Chocolaterie Beluga - Belu Chocolate Bar 60

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Belu Chocolate Bar 60
Main ingredients are cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, natural vanilla flavouring.
Cocoa content: minimum 60% cocoa

Manufacturer

Chocolaterie Beluga, Viktualienmarkt 6, 80331 München, Germany

Packaging

The square 60g chocolate bar is wrapped and sealed in transparent plastic wrap.

Look

The chocolate is very dark brown with hints of black. The edges have white and light brown shimmer.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a clear snap sound.

Smell

The smells is mainly of vanilla, sugar, some cocoa, and a few coffee aromas.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate melts slowly into a very fine liquid and remains very smooth.

Taste

Once it has started to melt, the chocolate has an initial flavour of sweetness. Cocoa and nutty wood flavours unfold before they are replaced by coffee and sugar flavours. The sweetness is very central in the mouth on the tongue and the coffee unfolds slightly behind that. However, only little flavour is perceivable elsewhere.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is mainly of coffee and sugar. There are only hints of a mild cocoa towards the rear of the mouth.

Summary

This is very smooth dark chocolate. Initially it feels very solid but melts evenly and slowly into a very fine liquid. It has a mild sweetness and coffee flavours.

Verdict

This chocolate is very well conched, melts slowly on the tongue and maintains an even surface. Its main flavours are sugar and coffee. The cocoa flavours are present but are overpowered by the sweetness and the coffee flavours. 3 Stars.

Dates

Best before 14/12/2017, tasted 13/06&08/07&13/08/2017

Original Beans - Piura Porcelana cocoa nibs

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Piura Porcelana cocoa nibs (Peru)
Main ingredients are cocoa beans.
Cocoa content: minimum 100% cocoa solids.

Manufacturer

Original Beans, Keizergracht 452, 1016 GD Amsterdam, Netherlands
But the packaging indicates that the product was actually made in Switzerland.

Packaging

The 150g cocoa nibs are wrapped in a paper bag with an inner lining from transparent plastic.

Look

The cocoa nibs are dark brown from the outside. The edges are very light brown and almost appear white-ish.

Sound

The nibs break with clear crackly sounds.

Smell

The cocoa nibs have an intense cocoa smell with aromas of nuts, roast, wood and light floral notes.

Mouthfeel

The nibs have an even surface feeling that initially feels cold. The nibs are brittle and crunchy.

Taste

The nibs have a nutty cocoa flavour with roast, dry wood and hints of roasted walnuts. A little astringency and bitterness unfold over time.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is dominated by the cocoa's darker flavours of roast, dry wood and a little bitterness.

Summary

These cocoa nibs have an intense cocoa smell. The flavour is mainly cocoa, wood and roasted nuts. Their astringency and bitterness are very mild. Their flavour is not heavy and dark. It comes with finer and lighter flavours.

Verdict

The cocoa nibs have an intense smell of cocoa with dry wood and nuts that is lifted with floral notes. Their flavours are dominated by cocoa, dry wood and roasted. The nibs have no acidity and very mild bitterness and astringency. Thus, finer flavours can shine through and make the nibs lighter and more subtle than other products. 5 Stars.

Dates

Best before 11/11/2018, tasted 25/05&03&13/06/2017

Zotter - Monster chocolate

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Nobelbitterschokolade gefüllt mit Kornelkirschengelee (22%) und Himbeer-Blut-Ganache (30%) (Noble Bitter Chocolate filled with cornelian jelly (22%) and raspberry blood ganache (30%))
Main ingredients are raw cane sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, cornelian puree, glucose invert sugar, while milk, almonds, dried raspberries, pork blood*, butter, skimmed milk powder.
Cocoa content: minimum 70% cocoa in the chocolate.
*not a typo

Manufacturer

zotter Schokoladen Manufaktur GmbH, Bergl 56, A-8333 Riegersburg, Austria

Packaging

The 70g filled chocolate bar is wrapped in aluminium paper and a paper envelope.

Look

The chocolate is middle to dark brown. The filling in the central layer is dark red and shiny. The other layers are slightly lighter coloured than the coating and have an airy/moussy structure.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with soft snap sound.

Smell

The chocolate bar has a surprisingly dark smell of wet wood, leather and cocoa. Fruity notes only peak out occasionally.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate melts quickly and evenly into a fine liquid. The jelly is very thick and reminds of a jelly bean. The ganache is even, soft and melts quickly into a very fine liquid.

Taste

Tasting the chocolate on its own is difficult because the boundary between the chocolate and the top layer of the filling tastes rather unusual, especially towards the edges of the bar. The flavour reminds of an old wardrobe with flavours of wet, moldy wood and leather. This unusual problem unfolds shortly after an initial chocolate flavour. It fights against vanilla and sugar until it finally takes over. An almost stingy aftertaste develops from this. Other parts of the chocolate have a sweet flavour with notes of cocoa, nuts and coffee. The cornelian cherry jelly is initially sour but fruity flavours develop over time. The raspberry ganache starts with a mildly sour flavour. It quickly releases cocoa flavours and sugar. After a short period, a raspberry punch develops but it also has a difficult to describe flavour of metal and spicy nutmeg. Tasted as whole, this chocolate bar starts with a sweet note that is quickly overthrown by the wet, moldy wood, leather and the fruit's sourness. It tastes like an old wardrobe with fruity and sour notes coated with dark chocolate.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste of the chocolate (everything else neatly removed with a knife) is sweetness and cocoa with some coffee notes. The aftertaste of the cornelian cherry jelly is slightly sour and fruity. The raspberry ganache leaves a raspberry flavour with some sort of a metallic and spicy note. Tasting the whole product leaves an aftertaste of wet wood, fruity sourness and difficult to define spice and nutmeg.

