Valrhona - Noir Araguani

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Valrhona - Noir Araguani (dark chocolat)
Main ingredients are cocoa beans, brown sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, vanilla.
Cocoa content: minimum 72% cocoa

Manufacturer

Valrhona, 26600 Tain L'Hermitage, France

Packaging

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

Look

The chocolate is very dark brown. Its edges have a red hint in sunlight.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a clear snap sound.

Smell

The smells is of cocoa, a very light bitterness and sugar.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate has a very smooth surface and melts slowly and evenly into a very fine and smooth liquid.

Taste

The initial flavour is a light sweetness but cocoa flavours evolve quickly. The cocoa has a dark hint of roast and a bitterness as in coffee and bark. But the cocoa is framed by a surprisingly intense sweetness.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is mainly sweetness at the front of the mouth and some notes of cocoa and bitterness towards the rear and sides of the mouth.

Summary

This is dark chocolate with a very smooth texture that melts evenly into a fine liquid. The cocoa has some notes of bitterness and is framed by sugary sweetness.

Verdict

The chocolate has a very smooth structure. But its flavours are dominated by sweetness that almost hides the interesting richness of the cocoa. 4 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: LP7515281, best before 02/2017, tasted 22&23/01&12/02/2017

Newtree - Lavande

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Newtree - Lavende (Organic milk chocolate with natural lavender flavour and Fairtrade ingredients)
Main ingredients are cane sugar, cocoa butter, skimmed milk powder, cocoa mass, natural lavender flavouring, soya lecithin, natural vanilla flavouring.
Cocoa content: minimum 40% cocoa

Manufacturer

NEWTREE S.A., Boulevard du Souverain/Vorstlaan 207/3. 1160 Bruxelles/Brussel, Belgium

Packaging

The 80g chocolate bar is sealed in shiny plastic wrap and put in a cardboard envelope.

Look

The chocolate is light brown with light hints of red. The edges tend to have a white shimmer.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a snap sound.

Smell

The smells has intense lavender and sugar aromas.

Mouthfeel

The surface of the chocolate feels textured when melting. It passes through a short stage of stickiness before melting into a very fine and smooth liquid.

Taste

The chocolate unfolds a lavender flavour as it starts to melt. This combines with a mild sweetness, milky flavours and hints of cocoa.

Aftertaste

The lavender flavours disappear quickly but the sweetness and milk flavours remain present.

Summary

This is a flavoured milk chocolate with lavender flavours a mild sweetness.

Verdict

The chocolate melts into a fine liquid but has a textured surface. The lavender flavour is very noticeable and not pungent or artificial. However, there are only little notes of cocoa that are overwhelmed by sweetness. 2 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: L30ABF2, best before 01/02/2017, tasted 22&23/01&11/02/2017

Schönenberger - Extra fine dark chocolate

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Schönenberger - Extra fine dark chocolate (Extra fine bio organic swiss dark chocolate)
Main ingredients are cane sugar, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and vanilla.
Cocoa content: minimum 54% cocoa solids

Manufacturer

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

Packaging

The two 50g chocolate bars are wrapped in aluminium laminated paper and a cardboard envelope.

Look

The chocolate has a middle dark-ish brown colour with red hues at the edges.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a very clear snap sound.

Smell

The smell is mainly a light sweetness with hints of vanilla and tiny hints of cocoa.

Mouthfeel

The thin chocolate slices melt evenly into very smooth and fine liquid.

Taste

The initial flavour is a very light sweetness that is similar to powdered sugar. As the chocolate melts, the sweetness intensifies with vanilla and metal notes. A cocoa note with hints of coffee flavours evolves. However, the sweetness is very intense and overpowers the cocoa.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is mainly characterised by the sweetness and hints of cocoa that evolve around the rear of the mouth.

Summary

This is a very smooth, thinly sliced chocolate with intense sweetness, cocoa and coffee notes.

Verdict

This chocolate is extraordinarily smooth with no detectable imperfections and a very silk surface. The flavours are dominated by the sweetness. This overpowers a possibly nice complexity of cocoa flavours. 3 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: 16818815E, best before 30/01/2017, tasted 22&23/01&05/02/2017