Chapter Seven: Stone Ground Chocolate

This week’s bar is one of the bars that Gaby received as a gift.  It is stone ground, minimally processed and hails from Massachusetts in the U.S.  Furthermore, it is organic, direct trade, kosher, non GMO, and gluten, dairy, soy free and vegan.  It is 80% cacao with sea salt and almond.  This is a common combination, and we’re curious to see how this is presented with this bar.

Tasting No.: 5
Taza Sea Salt & Almond, 80% Dark Stone Ground Chocolate

Initial Impressions:

The color of this is darker, and browner, not as red as base bar.  This has a gritty look to it almost like Mexican hot chocolate, some chunks of almond are visible. The snap is soft, just a tad firmer than base bar.

Flavor Profile:

Initial – Cloyingly sweet

Middle – Fruity, overwhelmingly salty

After – Salty, fruity almost banana finish

Texture:

The texture of this bar is overwhelmingly gritty.  This is probably due to the fact that it stone ground and has sea salt and almonds.  The second ingredient listed is cane sugar, which could also contribute to the feel of this bar.  It is reminiscent of getting sand in your mouth while at the beach, with residual granules needing a beverage to wash them away.

Overall:

Because of the certifications of this bar and it being our first stone ground tasting, we had high expectations for the flavor.  The quality of this bar is not in question, however we were underwhelmed with the experience.  We hoped that the stone ground process would highlight the chocolate’s flavor, but in actuality we barely tasted the chocolate itself and could not detect any almond flavor.  If you’ve enjoyed a stone ground bar, please comment below with a recommendation!

Even though we did not enjoy this particular bar, we do respect and want to support this company because of their direct trade practices and so we will be purchasing more bars from this company for future tastings.

Rating: 1/10

*Notes:

Purchased at Central Market

Price range under $10

Next week we decided to try another sea salt and chocolate bar, this one by Ghirardelli.  See you then!

For now savor: “Oh, divine chocolate!  They grind thee kneeling, beat thee with hands praying, and drink thee with eyes to heaven.” – Marco Antonio Orellana

Remember, fairly traded chocolate is a responsible way to support farmers by ensuring that the chocolate that you consume has been bought for a fair price.  By choosing to purchase fair trade chocolate, you can honor the cocoa tree growers and support their way of life which in turn leads to better chocolate.