Summary

The chocolate bar's name might sound funny but it is for real and it contains actual blood. The raspberry filling has nice fruity notes but it is offset by the moldy wood, leather and metal flavours.

Verdict

The chocolate melts finely but the filling is on the verge of a jelly bean. The flavour of mold, wet wood and metal of parts of the filling is not pleasing. You have to be prepared for this and you have to like it. Scraping off everything and just eating the bottom layer of the chocolate is the best part. It comes with nice cocoa and coffee notes. However, eating the chocolate bar as a whole is a difficult to describe and surprisingly unpleasant experience. 1 Star.

Dates

Best before 23/06/2017, tasted 28/05&04/06/2017

Dr. Oetker - Ristorante Pizza Dolce al Cioccolato

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Ristorante Pizza Dolce al Cioccolato (Sweet Pizza richly topped with chocolate flavoured sauce and three types of chocolate, quick-frozen)
Main ingredients are wheat flour, 27% chocolate flavoured sauce, water, 9.6% milk chocolate, 6.4% chocolate, 6.4% white chocolate, rapseed oil, fat-reduced cocoa, sugar, yeast, salt.
Cocoa content: not stated

Manufacturer

Dr. August Oetker Nahrungsmittel KG, Lutterstraße 14, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany

Packaging

The 300g chocolate pizza is sealed in transparent plastic foil and packed in cardboard.

Preparation

The pizza has been baked in a preheated oven at 180°C (fan assisted) for 10½ min.

Look

The chocolate sauce is dark brown, almost black-ish with lighter brown spots. The sauce looks more liquid than it actually is. The white chocolate is yellowish with caramelised, browned areas. The dough is middle brown like a chocolate biscuit.

Sound

The pizza dough is mildly crispy. The chocolate sauce is liquid (no sound) but the caramelised white chocolate has a little crunch to it.

Smell

The pizza has only a few chocolate or cocoa aromas. It mainly smells of baked dough, vanilla, milk and warm, chocolate flavoured blancmange.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate pizza is baked for a shorter duration than normal pizza. Thus, the dough remains soft and still contains a lot of water. It can become a bit chewy when eating. The chocolate sauce has a consistency of warm blancmange or thick drinking chocolate. As with blancmange that is chilling and setting, the sauce can develop a skin. The caramelised white chocolate is a little crispy.

Taste

The pizza tastes sweet with a surprisingly strong dough flavour. Although the dough is coloured like chocolate it has only little flavour beyond yeast dough. There are hints of salt in the product that pop out occasionally. The flavour of the chocolate sauce reminds on thickened hot drinking chocolate or chocolate flavoured blancmange. There is also a slight flavour of flour from the starch. There are only a few hints of cocoa and chocolate flavours. The white chocolate tastes intensely of dulce de leche and caramel.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is is dominated by the dough flavours and sweetness.

Summary

This is a really interesting product. It tastes similar to a biscuit with warm chocolate flavoured blancmange. The white chocolate adds some crispness and dulce de leche flavours. However, the dough can be soggy.

Verdict

The dough is a major component but is difficult to get this crispy without burning the chocolate. Thus, it is not as crispy as pizza or biscuits. The chocolate sauce is similar to chocolate flavoured blancmange rather than to a rich chocolate dessert. Sadly, this also includes a starchy/floury feel and the lack of real cocoa or chocolate flavours. The frozen pizza looks way more pleasing to the eye than the baked result. Finally, the caramelised white chocolate is the best part of the product. It really offers some added value in flavours, mouth feel and warmth compared to drizzling warm chocolate sauce over chocolate biscuits. 1 Star.

Dates

Manufactured 10/05/2017, lot number: 14 21:161, best before 05/2018, tasted 02/06/2017

Zotter - Ananas mit Cashewnüssen (Cashew nougat and pineapple)

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Ananas mit Cashewnüssen (Dunkle Bergmilchschokolade gefüllt mit Cashewnougat (24%) und Ananas) - Mountain milk chocolate with cashew nougat (24%) and pineapple filling
Main ingredients are raw cane sugar, dried pineapple (15%), cocoa butter, cashew kernels (12%), cocoa mass, pineapple concentrate (8%), whole milk powder, glucose invert sugar.
Cocoa content: minimum 50% cocoa in the chocolate.

Manufacturer

zotter Schokoladen Manufaktur GmbH, Bergl 56, A-8333 Riegersburg, Austria

Packaging

The 70g chocolate bar is wrapped in aluminium foil and a paper envelope.

