inside of the package, but not much.

Score: 93

Snap: Very firm, deep snap. Excellent, but the cracking snap sound was just a tiny bit subdued.

Score: 96

Aroma: Immediately out of the package it was very robust with basil. It was completely dominate and over powering at first. There was also a very strong pepper aroma coupled with roasted cocoa. I let this one sit out of for a bit and the basil toned down quite a bit allowing a bit of a lime aroma to present itself. It still had a lot of pepper notes though. Also, it had a light sweet aroma as well once the basil toned down a bit. Like sweet roasted cocoa not just the wood and toasted aromas on cocoa.

Score: 94

Taste: Roasted cocoa, pop of pepper up front, basil upfront, it is pleasant and light, cocoa is robust and intense, and the lime is very soft. I expected a much bigger basil taste based on the initial aroma. Cocoa is rich and dark, not acidic, or tart. There is nice lingering lime flavors on the after taste and through retro-olfaction. This is balanced with soft flavors that help tame this potent chocolate.

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth opening but some grittiness towards the end of the melt. Medium melt time.

Score: 92


I expected a much bigger basil taste based on the initial aroma. The cocoa is rich and dark, not acidic, or tart. The flavors of basil and lime are soft and delicate.

This is lovely flavored chocolate. I honestly wasn't sure I was going to like this one at first because the first time I encountered basil and lime in chocolate, the basil was so overwhelming. This was very soft and pretty. The basil and lime ended up being a lovely compliment to the robust chocolate.

The chocolate was rich and robust, but also very sweet. Characteristics of British chocolate I am coming to know. But this was beyond just being a sweeter dark chocolate. It was fairly robust and hearty chocolate for a 65%. Sometimes you can get 65% and it's too light or too sweet, and sometimes you can get fantastic flavors of the chocolate to come through. It was big cocoa content after all.

But it can all depend on the cocoa butter content. A little known secret to the average fan of chocolate, is that if a chocolate bar says 65% it could only have 50% cocoa and 15% cocoa butter. Since cocoa butter is derived from the beans even if it's different beans than the cocoa being used, it can technically be called 65%. You can taste it when it's not as big as it should be.

I liked this chocolate a lot. I have only had 3 bars from Rococo, but I am starting to get the big picture here. Someone with almost 30 years of experience, Chantal Coady knows chocolate and knows how to balance flavors in chocolate the right way.

Final Score: 94.2

score
A-

Vosges ~ Bacon & Eggs

 

Vosges


Easter sales are always a good idea. What people don't get is that chocolate has a very long shelf life. So whenever Easter or any good holiday for chocolate comes around, remember the day-after sales. Believe me, with all the hard work these chocolate makers go through for certain holidays, reward them with buying their efforts and then helping them to get rid of it after the fact. Let nothing go to waste.

I totally took advantage. I bought a complete bacon collection from Vosges.  Bacon Caramel Toffee, Mo's Chocolate Chip Bacon Pancake mix, two Mo's Bacon Chocolate Bars in milk and dark chocolate, and the Bacon & eggs.

I had been taunted for months by the people behind the Vosges Twitter page. Taunts of posts about their Bacon Pancake mix. Finally, I gave in. I had previously reviewed the Mo's Bacon Bar with Milk Chocolate before. The bar was so delicious, I had to get more products from them.

So, I took advantage of the post-Easter sale and bought their Bacon & Eggs.



 


Five flat bottomed eggs with intricate moldings. The inspiration for these eggs:

 

"I was drawn to the different textures on these egg molds and love their antique-feel. I have been thinking about soft caramel fillings for years and these presented the perfect opportunity to introduce some of the first. The Wink of the Rabbit and the Bacon Caramels are the first of more soft caramel fillings to come." -Katrina

 

 

 

This one was a bit damaged on top with a slight cracked and sunken in top. I ate that one first.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients: Dark Chocolate (cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla), organic cream, wheat glucose syrup, sugar, butter, uncured bacon (pork, sea salt, raw sugar, white pepper, dry juniper berries, celery juice, lactic acid starter culture), water, salt, and natural hickory smoke flavoring.

