Theo Milk Chocolate 62% Salted Toffee

3oz (84g) bar

Ingredients: Organic fair trade cocoa beans, oft. sugar, oft. cocoa butter, o. milk powder, o. butter, o. corn syrup, salt, o. vanilla

15g sugar/42g serving (35.7% by wt.)

Corporate Info: (Copied from 12/15/12) I've written about Theo Chocolate many times, and in short, it's a great Seattle company making bean-to-bar chocolate and creative, often seasonal confections (you'll see more in-store than online) that are organic and fair trade. You can visit Theo's retail store, order online, or find a selection of Theo's bars at upscale and health food stores nationwide. My only beef with Theo is that I tend to find its usual 70% dark chocolate base too sour as a match for flavorings, but that's a personal taste issue.

Today's Bar: Milk Chocolate 62% Salted Toffee, a seasonal blend from this past winter. It's not listed on the site right now, but in my experience, Theo's holiday chocolates tend to be repeated in one way or another in succeeding years.

Appearance: As with most of Theo's chocolate, this is a rich, orangey brown with a slight gloss and minor variations in color and texture (i.e. probably not super smooth and creamy).

Smell: Warm, bright, fruity, beany but not challenging.

Taste: Texture is a little chalky and chewy, with the candy crunch of the toffee. Flavor has Theo's usual sour notes, and they linger for a very, very long time, along with a little astringency and some rawness. During the eating, though, the milk softens the sour impact just enough to make this an easy chocolate to munch. The salt is a great addition to the toffee, as I think that without it, the toffee wouldn't stand up to the chocolate's strong flavors.

Conclusion: The milk and salt in Theo Milk Chocolate 62% Salted Toffee works well with Theo's strong chocolate base.

[Note: As you can see, I was intrigued enough to start in on this bar before I'd photographed it!]

Mānoa Chocolate

Today I'm looking at a new-to-me company inspired by a trip home to Hawaii: Mānoa Chocolate. While picking up a few groceries I found several Mānoa bars, and more or less went all-in on this pricey chocolate, selecting three to take back home with me. 

Corporate Info: Mānoa Chocolate is new new new. Though the "history and mission" link on the site only brings up a brief "about" page, the oldest blog post on the site is from April 2012, when they were still building the factory in Kailua, Oahu and sourcing beans from Hawaii and abroad. Here you'll find a great video interviewing Mānoa's young founder, Dylan Butterbaugh, and taking you on a tour of the very small operation. The company has a great mission--among other things, to expand Hawaii's locally-grown cacao industry; thus, Mānoa makes its chocolate bean-to-bar, though as I said, only some of the cacao is from Hawaii. It also uses other Hawaiian ingredients like sea salt and coffee beans, and while the focus here is not crazy flavors, Mānoa makes some bars with goat milk, which I don't think I've seen elsewhere. An intriguing start for a young company! Oh, and in case you're wondering why Mānoa comes out of Kailua and not, well, Mānoa, supposedly it's not about the location.
 
Today's Bars: 

• 72% Bolivia Goat Milk: Cacao nibs (presumably Bolivian), cane sugar, goat milk powder, cocoa butter. 
• 66% Goat Milk Hamakua Hawaiian Crown: Cacao nibs (presumably from Hamakua, on the Big Island), cane sugar, goat milk powder, cocoa butter. 
• 60% Dark Milk Breakfast Bar: Cacao nibs, cane sugar, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, coffee beans (Hawaiian).

Note: Mānoa Chocolate's product line changes continuously. It routinely uses Hamakua cocoa beans, for example, though based on the website, as of this writing it's only in a 72%, non-milk bar. The Bolivian bar seems to be the current incarnation of the 72% single-origin bar, though I think it always includes goat milk. And the listed goat milk option is still 66%, but with (at least in the photo on the site) Peruvian beans. Either way, you get a fun blend of different milks and non-milks, Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian cacao, and so on.

Appearance: All three are shiny and smooth, in a rich red-brown, and the reverse of the Breakfast Bar is densely sprinkled with nibs and whole coffee beans.

Smell: 

• 72% Bolivia Goat Milk: Wow that's good, full and rich and beany and fruity, with some rawness, a little sourness, and no bitter or "off" odors.
• 66% Goat Milk Hamakua Hawaiian Crown: Not unlike the above in terms of the description, but slightly muted and with a higher, nutty note.
• 60% Dark Milk Breakfast Bar: Even more muted, less raw, with something thin and bitter underneath, though still rich and full. No clear coffee scent.

