Schönenberger - Chocolate with rice milk and hazelnuts

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Chocolate with rice milk and hazelnuts
Main ingredients are cane sugar, cocoa butter, rice glucose syrup 17%, cocoa solids, hazelnut granulate.
Cocoa content: minimum 41% cocoa

Manufacturer

Chocolat Schönenberger AG, Täschmattstrasse 10, CH-6015 Luzern, Switzerland

Packaging

The chocolate is wrapped in aluminum paper and a small cardboard box. Packaging size is 100g.

Look

The chocolate is light brown and pieces of hazelnuts are partly visible.

Sound

The chocolate is surprisingly hard to break and does so with a clear snap sound.

Smell

The chocolate bar smell of sugar and something like perfume.

Mouthfeel

The surface is very smooth. The chocolate melts into a doughy liquid before dissolving finely.

Taste

Initially, the chocolate tastes very sweet with a distinct almost perfume-like flavour. After melting, the hazelnuts contribute only little to the flavour.

Aftertaste

The aftertase is dominated by the sweetness and a hint of the perfume like flvour.

Summary

This is a rather sweet chocolate with hazelnuts. The flavour is mainly is sweet with a distinct flavour which might be from the rice milk.

Verdict

The Swiss chocolate lacks the typical richness of Swiss milk since it relies ob rice milk, They surface and smoothness of the rice milk was well mastered. However, its flavour is still challenging. 1 Star.

Dates

Lot number: 16820215D, best before 30/09/2016, tasted 03&04&10/04/2016

Hotel Chocolat - Dark egglets

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Dark Egglets
Main ingredients are cocoa solids (cocoa mass, cocoa butter), hazelnuts, sugar, cocoa powder, soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavour.
Cocoa content: minimum 70% cocoa solids

Manufacturer

Hotel Chocolate Ltd, Mint House, ROYSTON, Hertfordshire, SG8 5HL, United Kingdom

Packaging

The chocolate is sealed in transparent plastic wrap and a black ribbon is attached to the top. Packaging size is 110g.

Look

The praline is dusted with light brown cocoa powder. The chocolate underneath is very dark brown almost black-ish. The filling is dark brown but lighter coloured than the chocolate.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a clear snap sound.

Smell

The initial smell is hazelnut. Opening the egg releases an intense hazelnut and gianduja aroma mixed with cocoa.

Mouthfeel

The cocoa powder feels almost solid and melts on the tongue. The chocolate itself is smooth and melts into a fine and smooth liquid. The filling is relatively compact and melts slowly.

Taste

The initial taste is of dark cocoa which gives way to dark chocolate with intense roasted hazelnut aromas and hints of an earthy bitterness. The filling is slightly sweeter and has a very strong roasted nut flavour mixed with the dark-ish chocolate taste.

Aftertaste

The long lasting aftertaste is dominated by the nut flavour of the filling and some earthy notes from the cocoa at the rear of the mouth.

Summary

This is a very dark and smooth chocolate and hazelnut praline which emphasises the dark cocoa and roasted hazelnut flavours.

Verdict

These dark chocolate eggs are really intense, rich and satisfying. The ingredients are very well combined and immaculately crafted. 5 Stars.

Dates

Best before July 2016, tasted 03&06&07/04/2016

Leysieffer - Dark Chocolate "Les extra fin"

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Edelbitter-Schokolade "Les extra fin" [sic] (Dark Chocolate "Les extra fin")
Main ingredients are cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier, vanilla aroma.
Cocoa content: minimum 61% cocoa

Manufacturer

Leysieffer GmbH & Co. KG, Benzstr. 9, 49076 Osnabrück, Germany

Packaging

The chocolate is wrapped and sealed in plastic wrap. This is glued to a printed cardboard sleeve. The opener of the cardboard opens the plastic wrap, too. The packaging size is 100g.

Look

The chocolate is very dark brown with a tiny hint of red.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a very clear snap sound.

Smell

The chocolate smells of vanilla, sugar, roast and mildly bitter cocoa aromas.

Mouthfeel

Initially the chocolate feels solid and almost edgy, but it quickly dissolves into a smooth and very fine liquid.

Taste

The chocolate tastes of vanilla sugar with notes of roasted nut. After a short while, a mild cocoa flavour and some bitterness unfolds.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is mainly sweetness at the centre of the tongue and mild bitterness of the cocoa towards the rear.

