Paul A. Young - 100% Dark Chocolate Bar

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

100% Dark Chocolate Bar
Main ingredients are 100% Guittard dark chocolate.
Cocoa content: minimum 44% cocoa solids

Manufacturer

paul.a.young fine chocolates, 143 Wardour St, SOHO, London, W1F 8WA, United Kingdom

Packaging

The chocolate is wrapped and sealed in transparent plastic wrap.

Look

The chocolate is very dark brown with a reddish hue at its edges.

Sound

The chocolate is hard to break but when it does, it breaks clearly in one snap.

Smell

There intensive cocoa aromas and fruity aromas of raisins.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate feels solid initially but becomes softer quickly. It feels slightly creamy and soft to touch before melting into a very fine liquid.

Taste

The chocolate requires a bit of time before it unfolds its flavours. It starts with dark cocoa flavours and a mild bitterness and astringency that are building up gradually. There is a subliminal sourness  that comes to the foreground when swallowed or moving and leaves a little sore sensation.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is mainly astringency and the hint of sourness.

Summary

This has deep and dark-ish flavours of cocoa that are very intensive. Its flavours are dominated by dark cocoa, bitterness and hints of sourness.

Verdict

The chocolate is very well conched and melts very smoothly. It emphasises the dark cocoa notes of the cocoa. However, as the astringency and bitterness are building up, they have a tendency to entirely dominate the flavour. Thus, the cocoa and possibly fruity notes are hard to detect. Also, there is a little sour note in the chocolate that leaves a sore sensation on the tongue. 4 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: S14129, best before 01/09/2018, tasted 29/04&05&27/05/2018

Artisan du Chocolat - Date Milk

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Date Milk
Main ingredients are dried date (date, maize starch, emulsifier: sunflower lecithin), cocoa butter, dried whole milk, cocoa beans, emulsifier: soya lecithin.
Cocoa content: minimum 44% cocoa, 21% milk, no vanilla

Manufacturer

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

Packaging

The 45g chocolate bar is sealed in transparent plastic wrap and packed in card board.

Look

The chocolate is light brown with white shimmer at its edges.

Sound

The chocolate initially feels softly as if won't break at all. But it does so with a snappy sound.

Smell

The smell is sugary and milky. There are light notes of cocoa.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate feels soft in the mouth. It has a somewhat sticky surface when melting. It melts into a fine liquid.

Taste

The chocolate has a very creamy flavour with some darker notes of fermented milk. As chocolate melts, it develops the flavour of caramelised fruit sugar with a tiny hint of bitterness. This makes the cream really heavy and dominating a slowly emerging flowery fruitnote and hints of cocoa.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is mainly an intense creaminess with some dark fruity and caramel notes.

Summary

This is a really creamy milk chocolate with caramel, fruit and some flowery notes.

Verdict

This milk chocolate has very rich cream flavours and it also develops complex flavours of caramel, fruit and hints of flower. It melts nicely without getting too sticky. 5 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: 27469, best before 08/2018, tasted 22&28/04&05&06/05/2018