3.5oz (100g) bar
Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, lemon granules (inulin, lemon extract, lemon zest), cocoa butter, butter oil, black pepper, soy lecithin
14g sugar/38g serving (36.8% by wt.)
Corporate Info: (copied from 2/23/13) Cachet is a subsidiary of Kim's Chocolates, a Belgian company founded in 1987 that makes bars and confections under the Cachet name as well as a line called KC Chocolatier.
I'm not sure what the difference is in terms of branding, other than
that Cachet is "available in supermarkets and at many confectioners,"
while KC Chocolatier is in "specialist chocolate shops, delicatessens,
Duty Free shops and on board aeroplanes." Cachet offers a fairly large assortment (click through to see groupings), including a few sugar-free varieties, though I notice that no ingredients are listed on the site.
Today's Bar: Lemon & Pepper in 57% cacao, again one of Cachet's "fruit tablets." Contains the hated "granules."
Appearance: Plain old medium brown, slightly glossy.
Smell: Not strong. I get both lemon and pepper, which is nice, and a little mild chocolate.
Taste: Waxy chocolate, then lemon--not too candy-ish, but also not fresh-tasting or sour--then the crunch of a few granules, then the prickle of black pepper. I could've done without the granules, even for the texture they add, but there aren't many and the flavor they contribute is fine. I like the black pepper, a spice I don't find often in chocolate, which here is both distinctly perceivable and not too strong. The chocolate, while mild and sweet, is well balanced with the mild flavorings--greater sourness or bitterness or what have you would create a totally different flavor profile with this particular lemon and pepper, and in this bar it works.
Conclusion: Cachet Lemon & Pepper isn't the highest quality of anything, but it's provides a perfectly functional and mild version of an uncommon flavoring in chocolate.
3.5oz (100g) bar
Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, blackberry granules (inulin, blackberry flavoring, blackberry powder), cocoa butter, butter oil, ginger granules (inulin, ginger flavoring, natural flavorings), soy lecithin
14g sugar/38g serving (36.8% by wt.)
Corporate Info: (Copied from 2/23/13) Cachet is a subsidiary of Kim's Chocolates, a Belgian company founded in 1987 that makes bars and confections under the Cachet name as well as a line called KC Chocolatier.
I'm not sure what the difference is in terms of branding, other than
that Cachet is "available in supermarkets and at many confectioners,"
while KC Chocolatier is in "specialist chocolate shops, delicatessens,
Duty Free shops and on board aeroplanes." Cachet offers a fairly large assortment (click through to see groupings), including a few sugar-free varieties, though I notice that no ingredients are listed on the site.
Today's Bar: Blackberry & Ginger, one of Cachet's "fruit tablets," in 57% cacao.
Appearance: Medium brown with pale flecks beneath the surface.
Smell: Fake-fruity, sweet and candy-like berry rather than fresh or tart or dried. Chocolate is mild under the fruit scent.
Taste: Too-sweet berry perfume, then the crunch of the "granules," then a sweet, slightly chalky, but generally pleasant very mild chocolate. I'm not getting ginger almost at all, though since I'm looking for it I think I can pull it out just a touch. I've decided I don't like "granules"--this isn't recognizable dried berry, or candied ginger, or hard candies flavored with either, it's some sort of unholy creation that's supposed to taste like them, and it only does in a broad, not-real-food sense.
Ugh, and now I taste lingering "natural flavoring blackberry type" (the actual text in the listed ingredients)...blech. A letdown after last week.
Conclusion: Cachet Blackberry & Ginger is redolent of fake berry, with the odd texture of industrial "granules." I don't like it.
3.5oz (100g) bar
Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa nibs, cocoa powder, soy lecithin
10g sugar/38g serving (26.3% by wt.)
Corporate Info: Cachet is a subsidiary of Kim's Chocolates, a Belgian company founded in 1987 that makes bars and confections under the Cachet name as well as a line called KC Chocolatier. I'm not sure what the difference is in terms of branding, other than that Cachet is "available in supermarkets and at many confectioners," while KC Chocolatier is in "specialist chocolate shops, delicatessens, Duty Free shops and on board aeroplanes." Cachet offers a fairly large assortment (click through to see groupings), including a few sugar-free varieties, though I notice that no ingredients are listed on the site.
Today's Bar: Cocoa nibs in 70% cacao, apparently part of the "signature" line of tablets (i.e. bars). I found it (and two other bars) in a German deli for about $4.
Appearance: Nondescript orangey brown in a wide, flat mold.
Smell: Tart, beany, red-fruity.
Taste: For a relatively uninteresting-looking bar with a generic European corporate pedigree, this is actually pretty good. It's reasonably sweet but with a high density of nibs, whose hearty crunch and tame but raw flavor (they very much blend in) add a break and interest to a perfectly adequate base. The chocolate itself has a syrupy dried-fruit flavor with a little sourness for balance and a slightly chalky, thick texture that isn't my favorite but works okay if I don't think too much about it. This could be a decent go-to snacking chocolate, especially because the nibs' crunch make it somewhere between plain chocolate and a nut-studded (and not too sweet) candy bar in terms of munching satisfaction.
Conclusion: Cachet Cocoa Nibs feels generically European, but the decent chocolate and high nib concentration make it a satisfying snack.