Summary

This chocolate is very smooth and silky as promised on the packaging. Compared to other dark chocolates, it is sweet and tastes rather light with only a few roast and cocoa flavours.

Verdict

The is very smooth but its flavour mainly driven by sugar rather than the cocoa that would be expected with dark chocolate.the characteristics of cocoa flavour. 2 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: L118, best before 01/09/2016, tasted 03&06&07/04/2016

Leysieffer - Sao Thomé 70%

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Jahrgangs Schokolade 2014 SAO THOMÉ 70% [sic] (Chocolate from beans of the year 2014)
Main ingredients are cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier, vanilla aroma.
Cocoa content: minimum 70% cocoa

Manufacturer

Leysieffer GmbH & Co. KG, Benzstr. 9, 49076 Osnabrück, Germany

Packaging

The chocolate is wrapped and sealed in plastic wrap. This is glued to a printed cardboard sleeve. The opener of the cardboard opens the plastic wrap, too. The packaging size is 100g.

Look

The chocolate is dark brown with a little red.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a sound that is between a snap and a thud.

Smell

The smells of a mild cocoa and some nut and roast aromas with a hint of fruitiness.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate feels very solid and silk. It slowly dissolves into a very fine liquid.

Taste

After a very short lived sweet start, the initial taste is a roasted bitterness. The chocolate then evolves a milder cocoa note with some notes of sugar and small hints of red berry fruit. It also has a sharpness and bitterness on the tongue which is present throughout the process.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste lasts comparably long and is mainly the mild bitterness alongside a sharpness on the tongue and the sides of the mouth. It also combines some hints of sugar.

Summary

This chocolate is mainly characterised by a mild bitterness and a sharpness to the tongue. It has a balanced sweetness.

Verdict

The chocolate is made of a single origin cocoa from a particular year. It tastes like a well crafted dark chocolate with a mild bitterness balanced with sweetness. However, the single origin cocoa does not make it a product that stands out or adds a distinctly recognisable flavour apart from a marked sharpness. 3 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: L097, best before 15/08/2016, tasted 02/04/2016

Coppeneur - Blueberry Crumble Pie

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

"à la Blueberry Crumble Pie in weisser Chocolade" (white chocolate with blueberry crumbles)
Main ingredients are sugar, almonds, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, dried and sweetened blueberries (5% of total, with 34% concentrated apple juice in them), cane sugar, spiced crumbles (3%)
Cocoa content: no statement

Manufacturer

Confiserie Coppeneur et Compagnon GmbH, 53604 Bad Honnef, Germany

Packaging

The 75g of chocolate is wrapped and sealed in aluminium paper and covered by a printed paper sleeve.

Look

The chocolate is yellow-ish white. The colour of the filling is a mixture of grey and purple with dark purple/black-ish chunks of blueberries.

Sound

The chocolate and its filling break with thud sound at room temperature. After separating chocolate, there is almost no sound.

Smell

The filled chocolate smells of cream, blueberry and something artificial. The white chocolate in isolation has butter and milk aromas. The filling smells of blueberries and apples.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate coating is smooth, buttery and melts into a sticky-ish cream. The filling is of relatively solid consistency similar to refrigerated butter. It has a lot of small crispy bits (like undissolved cane sugar) and small poky pieces of fruit and crumble. The fruit turned into chewy bits that reminded me of chewing gum.

Taste

Chocolate is sweet with a little hint of vanilla flavour. The dough adds a fatty, buttery flavour
with cinnamon and sugar flavours and notes of apple.

Aftertaste

Once the butter and cream flavours have disappeared, the chocolate leaves an aftertaste of cinnamon and sugar at the sides and the rear of the tongue.

Summary

This filled white chocolate is buttery and chewy. It tastes of sugar. cinnamon and apples.

Verdict

The chocolate does not live up to its promise to taste of blueberries and crumbles. It tastes of sugar, cinnamon and apples. The colour of the filling has an unpleasant grey-ish shade to it. Despite its initial buttery consistency, the product is very chewy. The blueberry pieces turn into something like chewing gum. 1 Star.
Not contributing to the rating but worthwhile to mention, the manufacturer managed to use three languages in the name of this product.

Dates

Lot number: 27581, best before 05/06/2016, tasted 01/04/2016

Helwa - Gaufrettes praliné noisette

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Gaufrettes fourrées au praliné noisette
Main ingredients are palm fat, wheat flour, sugar, hazelnut praline paste (19%, made of hazelnut and sugar), egg yolk, emulsifier.