  
Taste:

• 72% Bolivia Goat Milk: Texture is a little chalky, then melty. Flavor is bright and rounded and a little sour, not goaty at all, but with a little of milk chocolate's smooth, easy-to-eat character and plenty of dark chocolate's punch. 
• 66% Goat Milk Hamakua Hawaiian Crown: Texture is only slightly chalky and thicker. Flavor is not nearly as strong, with some freshness in the back of the throat and a smooth, sour cream vibe, not as interesting as the 72% Bolivian by my taste but pleasant and still somewhat raw.
• 60% Dark Milk Breakfast Bar: The texture of the chocolate is, again, chalky and thick, with the soft crunch of the nibs and brittle crunch of the coffee. Flavor is nice, dark but not strong, nutty, without the sourness of the other bars, and just a little coffee from the beans (roughly one bean per rectangle). Not bad, but not my favorite.

Conclusion: To focus on one standout feature: Goat milk complements dark chocolate with the mellowness of dairy but also meshes its sour flavor profile with cacao's raw, sour, beany notes. For that and other reasons, Mānoa Chocolate is a neat addition to the Hawaii chocolate scene.

The Tea Room Chocolate Fusion Raspberry Rooibos

1.8oz (51g) bar

Ingredients: Organic cacao, o. cane sugar, o. cacao fat, o. red raspberry rooibos tea, soy lecithin

10g sugar/25.5g serving (39.2% by wt.)

Corporate Info: The Tea Room is a small, California-based company started by a Swiss chef and later hotel manager. I can't find much more information about the company itself, including in the press, but it seems pretty small and focused on tea, imported macarons, and tea-infused chocolate treats. All of the cacao is organic and non-GMO, and it's sourced with farmers' quality of life in mind while consciously avoiding the Fair Trade label. The Tea Room's bars and some other items are sold nationwide, mostly at gourmet and health-food-type markets; I found mine at an upscale, local chain pharmacy.

Today's Bar: Raspberry Rooibos in 60% cacao. I drink a lot of rooibos tea, so I wonder if I'll be able to identify it in the chocolate.

Appearance: Again, The Tea Room's blocky bars. Surprisingly, this 60% isn't significantly lighter than last week's 72% cacao, though this particular bar looks a bit glossier than the other one.

Smell: Definitely raspberry, with a light chocolate scent.

Taste: Okay, there's a lot of raspberry in there, which I think overwhelms the rooibos. I find rooibos in general to be distinctive but subtle, and chocolate might be too much for it—or maybe it's just the fact that the raspberry stands out so much. Texture is thick and rich, but otherwise just okay.

Conclusion: The Tea Room Chocolate Fusion Raspberry Rooibos offers mostly raspberry flavor and thick texture.

Chuao Chocolatier Salted Chocolate Crunch

2.8oz (80g) bar

Ingredients: cacao, sugar, cacao butter, soy lecithin, vanilla, sea salt, panko breadcrumbs (wheat flour, dextrose, yeast, salt)

15g sugar/40g serving (37.5% by wt.)

Corporate Info: (Copied from 11/17/12) According to its stylish website, Chuao Chocolatier is a San Diego-based company founded by two brothers from Venezuela, who named the company after a region of their homeland. Chuao's whole deal is interesting chocolate combinations, in bars like maple bacon and potato chip (see the production here), and in confections like smoky macadamia and goat cheese & pear. You can buy Chuao's products at its well-regarded retail locations in Southern California, at other select stores, or at large chains like Whole Foods and Target.

Note: The site calls Chuao the “first Venezuelan Chocolatier based in the United States,” but aside from this pricey bar I can't find a claim that their cacao is sourced in the region of Chuao or in Venezuela generally, so I won't be labeling the company single-origin.

Today's Bar: “Crunchy, toasted breadcrumbs dusted with sea salt and swirled in [60%] dark chocolate.”

Appearance: Shiny, in a grey-yellow-brown that's surprisingly a touch lighter than last week's Chuao Firecracker, despite presumably being in the same base. Maybe the chipotle darkened the other bar?

Smell: Hm, subtle, which again surprises me compared to last week's—but my co-taster says he thinks this one smells stronger. Subjective senses!