Dark chocolate (55%) contains 30% cocoa solids minimum.

 

These were one ounce eggs, and were a little bit smaller than I had anticipated. They are expensive for a pack of 5 originally priced at $22. The sale price was $18.

I didn't find them to be as good as the Mo's Bacon bar with milk chocolate. The bar had more bacon and salty contrast to the sweet milk chocolate. There wasn't as much of a balance or a contrast as I had hoped for with these eggs.

The caramel was dark and sweet, but not as buttery as I had hoped. I think it needed to be sea salt caramel with nice, course salt mixed in. The bacon bits were too small. This was on opportunity to have had bigger chunks of bacon it to give it more of a hickory taste and add more of a salty contrast since the caramel was regular caramel.

The first egg had very little bacon in it. The second one was more loaded with bacon and had a better smokey flavor. The chocolate is sweet and rich. It's more like a dark milk chocolate than actual dark or semisweet chocolate.

Now having said all that, these were good. I ate two of them back to back and if I weren't in great control of my gluttonous ways, I could have easily plowed through this package. The price however, stops me from devouring these completely. I need to take my time with these to ensure the value. 

Still, this is a fun a holiday gift and with the bacon in it, it's perfect for an Easter gift. 

The Bacon Revolution continues.

Rococo ~ Sea Salt Organic Milk

Once again that pretty eye catching packaging from Rococo takes all the attention. This bar had more details on the inside flap about the molding for the chocolate bars.

These highly acclaimed bars are made using our own special blend of organic chocolate with recipes developed over the last twenty years. These moulds are an antique design, reflecting the bar wrapper which is made up of motifs from Letang Fils' 19th Century catalogue of chocolate moulds.

The organic dark chocolate has a 65% cocoa content and a particularly high percentage of cocoa butter (the only fat used) which gives the bars their silky texture and crisp snap. The flavor of the chocolate is robust enough to compliment the botanical flavours without overpowering them. Only the finest and where possible organic ingredients are added to flavour the chocolate.

I really adore the packaging, the moldings, and classic styles all a fitting theme with the name Rococo. It's classic and cute.

Speaking of cute, I want to get my hands on this cute box of truffles! It's called The Cat Who Got The Cream. I love it. I am a crazy cat lady and obviously I am crazy about chocolate, so this is perfect for me.

Flavours include jasmine tea, Manjari Madagascar, lychee rose and raspberry, Irish coffee, sour cherry with dark chocolate, and Jivara marc de champagne, passionfruit and mango, crushed lemon praline with milk chocolate.

I am also proud to say that Rococo highlighted my first review of their chocolate on their blog. That is very exciting news for me. That means they see what I am doing, and they cared enough to highlight it.

Valrhona Grand Cru No. 1 Manjari 93% rating.

Rococo Sea Salt Organic Milk Chocolate

Type: Flavored Milk Chocolate, 37%

Bean Varietal: Blend

Ingredients: Organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, organic full cream milk powder, organic cocoa mass, organic Halen Mon (Welsh) sea salt, soya lecithin.

Sample Size: 70g or 2.4oz




Appearance: Shiny, classic 18th century molding, a little bit matted markings on the bar but overall very shiny and smooth. Light, soft brown color.

Score: 93

Snap: Rubbery, dull sounding snap, but still fairly firm.

Score: 90

Aroma: Soft nutty aroma with creamy and milky aromas. A little bit of a floral character but mostly what is dominating is a buttery and caramel nose.

Score: 94

Taste: Blended in sea salt, perfect balance of sweet and salty, nutty, creamy, sweet honey tones, caramel, some fruity notes do come through, but the milky finish really erases all traces of any subtleties.

Score: 96

Texture: Super smooth, soft, creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 95

Usually when I am tasting chocolate, I sample a few small squares of chocolate from the bar, enough to get a good feel for the chocolate or enough until I completely understand it. Then I wrap up the rest to be eaten at another time or share with friends. I ate nearly half of this bar! Not because I didn't understand it, but because it was to satisfy the glutton in me. It was wonderful.

