Sunday 22 May 2016

Hotel Chocolat - Lemongrass caramel

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Lemongrass Caramel - Runny caramel with lemongrass encased in a milk chocolate shell, decorated with naturally coloured white chocolate.
Main ingredients are runny caramel, cocoa solids, sugar, full cream milk powder, butter oil, soya lecithin, skimmed milk powder, carotene, flavour (lemongrass), concentrate of spirulina.
Cocoa content: minimum 40% cocoa solids in the milk chocolate

Manufacturer

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

Packaging

55g The chocolate is wrapped and sealed in shiny plastic wrap.

Look

The chocolate is light brown with yellow-green cap

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a snap sound

Smell

The packaging immediately smells a bit of citric lemongrass and cocoa. The chocolate smells of sugar, milk and cocoa.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate is very smooth. It melts into a thick creamy liquid before melting properly. The filling is liquid 'runny' caramel syrup which is very soft and disperses quickly in the mouth.

Taste

The chocolate is tastes of milk, sugar and hints of cocoa. On its inside, is taken on the acidic, lemony flavour the lemongrass caramel. The filling itself starts with a lemon flavour. But the sugar comes through quickly and covers lemongrass flavours.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is mainly of sugar at the rear of the mouth, some cocoa and milk notes.

Summary

This is a sweet milk chocolate filled with runny caramel. It has only some hints of lemongrass.

Verdict

The milk chocolate is very smooth. The caramel does not strongly emphasise the typical caramel flavours but tastes of sugary sweet. The desired hint of lemongrass is just a small and short-lived lemony note before it is quickly covered with sweetness. 3 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: 16027, best before 08/2016, tasted 29/04&01&21/05/2016

Sunday 8 May 2016

Parcel and cold

There are some parcels to really look forward to. I have opened it and peeked inside. However, I caught a cold and here we are. No unwrapping, no tasting.

Monday 2 May 2016

Sarotti - Milk chocolate (Edelvollmilch)

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Milk chocolate (Edelvollmilchschokolade)
Ingredients are sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whole milk powder, soya lecithin and flavouring.
Cocoa content: minimum 45% cocoa

Manufacturer

SAROTTI GmbH, Motzener Str. 32, 12277 Marienfelde, Berlin, Germany

Packaging

Individual bars of 25g chocolate are wrapped in aluminium paper. Four bars are combined into a card board enveloped of 100g.

Look

The chocolate is middle brown with some warmer red tones.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a very clear snap sound.

Smell

It smells of sugar, milk, cocoa and some hints from artificial aroma.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate is smooth and melts into thick-ish, creamy liquid before dissolving completely.

Taste

The chocolate tastes of milky caramel with hints of cocoa. Fine notes of its bitterness are balanced with the cream and sugar and emphasise a mild cocoa impression.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is mainly of cream and caramelised sugar but there are also some cocoa notes.

Summary

This is a creamy milk chocolate with caramelised sugar and cocoa flavours. The sweetness and bitterness of the cocoa are well balanced.

Verdict

The Sarotti milk chocolate is well made, comes with a milky and creamy mouthfeel and has some cocoa notes. The product is sweet (as you would expect with a milk chocolate). But this sweetness is balanced such that whole thing has a creamy, chocolatey feel and taste. 4 Stars.
This product is from the supermarket shelf and has an outstanding value for money.

Dates

Lot number: 152822, best before 09/10/2016, tasted 29/04&01/05/2016