Taste: So I had to step back from sugar over the last few weeks, which explains why this 60% cacao base tastes very sweet to me. That aside, it's quite nice. The chocolate is mild but with a light, bitter aftertaste, reminiscent of the lingering taste of a cup of coffee; my co-taster similarly reflected “you can really taste the toastiness—browned, I guess a little carbonized.” The breadcrumbs offer a pleasant, crispy crunch, varied and never mushy. The well-incorporated salt rounds out the flavor, which I think of as achieving balance but my co-taster expanded, commenting on the way the toasty/bitter flavors, salt, and sweet all pull in different directions, offering a broader experience.

Conclusion: Chuao Chocolatier Salted Chocolate Crunch is both complex and well balanced, in terms of both flavor and texture.

Chuao Chocolatier Firecracker

2.8oz (80g) bar

Ingredients: 60% cacao, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla, chipotle chile, pasilla chile, sea salt, candy (sugar, corn glucose, lactose, carbon dioxide)

Corporate Info: According to its stylish website, Chuao Chocolatier is a San Diego-based company founded by two brothers from Venezuela, who named the company after a region of their homeland. Chuao's whole deal is interesting chocolate combinations, in bars like maple bacon and potato chip (see the production here), and in confections like smoky macadamia and goat cheese & pear. You can buy Chuao's products at its well-regarded retail locations in Southern California, at other select stores, or at large chains like Whole Foods and Target.

Note: The site calls Chuao the “first Venezuelan Chocolatier based in the United States,” but aside from this pricey bar I can't find a claim that their cacao is sourced in the region of Chuao or in Venezuela generally, so I won't be labeling the company single-origin.

 

Today's Bar: Chuao's Firecracker Bar, 60% cacao with sea salt, chipotle, and Pop-Rocks-type popping candy. Hm.

Appearance: Shiny, not especially red/orange/yellow medium brown, in an interesting mold (as you can see above). The back surface is pebbled with the candy pieces and possibly also the salt.

Smell: I mostly get a fresh/raw, sour, bitter (in a beany way, not acrid) chocolate smell, with perhaps a touch of smokiness from the chipotle but nothing obvious.

Taste: Ooh, that's fun. The chocolate is decent quality, with the beany, fresh flavor I got from the aroma. Depending on what hits your tongue first, you either get saltiness or the popping candies, which have little flavor but add a Nestle Crunch sort of crispiness that morphs into the crackle of Pop Rocks that fill your mouth as you chew but never threaten to explode—this isn't candy you'd have to eat on a dare. Chipotle is slow to arrive after the sweet-salty chocolate, mostly resulting in a slow but prominent burn in the back of the throat; a co-taster says he also feels the heat on the back of his tongue. I think I find the 60% cacao a tad too sweet for my taste, though that's after having eaten a good quarter of the bar.

Conclusion: Chuao Chocolatier Firecracker is likably crackly, smoky-burny, and sweet, a novel if not necessary combination.

Equal Exchange Organic Mint Chocolate With a Delicate Crunch

3.5oz (100g) bar

Ingredients: Organic fair trade chocolate liquor, oft. raw cane sugar, oft. cocoa butter, peppermint crisps (oft. cane sugar, oft. peppermint oil), oft. vanilla

14g sugar/37g serving (37.8% by wt.)

Corporate Info: (Altered from 5/5/11) Massachusetts co-op Equal Exchange is serious about fair trade, organic growing methods, relationships with farmers, and everything that goes along with it. I'm actually overwhelmed by the extensive website, but suffice to say that the reason behind the company's founding was to do good via products that now encompass your usual array of tasty and potentially problematic foods from the tropics (chocolate, coffee, tea, bananas, etc) and a few other locations (almonds, olive oil). At this point they're well-established and respected (the Better World Shopping Guide gives them an A+), so if you care about “Corporate Info” enough to read this paragraph, this is the sort of company you'll love.

This Bar: Equal Exchange produces a bunch of different single-origin and flavored bars, of which I've only reviewed the orange in 65% cacao. Today's contains some sort of crunchy mint candy, and for whatever reason they've used 67% cacao here.

Appearance: Matte, greyish, with a little orangey undertone. Nothing special.

Smell: Not like mint exactly, but light and refreshing. Otherwise, nutty and sweet, not especially chocolatey.

