20°N & 20°S

PB Crave ~ Razzle Dazzle

 

 

Razzle Dazzle

Raspberry, dark chocolate, white chocolate, honey flavored peanut butter.

 

Okay so this review might be a little random for Chocolate Advocate, but there is chocolate in this product so it totally counts. Who am I to say no? Once again we start our story with an, "I am just kidding if you're just kidding. But I am serious if you're serious" post. Random people following each other on twitter and then I happen to see a tweet about sending out samples to bloggers. I am not going to lie, I asked about it and the next thing I know, not one, but four jars of peanut butter ended up on my door step. Insanely generous! They asked if I blogged, and I said yes but only about chocolate but this totally counts. They told me all of their products have chocolate, hence the four jars being sent out.

 

I was worried about it at first. It boasts as an all natural peanut butter. I have issues with natural peanut butter. It's always wrong. It's never salty enough, never creamy enough, always overly oily and then the rest of the peanut butter ends up dried out because of that separation. Commercialized peanut butter is the only form of food blasphemy I willfully except. That and the McDonald's McRib. Bring on the hydrogenated oils, sugars, salt, and pure processed grossness. Just so long as that texture is silky smooth and can last through four nuclear holocausts in my pantry, I will be all set.

But honestly this peanut butter was a huge surprise. Not only did it taste really good, all the flavors worked out wonderfully, but the texture was smooth. It did have a little bit of oils on top, but it wasn't swimming in it and it didn't completely separate. It just needed a little bit of stirring up. But again, smooth, right balance of salt, a little sweeter than a normal peanut butter and a minor lingering raspberry extract taste that hung on longer than it should, but other wise a fantastic natural peanut butter. I am so happy I can finally enjoy and all natural peanut butter.

 

Not only that, but the flavors meant no jam necessary. See I like my peanut butter in the morning time on toasted English muffins. Normally I put PB&J on it, but this just needed a little schmear of the good stuff and that's it. Honey, white chocolate, chocolate, and raspberry. Seriously, how can you go wrong?

One other thing to note, a minimum of 2% of the sales of each jar of peanut butter goes to help Project Peanut Butter. Please read more about it here.

Cookie Nookie, Choco Choco, and Coco Banana flavors will be coming up as soon I can get through one jar at a time.

Mast Brothers ~ Papua New Guinea 71%

 

 

I have been waiting for this. Papua New Guinea is sort of a favorite region for me. Each bar I have had using beans from this region never fails to produce something cool and drastically different from one bar to the next. I wouldn't say my experience with this region is vast by any means, but it's something I generally look forward to.

Solid packaging from the mast brothers. I like this wrapper and I think it's fitting for how this bar smells and tastes. That might sound strange, but wait until you read about the descriptions I picked up from this bar.

This is a different bar indeed using post fermentation smoking techniques.

  After harvest, these beans are uniquely smoked. This post-fermentation process imparts incredible flavor; think hickory smoked bacon and aged scotch.

This is definitely a smoked bar of chocolate and one for the bacon lovers without having any actual bacon in it.

 

 

Papua New Guinea 71%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 71%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, probably Trinitario.

Ingredients: Cacao and cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5 oz

Batch #: 22081211

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, shiny top surface, simple non-monogrammed molding, scratches, nicks, and particle crumbs on the surface.

Score: 90

Snap: Nice snap, firm, crisp sound, clean break lines.

Score: 92

Aroma: Very big and bold aroma. Intense smoke, savory, hickory, bacon, tobacco, char, fruity, esters, potting soil, earthy, musty, dirt, pen ink, slightly astringent, and not to be influenced by the packaging, there is an aged scotch aroma.

Score: 95

Taste: Smoky, savory and bacon-y, pen ink, deeply rich and cocoa-y, fruity, fresh green tobacco, coffee notes, cereal grains, leather, tea flavors, robust and deeply bitter, acidic and mildly astringent, robust wood flavors, strange hints of kiwi.

Score: 93

Texture: Soft and creamy with a medium-fast melt time. Gritty grainy texture.

