Artisan du Chocolat - Sea salted caramels N25 Spiced figs

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Sea salted caramels - №25 Spiced figs
Main ingredients are dark chocolate, caramel and cocoa powder.
Cocoa content: minimum 72% cocoa solids in the dark chocolate

Manufacturer

Artisan du Chocolat, 89 Lower Sloane Street, London, SW1 8DA, United Kingdom

Packaging

The cardboard box contains a round plastic container with a screw cap. A package contains 130g pralines.

Look

The little pralines are dusted with cocoa powder with a light-ish brown colour.

Sound

The chocolate body is not intended to be broken outside of the mouth as the filling could spill. However I did so anyway, there is a snap sound of the chocolate body when broken apart.

Smell

Opening the little plastic container releases a warming cocoa aroma with aromas of wood, roast and a hint of floral fruit.

Mouthfeel

The cocoa layer does not feel dusty or powdery but rather almost solid. It is still powder, thus breathing in in the first moments can make you cough as the cocoa powder settles on the back of your mouth. Rolling the chocolate makes the outer cocoa layer melt until the dark chocolate body is exposed. This quickly melts until it is unstable, breaks and releases its filling. The fig filling is similar to a soft jam with little fig kernels.

Taste

The cocoa powder layer tastes like very dark chocolate with flavours of wood, roast and bark. These flavours intermix with the dark chocolate body and become slightly lighter with hints of dark molasses. Finally, the fruity filling tastes like a rich, sweet fig jam with spices that nicely mix without a single one standing out noticeably. There is also a hotness as in ginger or chili which is just enough to engage the taste buds. It is merely a sensation at the rear of the tongue rather than an actual flavour and it does not interfere with the filling's fruity sweetness. When the three layers mix, a finely balanced spiced sweetness and fruitiness gradually adds to the dark chocolate flavours.

Aftertaste

Initially, the spicy sensation dominates the aftertaste. This quickly disappears and gives room to the dark chocolate with its roast and bark flavours combined with the fruity sweetness of the fig filling.

Summary

These are rich filled dark chocolate pralines. Their layers provide a complex change of flavours starting with very dark wood flavours and gradually adding sweet and fruity flavours.

Verdict

The chocolate pralines are very well designed and executed. Eating through each layer is almost like attending a show with different acts. The Chanel №5 styled packaging makes quite a promise. Nevertheless, the product lives up to the expectations without a shadow of doubt.

Dates

Lot number: 21942, best before 07 November 2016, tasted 06 February 2016