Taste: Actually, that's really nice. The chocolate is crunchy melting to waxy, mild, and sweet, with just a little sour, and the little mint crunches are super tiny, adding fresh, sweet texture rather than tasting like separate candies. This isn't your super high quality stuff, but it's easy to eat and you'll be supporting a great company.

Conclusion: Equal Exchange Organic Mint Chocolate With a Delicate Crunch is fine, mild chocolate with itty bitty mint crunchies that offer texture and refreshing flavor.

Ikea Choklad Mörk / Dark Chocolate

3.5oz (100g) bar

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa powder, cocoa butter, soy lecithin

13g sugar/33g serving (39.4% by wt.)

Corporate Info: It's Ikea, international home of cheap flat-pack furniture and Swedish meatballs. Their stock of groceries includes a few chocolate bars.

Today's Bar: Among Ikea's three chocolate bars (milk, milk with hazelnuts, and dark) is this 60% cacao option. Nothing special, just “dark chocolate,” and it costs 99¢.

Appearance: One of those big, thin bars, but with a pillowy top. Fairly matte, with a purply-grey cast.

Smell: Pretty nice, with a light, spiced nuttiness like nutmeg or almonds.

Taste: First sweet, followed by a whole flavor experience that doesn't work for me. It reminds me of cream that's gone sour: There's nothing wrong with cream, and we expect cacao to have tart elements, but the richness and sourness don't mesh here, and the sweet sits on top of the whole thing and lingers weirdly for a long while along with a thin, tinny sort of bitterness. The flavors here all make sense, but for some reason they just don't meld in this bar.

Conclusion: Ikea Choklad Mörk / Dark Chocolate has all the right flavors, but they don't mesh well.

Leysieffer Les Extra Fins Bittersweet (Edelbitter)

100g bar

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla

Corporate Info: (Copied from 6/9/12; see that post for more) Leysieffer was founded in 1909 and began making chocolate truffles in 1936. The company is still family-operated, but it now includes 19 confectionary shops throughout Germany as well as a half dozen “bistros” serving cake and whatnot. And if you're really curious, you can order its products online.

Today's Bar: In addition to all the flavored bars (and other products), Leysieffer does have an assortment of plain chocolate in various cacao percentages and origins. Today's Les Extra Fins Bittersweet is a fairly plain choice: It's not single origin and, at 61% cacao, it's only slightly darker than the 55% base of its semisweet flavored bars, which I thought might make for an interesting comparison.

Appearance: A rich, reddish brown not much different from the 55%, though I do think it has more red-orange in it. It's actually a rather lovely color.

Smell: Warm, beany but with rounded edges, nothing sharp there. Comfortable.

Taste: Texture is waxy, smooth, just a tiny bit chalky. Flavor is indeed deeper than the 55%, though the sweetness hits me first, which isn't my favorite experience in general. However, once the chocolateyness catches up, it's quite nice in an accessible way, like a bittersweet chocolate chip: a touch sour, enough bitter to taste like real chocolate, nowhere near raw but still within sight of the tree—as opposed to, say, those super-smooth, creamy chocolates that taste like they sprang up on their own in a Parisian chocolaterie. This isn't anything special, but it might satisfy some people's everyday cravings.

Conclusion: Leysieffer Les Extra Fins Bittersweet (Edelbitter) fits the label of bittersweet chocolate.

Green & Black's Ginger Dark Chocolate

3.5oz (100g) bar

Ingredients: Organic fair trade chocolate, oft. raw cane sugar, oft. cocoa butter, soy lecithin, oft. vanilla extract, o. crystallized ginger pieces (ginger and cane sugar), o. whole milk powder

18g sugar/40g serving (45% by wt.)

Corporate Info: Check out this Brand Overview from March.

Today's Bar: This is the first of three weeks of ginger flavored bars, with today's being just plain ginger in 60% cacao. Sweet for me, but hey.

Appearance: Light grey-red-brown, matte looking but slightly glossy if you wipe away surface dust. Little lighter flecks under the surface, presumably crystallized ginger. Note: Green & Black's molding is very blocky, with wide but shallow scoring. I assume that keeps bars in one piece during shipping, but it makes them a little challenging to break cleanly. Oh well.

Smell: Not strong but sweet-sour and gingery. I anticipate a mild chocolate with minor tartness and sweet crystallized ginger pieces with no “bite.”