Score: 91

 

This bar was all over the place but really good! I opened this bar without realizing the beans were smoked after fermentation. It is every thing described on the package and more. Big huge smoke flavors, very savory and bacon-y. And then it sort of bounces around, fruity tart and astringent kiwi flavors, coffee, leather, grains, and tea flavors. It's very bold and bitter, and it does have that what is becoming a Mast Brothers signature hallmark of acidity and astringency. However, in this bar, those characteristics or flaws depending on how you look at it, don't really make this bar unpleasant. But it shouldn't be ignored that the Bro's really need to get on top of their game and refine these bars better. This bar just happens to have so much going on that certain flavors don't really interfere with one and other.

This is a vegan's dream right here. No meat in this bar at all, but the flavors have such a nice savory bacon flavor. The aroma has scotch on it, but it's not in the flavor. The Kiwi's, as odd as this may sound, almost lend to more of a mezcal flavor coupled with the smoked flavors.

Great snap on this bar, marred surface, but still a residual glossy shine on it's surface, and another mixed bag on the texture. I swear their bars didn't used to be as grainy as this. They are soft and melt great on the tongue, but the overly large particle sizes might be what is giving way to the astringency and acidity issues. Taza has this same problem but times ten. I have been at the factory and have had freshly made bars. I think once the bars are made they are smoother and less astringent. But once they have aged, they tend to sour a bit.

Whatever the technical flaws are on this bar, it doesn't manage to take away from how good and strongly flavored this bar is. Savory bacon and smoky mezcal makes for a big winner. This would pair awesome with beer. Rich deep and robust stouts or brown ales like a Munich Dunkel. But not smoked beers. Let the smoke on this infuse with the beer.

 

Final Score: 92.2

   score
  B+

Mast Brothers ~ San Martín 75%

 

 

Peruvian beans from the San Martín region, this is the Mast Brothers go at Peruvian beans. One of the more trendier regions to explore and experiment with as of late with all the bean-to-bar producers.

  From the rugged rainforests of northern Peru, this cacao epitomizes, elegance. Floral notes are followed by rich plum, orange peel and mint.

This is a very simple and straight forward map of the San Martín region of Peru.

 

 

I am pulling for some redemption with Mast Brothers after the Crown Maple Disaster. I am positive that was a one off, that something was off about that one particular bar or batch. The Mast Brothers quality is pretty damn great. I felt awful about having to write that because I have met them, I like them very much and I like every thing they are doing in Williamsburg. But in interest of fairness, I will always maintain my true feelings and convey my real opinions when it comes to reviews. Sadly I was very put off by the last bar I tried from them. Knock on wood that that will be a first and last time.

 

San Martín 75%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 75%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, possibly a new hybrid.

Ingredients: Cacao and cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5oz

Batch #: 12031211

 

Appearance: Nice paler color of brown, medium brown color, simple non-monogrammed molding, shiny top surface, drier bottom surface with some streaking, and a few nicks and particles on the surface.

Score: 91

Snap: Slightly weak snap, almost what you would expect on a milk chocolate bar. Crumbly break lines, small snap sound.

Score: 83

Aroma: Very delicate and soft aroma. Soft wood, almost like opening a new notebook of white paper, soft floral notes, mildly astringent, soft pen ink, and aged wood like an old wooden wine box.

Score: 94

Taste: Fruit forward, plums right up front, deeply bitter, spicy, woody, char and roasted cacao, pen ink, buttered toast, astringent and a little tangy.

Score: 92

Texture: Soft, creamy, medium-fast melt time. Gritty texture though.

Score: 91

 

Much better showing from The Mast Brothers. I knew they would redeem themselves. I have total faith in them as artisan producers.

This bar was shiny and sleek with some superficial nicks and particles and a little streaking on the backside of the bar. It looked a little dryer on the backside as well. But overall a fairly solid appearance. I love the lighter color. Some reddish tones in it and not a deep dark bar.

The snap was pretty weak. Not bad, but nothing to write home about either. Nothing exceptional. And it's texture was a little bit of a nuisance. It was very soft and creamy and had a nice melt to it, but there was a bit of a grainy texture that kind of ruins the integrity of this soft and pretty chocolate. 

The aroma was great. I liked this very much because it was so different. It smelled like a fresh new notebook of white paper. I love that smell. As it breathed a bit it let some stronger deep wood aromas out. It began to smell like and old wooden box. But with some tart notes and some underlying floral tones. Really nice and soft.