This bar made me miss milk chocolate for the first time. I noticed this feeling before with Vosges' Mo's Milk Chocolate Bacon bar, but I thought maybe the sweet milk chocolate and bacon were working because of the bacon. Everything is better with bacon. So shall it be written, so shall it be! I don't dislike milk chocolate by any means. But when you eat dark chocolate nearly 99.9% of the time, and then you try a fantastic bite of milk chocolate, it makes you wake up to what was missing in your life.

The salt was mixed through out the bar which I liked. It's usually coated on one side of the bar for appearance to and say see look this is a salt chocolate bar. The blending was great because it gave each bite the right balance of sweet and salty. Honey and caramel notes from the sweet chocolate balanced with lovely salt.

I think I hate you Rococo Chocolates! I hate you because I think I found sinful new treat that is going to end up costing me limbs to have shipped over to the U.S. frequently.


Final Score: 93.6

score
A-

Customer Service

This is a post about giving credit to companies with great customer service. I have been writing about chocolate as much as I can from the start of the new year. It was a project I meant to start last year, but with the new year came a fresh slate to start this new hobby, passion, project.

Since that time, I have had mostly amazing chocolate. The reviews are heavily on the good side. Technical marks can make or break certain chocolates. It's more than just tasting.

A few times though, there have been some bumps in the road. Banged up truffles from transport, build-your-own chocolate mishaps, off tasting chocolate, and damaged bars or the appearance of bloom.

When this happens, it's not the easiest thing in the world to write harshly about the product. For others with shitty lives or just drama filled people who seek to write with pleasure while they destroy a product or a business, they might find that kind of thing easy. Not for me. I have no problems in tearing apart drug addicted celebrities and plastic surgery nightmares all in the name of vanity. But it's not so easy to be so crassly judgmental about someones actual hard work and livelihood.

I am not saying I write with bias. I am pretty fair from top to bottom about the chocolates I review. But it's not always easy to write negatively about certain products that might hurt or detract for the overall presentation, product, or business itself.

This post is about giving credit to those who take their work very serious and are interested in positive customer satisfaction. Even for tiny, amateur blogs such as 20°N & 20°S.






First we have Amano Chocolates. I first wrote about their chocolate with their Madagascar 70% bar which was given to me in trade by the chocolate buyer Emily Shartin, at Formaggio Kitchen.

Upon seeing this review, the PR team behind Amano asked if they could send me more bars of chocolate from their newer collections. Who am I to say no? So they kindly sent me 3 more bars to try. As well as another product they sell because they actually read the small blurb I have written for my bio. I am a BeerAdvocate and my husband owns BeerAdvocate. So they sent Sahale BBQ flavored Almonds.

Well, I reviewed two chocolate bars and my husband stole the almonds. Technically the almonds were meant for him and not me. But I didn't tell him that. He always get's beer sent to the house for review and never shares. And he stole them anyway not knowing anything about them.

I sent the PR team back the new reviews and they asked me about the almonds. I was forced to admit that I never got to try them. Now from here it sounds like I am a huge moocher. But I swear up and down my intentions are pure and I am not seeking out any favors. They sent me more almonds and this time they sent two other products as well. The Soledad Almond mix and a Cashew mix.

Then I had a kind of an odd experience with the last bar. The limited-edition Montanya bar. It had some banged up edges on it and it had the appearance of sugar bloom. The bar was absolutely amazing. But sadly it couldn't get higher marks because of the appearance.

Once again the PR team contacted me immediately to apologize about the condition of the bar and asked if they would be send more chocolate directly from the Amano chocolate factory in Utah.

This kind of made me paranoid. It's not my intention to get free things. I told them they can do it if they felt it was necessary but it's not my intentions. Apparently Art Pollard himself, saw the reviews and wanted to make sure the issues were corrected. Well thank god for egos and passions. Amano chocolate is amazing and if more bars do end up on my door step, I will be so happy. Still have to be fair, but grateful for a chance to even taste these fine chocolates.

