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

Zotter - Weihnachtsknistern (Christmas crackle)

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Weihnachtsknistern - Dunkle Bergmilchschokolade gefüllt mit Äpfel, Honig und Zimt (alkoholhaltig) [sic] - Christmas crackle, dark mountain milk chocolate filled with apple(s), honey and cinnamon (contains alcohol)
Main ingredients are unrefined cane sugar, dried apple (15%), cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa mass, apple juice (9%)
Cocoa content: 50% in the chocolate

Manufacturer

zotter Schokoladen Manufaktur GmbH, Bergl 56, A-8333 Riegersburg, Austria

Packaging

The 70g chocolate bar is wrapped in aluminium foil and a paper sleeve.

Look

The surface is maroon brown, shiny and smooth. There are no pre-shaped pieces moulded in the bar.

Sound

The chocolate bar is filled with two soft layers. After separating the chocolate coating, it is surprisingly hard and makes a clear snapping sound when broken.

Smell

It smells of sweet cinnamon and apple with some hints of nuts. Smelled on its own, the chocolate coating has taken on the smell of its filling with a slightly more earthy hint.

Mouthfeel

Eaten as a whole, the filled chocolate turns into a sticky dough. After chewing through this, apple pieces and finely chopped hazelnuts covered in dough remain. Tasting the layers separately, the chocolate coating quickly melts into a smooth liquid. The apple layer feels almost floury initially but turns into something jam-like with little pieces of apple. The dough (or caramel or cream?) layer feels like sticky dough with small lumps or crumbly peanut butter with a small amount of chopped peanuts.

Taste

I started with each layer on its own. The chocolate coating has a sweet cinnamon taste with a hint of apple probably from the apple filling. There is basically no cocoa flavour to it. The initial contact with the apple layer was like gingerbread. This was probably due to its crumbly surface and the cinnamon. This vanishes quickly and is replaced by a floury taste with hints of sour apple purée, sweetness and traces of cinnamon. The doughy layer tastes sweet with a hint of vanilla. It has also taken on some apple flavour from the other layer. The dough contains a small amount of tasteless chopped hazelnuts. This chocolate bar was probably never intended to be separated into single layers...  The whole thing starts with sweet flavours from the chocolate coating and quickly releases the apple and flour taste of its filling. The sticky mass releases some notes of cinnamon later on.

Aftertaste

There is only little aftertaste. This is mainly a doughy sweetness and some artificial apple.

Summary

This filled chocolate bar mainly tastes of flour, some apple and a tiny pinch of cinnamon. It is sticky and chewy. If you expected popping candy or other sparkling, fizzy, crackling ingredients, you will be disappointed.

Verdict

The chocolate bar was chewy and sticky. The packaging proudly stated "bean-to-bar" but this did not play out in the chocolate. Each layer on its own had little to offer. Their individual shortcomings were emphasised by combining them. The chocolate's name falsely suggested that there would be popping candy.

Dates

Best before 05 April 2016, tasted 23 January 2016