It's taste was fruit forward right away. They were not exaggerating with the plums description. That's what you taste right off the bat. Then it opens up and it's balanced really well with the sugars, it's sweet, but not over done, it's a little spicy like maybe some hints of cinnamon, but that doesn't hang on long enough to really matter, it's very bitter, but not very acidic or sharp. There is astringency and a little bit of tang at the end, but it's fairly tame. Some pen ink and big wood flavors, lingering tastes of buttered toast. I thought I might have tasted some jasmine from the deep bitterness. It was hidden in the back. They describe orange peels but that's not what I was picking up.

This is a very nice bar of chocolate. Soft and pretty, some mild texture issues, and a classic flaw of some astringency but none of that takes away or disparages this bar of chocolate from it's true intentions.

 

Final Score: 90.2

  score
B+

Mast Brothers ~ Crown Maple 73%

 

 

 

Mast Brothers Chocolate and Crown Maple syrup from the Catkills. Simple enough concept, but not a lot of information about this bar except that it's made with Crown Maple products. No word on what the base chocolate is except it's 73% dark chocolate. Their minimalist website has zero information about it. Kind of frustrating to have to scour the web and other blogs to gather information about it. I get it guys, you are hipsters and artisans who don't like to use computers. But the rest of us do and we would like some more information about your products. Even after scouring, I still have no idea what the base is. I suspect it's either something Venezuelan or from the Dominican Republic.

Striking packaging as usual though.

 

Crown Maple

 

Type: Flavored bittersweet, 73%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cacao, maple sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5 oz

Batch # 21081211

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, shiny molded surface with streaky back side. Regular, non-monogrammed molding.

Score: 90

Snap: Light and dull snap sound, clean break lines with a chalky appearance on the break lines.

Score: 82

Aroma: Roasted cacao, smoky, little woody and a little tangy, caramel, medicinal, earthy, inky.

Score: 90

Taste: Tart, very acidic, inky, sour, big bold wood, toast, no maple taste whatsoever.

Score: 45

Texture: Very soft, grainy, fast melt time. Creamy but the grainy texture messes that up.

Score: 63

 

Tastes like something from Venezuela, but completely out of balance. This is the second time ever I have to report that I found a chocolate to be gross. It's terribly sour, extremely acidic, there is no natural harmony with the extremely robust flavors of the chocolate and the maple syrup. They're using a great product like a wonderfully natural maple syrup from small craft producers in the Catskills, you would think they would want that to shine through even just a little bit. I couldn't taste any of it in this bar. The chocolate is so over the top raw and untamed, it left little to be desired. I never thought I would say that about the Mast Brothers ever, but this bar was out of control.

It actually made my throat a little sore after eating a few squares from the acidity. I don't know what to make of that.

The appearance was simple and good. Just some odd streaking on the back of the bar. The aroma was fairly decent. But the snap was dull and weak and the texture was good up until the overly large granules of the chocolate interfered with that.

I am so frustrated with this bar. This is certainly not Mast Brothers quality that I am used to. In the past I have noticed consistency issues, and an acidity issue that I felt might become a problem if they didn't get on top of it. I noticed it in a couple of different bars making it a signature issue of the makers and not the beans. I have always said these guys are amazing. If they just tweak a few issues, they will be one of the best in the US. This bar was a huge step in the wrong direction.

This score should be lower than it is because taste is everything, but it's other technical marks hold it up higher than it should be.

 

Final Score:

score
D+

Justin's Organic Peanut Butter Cups

 

Justin's organic nut butters and peanut butter cups. Happily found at Whole Foods and a special little treat it is. My husband is the shopper in my household. I give him the list, and he forages all of one block away to Whole Foods and he likes to pick up little nick knacks for me. This time he brought back these peanut butter cups.

A Colorado based company that's an environmentally sound, organic, and green company that makes nut butters, chocolate nut spreads, and peanut butter chocolate cups. They work on squeezable packs for environmentally safe packaging and for easy transport while hiking or bike riding.

 

We at Justin's Nut Butter hereby decree that all of our nut butters will be made in small batches to preserve premium quality standards and our fresh taste.

We will only use the highest quality natural and organic ingredients that are sustainably harvested and found as locally as possible.

We will be mindful with all of our business practices by working toward reducing our environmental footprint on the natural environment. We will remain excellent community and global citizens and will only do business with those who pledge to do the same.