It means a great deal to me that they care so much about my little blog of reviews. They care about quality and making an impression. Well, they certainly have made an impression with me.

Thank you to Adrienne DeAngelo and Anja Hakoshima who have both been so kind and generous from Fortune Public Relations.

Alan McClure from Patric Chocolates deserves credit for being very hands on about reviews and customer service. He makes himself personally available to answer any questions posed. He then took personal responsibility for some truffles I ordered made by Elbow and Kakao using his cocoa. There was a slight matted and sunken in appearance on the Elbow truffles, but they were quite possibly some of the best truffles I have ever tasted. We're not sure what caused this exact effect but possibly it happened during shipping.

He too asked if he should send more. I said no this time because I was still working on the order I had in front of me and I loved eating them. in this case, a simple issue over appearance isn't a big deal especially when they tasted amazing.

He also sent me his entire profile to be reviewed. I fell in love with the Madagascar 70% with cocoa nibs. He also sent a package of cocoa nibs which I made into cocoa nib cookies following his recipe. 

William Curley contacted me via Facebook to express his concerns with one of the bars I tasted from his shop. Something was off about this one particular bar, the House Dark 65. I had a few friends taste this bar and they agreed something was kind of off about it.

It was a strange introduction to a famed chocolatier of London. But thankfully I had two other products of his on hand. The Sea Salt Caramel bar which was TO DIE FOR! And a dark chocolate bar with chili pepper spice. From those two, I was able to understand the hype and the accolades.

Then there is Chocri. The customize and build-your-own chocolate bars company. You can even name your own creations. With dozens and dozens of toppings, you can literally create thousands of combinations. Not to mention they accept donations to help fight the child labor issue in the Ivory Coast with cocoa harvesting.

Carmen Magar from Chocri, is the hero of this little story. One of my bars that I ordered was specially requested to be made with dark chocolate and it came in white chocolate.

I am not a fan of white chocolate at all except in the right circumstances. White chocolate and macadamia nuts always works. For my "Health Bar" it was terrible.

Carmen read my review and and immediately sent a replacement bar with dark chocolate this time and one of their popular creations called The "Cinnamon Girl" bar. Again this wasn't what I had planned on. I like this company, the people behind it, their ethics involved, and the concept. But this kind of easy customer service and care and concern from the people behind the scenes makes a big difference.

We created this bar for the Cinnamon Girl (Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice blog), who started our blog relay race (female bloggers vs. male bloggers) for us! A thoughtful concoction of all those flavors that Cinnamon Girl used in recipes on her wonderful blog, congregating around... what else... cinnamon!

Made with: Milk chocolate, apple bits, cinnamon, rice crispies, and Bourbon vanilla.

My bar originally requested was called the "Health Bar".

Made with: Dark chocolate, Blueberries, Cranberries, Organic Flax Seeds, Goji Berries and mymuesli - Organic Muesli.

Click the "I Ordered" link above to see some of the other cool creations I made. Trust me it's worth it if you want to see how some of the creations and various toppings came out.

And last but not least Modern Dwellers. A small tiff arose over the state of some truffles sent to me from Alaska. A small disagreement ensued over what was the proper way to have handled the shipping, but I am happy to say it ended with good vibes, beer and chocolate discussions, and new truffles.  Lindsay Clark takes some serious pride in what is being offered in Alaska. And rightly so.


Beat Up Truffles

Making Up With Modern Dwellers


From this mess (after I straightened them out a bit):

To these beauties:

After the first batch you could clearly see why I was disappointed. But then when they sent fresh truffles, I could clearly see and taste why they were upset about my review. But now I get it and now I understand. Now they are allies in this chocolate world.



Again the point of this was not to highlight mistakes, but to highlight good customer service and how little it takes to correct a situation. These people care about their products, care about their craft, and care about even the smallest person's voice out there talking about their products.