Taste: Goes down easy. Sweet, mild, with pleasant, rounded tang. Thoroughly shot through with ginger, which adds harshness-free flavor and soft, candied textural interest rather than discernible pieces within separate chocolate.

Conclusion: Ginger for the mass market: An introduction to ginger for nervous eaters, or an unchallenging, everyday noshing chocolate for ginger lovers.

Madécasse Pink Pepper & Citrus

2.64oz (75g) bar

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla, pink pepper, combava

13g sugar/37.5g serving (34.7% by wt.)

Corporate Info: (Altered from 12/3/11) Madécasse has one of those interesting progressive-chocolate-company stories: The American founders met as Peace Corps volunteers in Madagascar and decided to not only grow their cacao there (not unusual) but also process and package the chocolate there to benefit the local community. The company claims to be paying good wages and using sustainable farming practices, and has impressed The New York Times and Fast Company (among others) with its commitment and innovation. The bars are not officially labeled fair trade or organic, but from what I read, the process is essentially a variation on both of those complicated labels. Madécasse produces a relatively small selection of plain and flavored bars. As Emma pointed out after my last Madécasse review, the company has changed its labels since then—though I should note that, even a few months later, I'm still seeing some of the old bars on store shelves among the new ones, so you might find the old labels out there.

Today I'm trying a really fun bar, a 63% cacao Pink Pepper & Citrus. I've tried herby pink pepper before, in two bars I brought back from Germany, but while those peppercorns were pressed into the chocolate these are incorporated, so I'm curious if they will impart a different experience. What's totally unfamiliar to me is the combava, which turns out to be another name for kaffir lime, a fruit I only know through the leaves (and apparently rind?) used in southeast Asian cooking. I suspect Madécasse used “combava” because it seems to be the preferred term in French, one of Madagascar's official languages. (Similarly, Madécasse is apparently the old French name for Madagascar, I'm assuming having to do with its being a one-time French colony.)

Appearance: Like a normal chocolate bar, though I'm reviewing a 70% cacao Madécasse bar next week and they actually have very different finishes. Today's is fairly matte, with only a little gloss after I wipe it a little, and the brown is quite light, almost washed-out looking, whereas next week's only-somewhat-higher-cacao bar is a significantly deeper, richer color. Hm.

Smell: Not strong, though I'm getting a hint of the pink pepper's prickly spice. No obvious citrus.

Taste: Fun! The chocolate is foundational, maybe a little chalky and beany, but not strong. Then a hit of citrus, and then the super-complex pepper that's hard to describe, plus the flavors are well blended, in that I don't taste three separate ingredients. There's some medium-volume sourness that I think comes from both the combava and the chocolate, because it's both sharp (like citrus) and beany (like you'll taste in tart chocolates). Then there's that resiny, prickly, herby flavor like cardamom and grass and nutmeg that I'm assuming comes from the pink pepper, but since I don't know combava well, I wonder if it contributes any of the fresh, green elements. As I said, texture is a little chalky, and the pink pepper is totally incorporated, whether finely ground or somehow steeped in the chocolate.

Conclusion: Super interesting, if you like herby-spicy (and not super dark) chocolate.

Michel Cluizel Los Anconés (organic; 67% cacao)

70g (2.46oz) bar

Ingredients: Organic cocoa, o. cane sugar, o. cocoa butter, o. Bourbon vanilla pod

13g sugar/40g serving (32.5% by wt.)

Today's 67% cacao bar comes from Michel Cluizel's line of chocolate from individual plantations, in this case Los Anconés on the Carribean island of Hispaniola (the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti). I can't remember when I bought this bar, but unlike the one pictured on the website, mine contains only organic ingredients. I would guess that a current Los Anconés bar would taste similar, though I'm not certain. The box explains that the chocolate has been “lengthily worked,” which I imagine means a super-creamy texture.

Corporate Info: (copied from 5/19/11) I've seen Michel Cluizel's black boxes at all the fancy shops, and I've bought the confections. When I googled the brand I found pages and pages of commercial sites, reviews, and news bytes, though nothing especially edifying. I'll just tell you what the Cluizel site says: Michel Cluizel is a French brand (there's even a museum/experience in Normandy) that started in 1948 and opened a U.S. subsidiary in 2004. It's not chocolate you can feel socially responsible about, but the product quality seems to be well respected.