We will continue to produce and promote fresh nut butters that will always be simple, delicious and nutritious.

Consumer packaged goods are tough on the environment. Period. Everything, from sourcing raw materials to manufacturing and distributing final products, has an environmental consequence. I like to think of our business as a part of an ecosystem with every decision and action interdependent and connected to the rest of the world.

We are on a journey towards sustainability. The 14er we are currently climbing is sourcing Sustainable Squeeze Pack Film. Right now, the technology does not exist for a fully sustainable film. Our goal is to source at least 33% renewable squeeze pack film by April 2012.

 

They even discuss on their website the carbon footprints their products make.  

 

 

 

Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients: Organic Milk Chocolate (Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter*, Organic Whole Milk Powder, Organic Chocolate Liquor*, Organic Soy Lecithin, Organic Vanilla), Organic Peanut Butter (Organic Dry Roasted Peanuts, Organic Palm Fruit Oil), Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Vanilla Flavor, Sea Salt.

 

Nice shiny surface and big roasted peanut aroma. I have no information about the chocolate they use, but it has a nice aroma. Not as full or fruity as the dark chocolate though. But that's usually the case with milk chocolate.

It's nice and salty. Really full tasting and sweet but a good balance with the salt. The peanut butter was a little dry though and a little texturally rough with large peanut particles. As much as I love organic and green companies, natural is always better for you, when it comes to peanut butter, I don't like the natual stuff as much. Either they are too runny, greasy, oily, or to dry. Flavor wise this is a really good peanut butter cup. And It's not that big of a deal about the grittiness of the peanut butter, but I do wish it was smoother and creamier. But the best part about this cup is that nothing about it tastes artificial. Not even the milk chocolate tastes overly processed. So again, despite it's texture, the taste is incredibly good.

**This product is Kosher, Gluten-Free, works with the Rainforest Alliance, and uses sustainable palm oil from Brazil.

 

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients: Organic Dark Chocolate (Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, Organic Chocolate Liquor*, Organic Cocoa Butter*, Organic Soy Lecithin, Organic Vanilla), Organic Peanut Butter (Organic Dry Roasted Peanuts, Organic Palm Fruit Oil), Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Vanilla Flavor, Sea Salt.

 

A little bit of a fruity aroma from the chocolate with rich robust roasted peanuts. Again, I am not sure what kind of chocolate they use, but it carries a good aroma. It almost tasted like cookie dough at first. Same balance with the milk chocolate but a lot more rich with the chocolate. Good and rich bitter dark chocolate with a good sweet, sugary balance. But a nice balance with the salty peanut butter.

Really good peanut butter cup! It's nice and rich. The peanut butter has the same issues as the milk chocolate cups, with a dry and gritty texture, but again the flavor is really good. Nice lingering chocolate notes from the dark chocolate that I didn't expect. Usually the focus with products like this isn't quality chocolate. This was surprisingly good.

**This product is Kosher, Gluten-Free, works with the Rainforest Alliance, uses sustainable Palm Oil from Brazil, vegan, and dairy free.

 

This is a nice organic alternative to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. An ethical and conscious company that makes a damn fine and tasty product. If there was just some way to make that peanut butter a bit more silky and creamier, they'd be on top of the world.

 

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-

 

The Grenada Chocolate Co. ~ Nib-A-Licious 60%

 

 

 

**Archived Notes

 

The Grenada Chocolate Co.

The Grenada Chocolate Company Ltd. was founded in 1999 with the idea of creating an Organic Cocoa Farmers' and Chocolate-Makers' Cooperative. We produce high quality Organic dark chocolate in Grenada with our world famous cocoa beans. Our factory is nestled in lush cocoa groves in Grenada's pristine rainforest.

Our award-winning organic dark chocolate has the wonderful complex flavor of Grenada's fine-flavored organic cocoa beans, processed carefully in small batches. Producing chocolate right where the cocoa grows allows us to do our own fermenting which gives us a real advantage in creating the finest, most complex taste from the beans.  We use our own extracted cocoa butter in our chocolate also from Grenada's fine-flavored cocoa. This brings in a luxurious extra richness and chocolaty flavor.  Our chocolate has a truly deep and rich flavor.