Look

The chocolate is dark to middle brown. The pineapple layer is the top layer of the filling and it is dark yellow. The cashew paste below is very light brown.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with clear snap sound (after removing the filling).

Smell

The whole bar initially smells of old, dry bread before aromas of sugar and dried pineapple take over. The chocolate itself smells of sweetness and cocoa. The pineapple layer also smells sweet and intensely of dried pineapple. The smell of the cashew filling initially reminds of dry bread before cashew aromas become more identifiable.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate melts quickly and evenly into a fine liquid. The filling takes longer to smoothen. It feels somewhat grainy with pieces from shred dried pineapple and cashew nuts. The filling is not sticky but it is a bit chewy.

Taste

The chocolate on its own has a sweet flavour with notes of cocoa and nuts and some hints of coffee. The pineapple layer combines the sour flavours of the dried pineapple with sweetness. The cashew layer has cashew flavours and flavours of dried bread as well as hints of salt. Eaten as a whole, the initial flavour is dominated by sweetness. Later, the pineapple and in particular its lime-like sourness and sweetness unfold. There are only notes of chocolate when it hits the tongue and gums. The cashew flavour is reduced to rare hints.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste of the chocolate is mainly sweetness and some reminiscence of the nutty cocoa flavour. The aftertaste of the whole product is dominated by the pineapple filling's sweetness and sourness with only little to no presence of the cocoa or the cashews.

Summary

This chocolate bar is a dried pineapple filling with dark-ish whole milk chocolate coating. There are only tiny hints of the cashew and cocoa flavours. However, after opening the package, the cashew aromas dominate for a while.

Verdict

The chocolate bar uses a nice and well-conched dark whole milk chocolate. However, the flavours are dominated by an intensely sweetened layer of dried pineapple. The smell is initially dominated by a dry bread aroma from the cashew filling. The cashews and the chocolate do not contribute much to the flavour of the product. The chocolate melts nicely but the filling becomes chewy and has some smaller pieces in it that are too small for being 'chunky' and to big for being smooth. 2 Stars.

Dates

Best before 12/06/2007, tasted 24&25/05/2017

Confiserie Obermeier - Zartbitterschokolade (Dark chocolate)

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Zartbitterschokolade (Dark chocolate)
Main ingredients are sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, soya lecithin, natural vanilla.
Cocoa content: minimum 60% cocoa

Manufacturer

Confiserie Josef Obermeier, Lengmoos 5, 83536 Gars am Inn, Germany
Münchner SchokoLaden, Viktualienmarkt 3, Abteilung III, Stand 18/19, 80331 München, Germany

Packaging

The 100g chocolate bar is wrapped in a transparent plastic sleeve.

Look

The chocolate is very dark brown with a noticeable red hue that is particularly noticeable at the edges.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a clear 'snap' sound.

Smell

The smells of sugar, vanilla, cocoa and roasted nuts.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate melts quickly and smoothly into a very fine liquid.

Taste

The chocolate flavour is initially dominated by sweetness. The chocolate quickly releases cocoa flavours with notes of coffee and roasted nuts. The sweetness is balanced but it tends to overwhelm the more exciting cocoa flavours after a while.

Aftertaste

The aftertastes are cocoa with a mild bitterness and sweetness.

Summary

This chocolate has an intense cocoa flavour with roasted nuts and coffee flavours. It is also sweetened and melts smoothly.

Verdict

The chocolate melts very evenly into a very fine chocolate while maintaining an even surface. However, its sweetness tends to overwhelm the nicely warming coffee and roasted nuts flavours of the cocoa. 4 Stars.

Dates

Tasted 10&14&20/05/2017

Alnatura - Limone Mohn (Lime & poppy seed)

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Limone Mohn (White chocolate with poppy seeds and lime oil)
Main ingredients are raw cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, poppy seeds, 1% lime oil and vanilla extract.
Cocoa content: minimum 30% cocoa

Manufacturer

Alnatura GmbH, Darmstädter Str. 63, 64404 Bickenbach, Germany

Packaging

The 50g chocolate bar is wrapped in aluminium foil and a paper sleeve.

Look

The chocolate is light yellow coloured with black spots from the poppy seeds.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with light 'thud' sound.

Smell

There are fresh lime and notes of milk aromas.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate melts slowly and smoothly into slightly sticky liquid.

Taste

The chocolate has an initial taste of sour taste of lime and quickly releases a milky sweetness that balances the lime. The chocolate releases more milky, creamy and sweet flavours over time. Some occasional lime flavours spot up after melting the chocolate.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is dominated by milky, creamy flavours and sweetness. There are hints of lime flavours that appear from the rear of the mouth.

Summary

This is a milky and creamy white chocolate with fresh lime flavours and a balanced sweetness.

Verdict

This white chocolate comes with milk and cream flavours combined with fresh lime notes. However, it does not provide a chocolate flavour or feeling, it tends to become sticky in the mouth and it is difficult to appreciate the poppy seeds. 2 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: L36244, best before 08/2017, tasted 10&14&20/05/2017