Appearance: This bar has a totally different imprint than the last Cluizel product I reviewed, but it's still beautifully and sharply molded. The chocolate is attractive too: smooth, slightly glossy, slightly reddish brown.

Smell: Nice, rounded dried fruit. Interesting but not pungent or intense, with nothing standing out.

Taste: Texture is crunchy slowly melting into super smooth; I buy that “lengthily worked” claim. Flavor is very friendly: Not too sweet, not at all sour, very little bitterness or tannins. Not obviously fruity, but there is that touch of pleasant, caramelized brightness, maybe like golden raisins. The box says “liquorice wood, then red berries and green olives.” I can see the licorice—but yes, the straight root, like you might have in tea, just that super-subtle sweetness. If you're not looking for it, you won't taste it at all. Red berries? Okay, sure, but this isn't a fresh, fruity tasting chocolate, so that's also subtle. I'm not getting green olives.

Conclusion: Michel Cluizel Los Anconés is super smooth, subtle, pleasant, and satisfying.

Chocolove Ginger Crystallized in Dark Chocolate 65% Cocoa Content

3.2oz (90g) bar
Ingredients: Cocoa liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla, crystallized ginger 11g sugar/30g bar (36.7% by wt.) 

Today's bar is Chocolove's take on the fairly popular combo of candied ginger and chocolate. Now that I think about it, ginger and chocolate actually sounds like it wouldn't work at all, but the sweet-spicy ginger candy often provides a nice contrast with creamy, rich chocolate. We'll see how well Chocolove does with the combo. 

Corporate Info: (Copied from 10/15/11) I have a soft spot for Chocolove, having lived in near its hometown of Boulder, Colorado and enjoyed the company's samples in my local Whole Foods. It's a relatively young company (Wikipedia says 1996; Chocolove's website doesn't say), hasn't yet been bought by a giant conglomerate, and is supposedly working with these guys to source its chocolate from well-treated cocoa farmers and communities. On the other hand, the chocolate isn't officially organic or fair trade, and Chocolove is rated a C by the Better World folks (same as Hershey's, much better than Nestle), so I don't want to give them my unconditional Choco-love (ha ha, I crack me up). But it's cheaper than most premium chocolate—$2-2.50 a bar—and reliably tasty.
 

Appearance: Very dark brown with a dark greyish cast and not lot of warmth (red, orange or yellow). Mine is a little beaten up and dusty, but with the dust rubbed away it's much glossier.
 

Smell: Not ginger, exactly, but spicy, with a sweetness that has some perfume, like honey or pineapple. No big chocolate smell, but a little characteristic beaniness. This isn't a very strong-smelling bar.
 

Taste: Definitely sweet, with the flavor of candied ginger that has had all the harshness taken out and not a lot of depth to the chocolate, which mostly provides a hard, then crumbly, then creamy texture. Small but tangible pieces of ginger are well distributed and soft in a crumbly, sugary way, which I think is a good choice: The ginger's texture melds well with the experience of eating this particular chocolate while still standing out enough for contrast.
 

Conclusion: Chocolove Ginger Crystallized in Dark Chocolate 65% Cocoa Content is sweet, gingery, and harshness-free. Its lack of depth won't win it any dark chocolate awards, but it's an easy eating candy with a lower sugar content than you might expect.

World Market Chili & Lime Dark Chocolate 64% Cacao

3oz (85g) bar

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla, chipotle powder, natural flavor

15g sugar/43g serving (34.9% by wt.)

Corporate Info: See last week.

Appearance: Lighter in color than the Sea Salt bar, smooth and thin, with a touch of red.

Smell: Almost none, very very slightly like cocoa beans, chili powder, and lime Tostitos.

Taste: Subtle, with a brief hint of lime, then just mild chocolate, then a slow, lasting, back-of-the-throat burn, then the lime Tostitos fade in and out, though they're pretty low-key. I'm not getting much actual chili flavor or lime, and I wonder if the chocolate maker uses that same powdered lime substance that Frito Lay does. Overall, I think this bar is too sweet and could use more flavor all around—lime, chili, and chocolate—but I bet it would make good hot cocoa. I'll try that tomorrow.

Conclusion: World Market Chili & Lime Dark Chocolate 64% Cacao is dull and too sweet, though the long afterburn is fun. As I said last week, I'm not sure I'd buy World Market's 64% cacao flavored chocolate again.