We now have over 150 acres of organic cocoa farms in our cooperative and operate our own cocoa fermentry, located one mile from our little factory. This assures that we perform every activity involved in the production of our chocolate, from the planting and growing of the cocoa trees to the fermenting of the fresh cocoa beans to the processing of our fine dark chocolate. We grow our cocoa totally naturally without the use of any chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers and have been Certified Organic.

Our sugar is a fine organic raw sugar produced and milled by an organic growers' cooperative in Paraguy.

Whole organic vanilla beans grown biodynamically in Costa Rica provide our "dash" of vanilla.

Organic soy lecithin is used as emulsifier in extremely small amounts.

We are one of the only small-scale chocolate-makers producing fine chocolate where the cocoa grows.   Because small batch chocolate-making is very rare, we had to create our own processing methods, desigining our own machines and refurbishing antique equipment to meet the requirements of our unique situation. Most of our machines are based in design on those of the early 1900's, a time when quality had precedence over quantity in chocolate-making. Because we care about our environment, we use solar-electric energy to power our machines.

The original impetus and principle of our cooperative company is to revolutionize the cocoa-chocolate system that typically keeps cocoa production separate from chocolate-making and therefore takes advantage of cocoa farmers.We believe that the cocoa farmers should benefit as much as the chocolate-makers. 

 

Nib-A-Licious 60%

 

Type: Filled Semisweet

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa nibs, soy lecithin, vanilla beans. All Organic.

Sample Size: 85g or 3oz

 

Appearance: Nice shiny surface, deep dark chocolate color, pretty cocoa nibs sprinkled on top and through out the bar, signature molding with air bubbles on the top of the molded surface.

Score: 92

Snap: Good, deep firm snap, light crisp snapping sound, clean break lines. 

Score: 93

Aroma: All tar and rubber. very robust and charred smelling. Big pen ink aroma right out of the package, smoky, tobacco, and a little funky. 

Score: 78

Taste: Sweet and sugary, very slightly astringent, berries, inky, tar, hints of melon, wood, complex fruits.

Score: 90

Texture: Good cripsy and crunchy nibs. Not ovelry dried and not soft and limp. Perfectly crunchy, Smooth creamy chocolate texture with a medium melt-time. 

Score: 95

 

I didn't get a picture of the top surface of this bar. I thought I had but it was only the underside with the nibs. It had a nice glossy finish on the bar but there were a lot of air bubbles on the top surface of the molded side. The nibs were not just sprinkled on top, they were mixed through out. So the top surface does appear skimpy on the nibs, but it wasn't. It was better the top wasn't fully coated so you can see the nice shiny surface. 

This was very different from the first bar of Grenada I had. I remember that bar being super bright, and green tasting like fresh cut or new wood. But this bar was charred to hell on it's aroma. It was all tar and rubber. I didn't find that pleasing at all. But it's taste was complex and fun. This was due to a lot of sugars helping tone down that roasted char taste. There was an awesome fruity character underneath the sugars and pen ink flavors. I had a hard time telling exactly what it was though. It wasn't the sweet berries originally detected but something deeper. The cocoa nibs were awesome. Nice and crunchy and a good dried wood flavor. That added some depth to this chocolate. 

I am on the fence about this bar. I hated the aroma, but I liked the way it tasted. It's pretty funky chocolate with the huge tar and burnt characters, but those sugars really help keep this in check. 

This is one of those moments where I am saying that even though I didn't like the aroma and it's not scoring as high as some would like or expect, I think this is still good chocolate. This is for funk lovers. I mention this all the time about chocolate and remind people that certain funky beers don't always have the most pleasant sounding descriptors. But once you understand those beers there becomes a developed palate and love for the not so pleasant. What I am basically saying is that this wasn't my favorite but it's still pretty worthy and I think there is a niche out there for people who like these funky things. 

 

Final Score: 89.6

 

   score
  B

 

Slitti ~ Gran Cacao 90%

 

 

 

***Archived Notes

 

Gran Cacao chocolate. Typically when dealing with the title "Grand Cru" or Gran Cacao in this case, it usually means blend or best of. In this case it's the best of their blends from South America. There are no listings on what specific origins are in this bar though. 

 

 

Gran Cacao 90%

 

Type: Extra bittersweet 90%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, Blend

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, natural vanilla.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

Lot #: I 606

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, large tab molding with singature molding patterns. Shiny smooth surface, slightly a little dusty, with some slight plastic matting marks on the surface. 

