Chapter Fourteen: Milkboy Essential Pine Oil

We were lucky to find this week’s bar while on a trip to our favorite grocer.  It is an unusual combination of 60% dark chocolate infused with essential pine tree oil.  Milkboy is a Swiss brand committed to sustainable sourcing, being both UTZ certified and from sustainable sources.

Tasting No.: 12

Milkboy Switzerland 60% Cocoa with Essential Pine Tree Oil  

Initial Impressions:

The color of this bar is quite different from the base bar, which is significantly darker and redder. It has a fragrant pine scent when snapped, while the base bar is much sweeter. The snap is firm, about the same as the base bar, with the bite being firm as well.

 Flavor Profile:

Initial – vegetative, tobacco

Middle – spicy, black pepper

After – spicy, pine, black pepper, vanilla

Texture:

For having such a strong flavor profile, the texture of this bar is surprisingly smooth and enveloping.  

Overall:

Sweeter than base bar but the strong flavors make it quite enjoyable even though the cacao content is lower. Laura liked it enough to add it to her list of favorites; she will definitely be eating this one again and said it reminds her of hot cocoa at Christmas time.

Rating: 8/10

*Notes:

Purchased at Central Market

Price range under $6

Next week we will be returning to another coconut bar.  Join us! 

For now savor: “Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces.” - Judith Viorst

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.

Chapter Nine: All Roads Lead to Raspberry

We were given Prestat’s Dark Chocolate with Raspberry bar to try last month.  It is a 60% fairly traded bar with the cacao beans sourced from West Africa.  This particular bar won U.K.’s “Great Taste Gold” award in 2012.  This award, also known as the Oscars of the fine food world, is quite prestigious.

Tasting No.: 7

Prestat Dark Chocolate with Raspberry

Initial Impressions:

Surprisingly, this bar and the base bar are almost exactly the same color.  The snap is firm, while the feel of the chocolate is soft and decadent. Raspberry is the dominant aroma of this bar, so strong that it was almost off-putting.  Laura said that she was happy this bar was gifted to us because she would not have bought this bar based on smell alone but ended up really liking it and adding to her list of favorites.

Flavor Profile:

Initial – vanilla, mild sweetness

Middle – tangy with hints of raspberry starting to come through

After – tart raspberry, naturally fruity and not artificial

Texture:

This bar has a firm bite, with the chocolate itself being soft and smooth.  The raspberry seeds are intermittent and subtle, adding an unexpected change in texture.

Overall:

When we first smelled this bar, we were not looking forward to tasting it, because the smell of raspberry was so strong.  We thought there was going to be an artificial taste of raspberry; but we were pleasantly proven wrong.  The raspberry was subtle and truly fruity, not at all artificial. This added a delicate element of fruit in the background and never overpowered the chocolate itself.  Compared with the base bar, the Prestat bar was fruity with citrus notes.

Rating: 7.5/10

*Notes:

Purchased at Central Market

Price range under $10

Next week, we are excited to try another stone ground offering from Taza. 

For now savor “Chocolate: Here today…gone today!” - Anonymous

 

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.

Chapter Eight: Sea Salt Soiree

Ghirardelli is a well-known American chocolate brand so we thought it would be a good idea to try their sea salt and almond bar.  Last week’s tasting of Taza’s version of sea salt and almond didn’t seem to us to be a good representation of a traditional sea salt and almond bar so we set out to find another.  This classic combination tends to draw many followers, so our hope is to find a bar that would not only appeal to the masses but also be more readily available. Ghirardelli’s Intense Dark Sea Salt Soiree does not indicate the percentage of cacao used or the origins, though does state on their website that they source their beans worldwide.

Tasting No.: 6

Intense Dark Sea Salt Soiree

Initial Impressions:

Ghirardelli is a rich red in comparison to our base bar and has a much more pungent aroma, while the base bar is much milder.  The snap is much softer than our base bar; this could be due to the thickness of the base bar.

Flavor Profile:

Initial – Right away, there is a big almond flavor and milk.

Middle – The saltiness is pleasant and comes in soon after the salt.

After – Nutty finish, very sweet.

Texture:

Soft, velvety smooth chocolate with chunks of almond and subtle salt.  It melts pleasantly and the flavor envelopes your taste buds early on.

Overall:

This bar is especially sweet, and we think this overwhelms the taste of chocolate in it.  If the cocoa content were higher it could be so much more satisfying for someone seeking intense chocolate flavor.  We did some research and found that Ghirardelli roasts the inner part of the cacao bean (the nib), instead of the whole bean, which we believe would be better experienced with a higher cocoa content.  They also take strict measures to refine their chocolate, making it much smoother.

Rating: 5/10

*Notes:

This is a good quality bar for the price and is satisfactory for getting your fix.  Best of all, it is readily available in many grocery stores in the U.S. so you don’t have to go without.

Purchased at CVS

Price range Under $5

Next week we’ll review our first award winning chocolate bar!  Stay tuned. 

For now savor: “Your hand and your mouth agreed many years ago that, as far as chocolate is concerned, there is no need to involve your brain.” – Dave Barry, Dave Barry is Not Taking This Sitting Down!