[Update the next day: It does indeed make good hot cocoa!]

World Market Sea Salt Dark Chocolate 64% Cacao

3oz (85g) bar

Ingredients: Chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla, sea salt

15g sugar/43g serving (34.9% by wt.)

Corporate Info: So I don't know who actually makes World Market's (a.k.a. Cost Plus World Market) chocolate, but I was there for other reasons and liked the sound of their flavored chocolates, including this week's Sea Salt and next week's Chili & Lime. None of it is listed on the site, so I guess there are two questions here. First, how well do the flavors work? And second, if you're at World Market buying beaded chair cushions or Finnish soda or something, should you throw in some of their store brand chocolate?

Appearance: I dunno, medium brown. Fairly dark, actually, darker than I would think for 64%. A big, thin bar, and you can just barely see the shapes of sea salt flakes under the chocolate.

Smell: Mild, sweet, fruity of the apricot/peach variety.

Taste: Woah. The chocolate is very mild and sweet and not especially fruity, and the texture is fairly creamy. What's weird is that the flakes of sea salt sneak up on you, because they're not super small but are incorporated into the chocolate, not on top where you know where they are and they'll start melting right away; you're chewing your mild, milky chocolate and then suddenly there's a tiny crunch and salinity comes out of nowhere. I like sweet and salt together, but I'm not sure this entirely appeals to me, plus the chocolate isn't all that great. Maybe less sugar would have worked better with this mild chocolate.

Conclusion: World Market Sea Salt Dark Chocolate 64% Cacao is mild and a bit too sweet for me, and the incorporated salt is kind of jarring. I'm not sure I'd buy World Market's 64% cacao flavored chocolate again.

German Chocolate: Two Pink Peppercorn (Rosa Pfeffer) Bars

REWE Dark Chocolate 66% Cacao Pink Peppercorn (Rosa Pfeffer)

 

75g bar

Ingredients: cocoa mass, sugar [translated as either “cane sugar” or “sucrose”], cocoa butter, pink peppercorns

37.3% sugar by wt.

Leysieffer Dark Chocolate with Pink Peppercorns (Rosa Pfeffer)

 

100g bar

Ingredients: sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, pink peppercorns, soy lecithin

The last two of my German chocolate bars share an inclusion uncommon in the U.S, pink peppercorns. Pink peppercorns come from two non-pepper plants from Central and South America, and while I've seen them here in spice shops and peppercorn mixes, for whatever reason they seem to be more popular in Germany. One of these bars was my first random chocolate buy, a funky flavored, inexpensive store brand from a big chain supermarket called REWE (“RAY-vuh”) that was near one of our hotels. Later, when I was selecting flavors at Leysieffer, I decided to buy one of their rosa pfeffer bars for comparison's sake. The REWE bar is 66% cacao, and the Leysieffer is their usual 55%.

Both bars mostly smell like chocolate, but they certainly taste like more! The REWE bar is thin, with crispy, slightly chewy peppercorns. The chocolate is pretty mild, of the creamy/chalky variety, and the peppercorns have a little pepperiness, but it's not strong—herby flavor, no bite. The Leysieffer chocolate is thicker, sweeter, and waxier, and its peppercorns have more spice and maybe more crunch to them as well. FYI, the shiny, crisp peppercorn skin doesn't really taste like anything; it's the crunchy little UFO-shaped seed inside that has the bitter, resiny flavor that feels like a super-light cousin of spicy black pepper or numbing Sichuan peppercorns.

For me, the REWE bar was kind of insipid, and the Leysieffer chocolate's sweetness didn't do anything for the herby peppercorns the way they did for elderflower and rose. Contrary to expectations, I ended up finding pink peppercorn chocolate boring, and I wonder if I wouldn't like this better with a darker chocolate and maybe a small amount of another type of peppercorn, upping the intensity of both chocolate and inclusion. For what it's worth, my co-taster thought the Leysieffer was pretty good.

Pink peppercorn + chocolate conclusion: For me, the mild chocolate and complex but relatively quiet pink peppercorn flavors just weren't enough, but I could see how others might like the combination.

[Note: I traveled with these and also moved them around a bit before opening them, so both the chocolate and peppercorns are more broken than when I first bought the bars.]