Score: 92

Snap: Light clean crisp snap, clean break lines. Thin molding lines give way to much smaller snap quality.

Score: 90

Aroma: Soft roasted cacao, wood slightly tannic, acidic nose, almondsvery subtle smoke and tobacco, slightly spicy, a little bit moldy and earthy smelling. 

Score: 94

Taste: Roasted, bitter, mildly acidic but no astringency, soft, wood earthy, dry, light and very soft flowery perfume taste on the finish but very faint. You have to wait until the deep bitter flavor dissipates to detect it.

Score: 89

Texture: Hard, a little dry, but not waxy. Long melt-time but opens up to a medium bodied texture.

Score: 87

 

The snap quality is good despite how I scored it. It was firm and it was clean. It's just how they mold it that I don't like. Overly large tabs and thin-ish snap lines. With a hard textured chocolate, it's very hard to bite into and too large to let one tab melt on your palate. 

I wasn't feeling this one as much. It's definitely a lot smoother than the Tropicale 90%, but it's almost too soft. As aggressive as the Tropicale was, there was full flavor in there with gorgeous black tea and jasmine flavors. This was just deeply bitter, roasted cacao with earthy wood tastes. There was a very slight perfume-y, flower taste detected from retro-olfaction. But as mentioned above, I had to wait a while until that bitter taste eased up on the palate. It's certainly not bad. Just not spectacular either. And this was a Grand Cru bar. Although the acidity is there, there is virtually no astringency which made this fairly mild to eat despite it's robust cacao percentage. It's deeply bitter but not sharp. The Italians, I find, are amazing about these high percentage cacao bars without that rough jabbing astringency that gets you in the neck and glands. You know that sharp reaction. This had none of that. 

It had a full and complicated aroma. In fact that aroma on this bar was the best part. I just felt like it sort of fell flat on it's flavor. I don't think this is very exceptional for eating, but with some added sugar and vanilla I am sure I can bake something fantastic with this. 

 

Final Score: 90.8

  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+

Seattle Chocolates ~ Campfire S'More

 

 

Seattle Chocolates

Now we're talking. After having the Chuao Milk chocolate bar with Potato Chips, I follow up my filled bar appreciaton posts with a milk chocolate bar filled with graham and marashmallows. I am all about anything S'Mores. 

Seattle Chocolates has a line of truffle bars and this Campfire S'More bar is one of them. I also have their birthday cake bar pending a review. I picked these up at Beacon Hill Chocolates in Boston. 

 

Campfire S'More

 

Type: Filled, milk chocolate

Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Milk chocolate; sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, chocolate liquor, soya lecithin, pure vanilla. Graham biscotti; enriched wheat flour [wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], sugar, butter, eggs, baking powder, natural flavors, salt. Marshmallows; Corn syrup, beet sugar, corn starch, corn dextrose, water, carrageenan, soya protein, natural vanilla flavor, titanium dioxide. 

Sample Size: 2.5 oz or 70g

 

Nice thick bar with simple patterend, but non-monogrammed molding. Appeard to have generous "fixin's" or S'Mores bit in it. Smells sweet and creamy like good milk chocolate should. Chewy marshmallow bits, creamy and sweet milk chocolate, but not enough graham taste or bits in it. In fact it's really quite skimmpy on the graham, but the overall taste is there. It does taste like a S'More. Just perhaps a bit more on the sweeter vanilla side with the chocolate and marshmallow dominating. 

One thing that maybe a little petty to point out and may not entirely matter, is the name Campfire S'More. While all the ingredients are there, campfire makes me think charred marshamallows. I wonder if they could have charred them a bit before putting them in the chocolate. Char then, cool them, then put them in. It might make that name a bit more authentic and the taste bit more dynamic. 

Very sweet filled bar of chocolate.The flavors were there, the textures were all there with chewy marshmallow, creamy milk chocolate, faint hints of graham though. My only gripe is not enough graham crackers through out the bar and not enough graham cracker taste. It's there on the finish but as an afterthough and not really as an entire S'mores picture. I can't help it, I am a sucker for graham crackers. The milk chocolate is good and creamy and smooth with a nice melt time on it. 

 

   score
 B+