Hotel Chocolate - Nutty Bûche

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Nutty Hazelnut & Pistachio Bûche (42% hazelnut paste, 5% pistachios, 5% hazelnuts and cocoa solids), suitable for vegans

Manufacturer

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

Packaging

The 160g bûche sits in a small plastic tray with a lit covering its cylindrical shape. This package is sealed in plastic.

Look

The surface is dark brown, shiny and smooth. Some nuts are not covered by chocolate but are still inside the cylindrical shape.

Sound

The bûche is meant to be cut with a knife which I did. It is surprisingly solid. Smaller pieces break with a thud rather than a snap.

Smell

It smells like hazelnut, roasted hazelnut and cocoa.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate melts very quickly into a smooth cream. This quickly continues to dissolve into a liquid (with a small bite).

Taste

Directly after melting, it releases a brief note of sweetness. This rapidly changes into hazelnut, roasted nut and dark, earthy cocoa flavours. Despite the initial hint of sweetness, this bûche is much stronger, earthier and cocoa-ish than gianduja or the like.

Aftertaste

Once it has molten to the liquid state, a mixture of nut and earthy cocoa flavours is released which lingers in the back of the mouth and on the tongue for a while.

Summary

This bûche comes with rich hazelnut and roasting flavours combined with an earthy cocoa. It is more like dark chocolate and much less sweet than the initial hint would suggest.

Verdict

This well-executed bûche is a surprisingly dark and earthy cocoa experience with hazelnuts.