Manufacturer

Helwa Wafelbakkerij B.V, BP / P.O. Box 18, 9074 ZL Hallum, The Netherlands

Packaging

The 110g waffles are arrayed on a cardboard tray which is sealed by a printed plastic wrap.

Look

The waffles are very light brown and the filling is similarly lightly coloured.

Sound

The waffles break with clear, very crisp sounds.

Smell

The smell is mainly of baked/roasted dough from the waffles. There is no noticeable smell of the filling.

Mouthfeel

The waffles are very crunchy and airy. The crunch remains present throughout the experience. The waffles do not stick to the tongue as much as with other products. The filling is soft, slightly grainy and floury.

Taste

The initial contact with the waffles elicits roast flavours of the waffle dough. Tasted as a whole, the flavour of the filling is almost undetectable apart from a distinct sweetness and a hint of hazelnuts. Tasted on its own, the filling still has a very intense sugary sweetness but also some very noticeable notes of hazelnuts.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is mainly sweetness at the centre of the mouth. There is a hint of waffle and hazelnut flavour towards the rear.

Summary

These waffles are very airy and crisp. Their flavour is mainly sweet but comes with notes of roasted waffle dough and hazelnuts.

Verdict

The waffles have a nice crunch that they maintain throughout the process. They also have hints of roast aroma and hazelnuts but this is combined with an intense sugary sweetness. 2 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: 5266 11:51, best before 09-2016, tasted 20/03/2016

Ferrero - Rocher Easter egg

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Ferrero Rocher Easter egg (big rocher: milk chocolate hollow body with hazelnut pieces and, small rocher: crispy nut-praline speciality in tender milk chocolate and fine hazelnut cream)
Main ingredients of the large rocher are milk chocolate (80% made of sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, skimmed milk powder butter fat, vanillin) and hazelnuts (20%). Cocoa content: minimum 33,5% cocoa.
Main ingredients of the smaller rochers are milk chocolate (30% made of sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, skimmed milk powder butter fat, vanillin) and hazelnuts (28,5%), sugar, palm oil, wheat flower, sweetened whey powder).

Manufacturer

Ferrero 60624, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; FERRERO Österreich, Sterzinger Str. 1, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

Packaging

The package is designed as a super sized Ferrero Rocher. Inside the golden foil, there is a gold-ish plastic shell with a large hollow chocolate ball inside. Inside the chocolate ball, there are two smaller Ferrero Rochers which are sealed in a plastic wrap. Content weight is 125g.

Look

The outer larger rocher shell is middle brown with shiny surface. Pieces of hazelnut are peaking out. The smaller rochers look very similar with a somewhat lighter brown waffle inside and dark brown cream filling.

Sound

The chocolate of the outer, larger shell breaks with a "thud" sound.

Smell

On its own, the outer shell smells of milk, hazelnut roast aroma and sugary sweetness. The smaller rochers smell of sugar, hazelnuts and a hint of cocoa after opening them.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate of the outer shell is smooth and melts quickly into a fine liquid. This frees a bunch of roasted hazelnut pieces. The waffle shell inside the smaller rochers is airy and crispy. It maintains some of its crisp throughout the process. The creamy filling is very smooth, dense but also sticky.

Taste

The chocolate tastes of sugary sweetness, milk and a hint of cocoa. It also releases something artificial but it is difficult to say what exactly. The roasted hazelnuts add their roasted nut flavours to the chocolate once they have been released and chewed. The little waffles inside the smaller rochers taste of a mild roast aroma and some cocoa notes. The filling tastes of sugar with initial notes of roasted hazelnut and cocoa.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste of the chocolate is of roasted hazelnuts but it is dominated by its sweetness. After the initial notes, the flavour of the filling turns more and more sweet and leaves a sugary, sweet aftertaste.

Summary

I believe that this is the first large East egg style thing on the German supermarket shelf. Taste-wise this is a sweet milk chocolate with lots of roasted hazelnuts.

Verdict

The packaging is spectacular compared to the competition on the German market. The chocolate has a lot of roasted hazelnuts. But it also has an almost overly intense sugary sweetness and some unidentified artificial note to it. 2 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: LO15W-N 03:00, best before 13/07/2016, tasted 20/03/2016