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

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.

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

Hotel Chocolat - Banoffee Pie

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Banoffee Pie chocolate
Main ingredients are Cocoa solids, sugar, full cream milk powder, shortbread biscuits, banana chips, caramelised sugar.
Cocoa content: minimum 40% cocoa solids in the milk chocolate and 33% in the caramel chocolate.

Manufacturer

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

Packaging

The chocolate is wrapped and sealed in transparent plastic wrap.

Look

The chocolate is very light brown on one half and darker but still light brown on the other half. Small round-ish pieces of biscuit are visible on one side, a white chocolate swirl and banana chips on the other side.

Sound

The chocolate is actually quite difficult break due to its thickness. If it breaks, it does so with a snap sound.

Smell

The chocolate has a warm and rich caramel smell with cream notes.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate has a very smooth mouth feel and melts very quickly. The biscuit feels nice and crumbly as shortbread.

Taste

Initially, there is a surprisingly intense banana flavour which quickly mixes with a creamy, caramelly milk chocolate flavour. The biscuit crumbles are coated in something like white chocolate and maintain their buttery flavour and crisp.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is mainly the sweetness of the caramel and some milk flavour.

Summary

This is a creamy caramel and banana chocolate with crumbly biscuit pieces.

Verdict

The chocolate lives up to its promise of reflecting a rich, creamy banoffee pie. The caramel and the banana can taste somewhat artificial. It could be a perfect rich yet fruity praline with some fresh banana. The banana chips are quite hard and interfere with resemblance of (almost) overly ripe banana slices ditched in caramel and cream. 4 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: 15 328, best before 06/2016, tasted 21&23/04/2016

Wohlfarth - Salzstäbchen

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Salzstäbchen (Salt sticks - dark chocolate with salt)
Ingredients are cocoa mass, raw sugar, cocoa butter, rock salt from Austria.
Cocoa content: minimum 70% cocoa, no vanilla

Manufacturer

Wohlfarth Schokolade, Choriner Straße 37, 10435 Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, Germany

Packaging

The 75g worth of chocolate sticks are wrapped in non-stick paper and in a small cardboard box.

Look

The chocolate is dark brown but with a little hint of red.

Sound

The chocolate sticks are very thing and break with a clear snap sound.

Smell

The smell is very light. The main aroma is cocoa and sugar.

Mouthfeel

The thin chocolate sticks feels soft, melt very quickly and slowly covers the tongue.

Taste

The chocolate initially tastes of sugar for a very brief period of time. Then an intense dark cocoa flavour with some earthy/barky notes is released. The salty flavour increases gradually and fades out into a dark cocoa flavour with some mildly bitter notes. The salt is not spread out evenly such that some sparks of saltiness are released every now and then at different locations in the mouth.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is dominated by the dark cocoa flavours which are perceived centrally on the tongue.

Summary

These chocolate sticks are made from an intense rich cocoa. The rock salt comes in a very sensibly measured amount. It emphasises the sweetness and its uneven spread across the product adds a little unexpected, yet pleasant sensation.

Verdict

The salty chocolate sticks are a pleasing combination of sweetness and intense dark chocolate with a tiny pinch of salt that adds a pleasing contrast and a bit of playfulness to the experience. 5 Stars.

Dates

Best before 12/2016, tasted 21&23/04/2016

Biscuiterie de l'Abbaye - Le Petit Normand Chocolat au Lait

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Le Petit Normand - Chocolat au Lait biscuits
Main ingredients are wheat flour 34%, milk chocolate 30% (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder...), sugar 14.5%, butter 14%, oat flakes, whole milk 4%, whole milk powder 2%.
Cocoa content: not stated

Manufacturer

Biscuiterie de l'Abbaye S.A.S., Route du Val, 617000 Lonlay l'Abbaye, France

Packaging

The biscuits are in a plastic tray, wrapped and sealed plastic wrap and packed in a cardboard box.

Look

The chocolate is light brown and the biscuits lightly browned yellow.

Sound

The biscuits break with clear crumbly sounds.

Smell

There is clear smell of butter and dough from the biscuits as soon as the plastic seal is opened.

Mouthfeel

The biscuits are very crunchy and maintain this throughout. The chocolate is smooth and dissolves quickly as the biscuit is being eaten.

Taste

The chocolate has a milky taste with some sweetness. The biscuits have an intense butter taste that mixes nicely with the chocolate.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is mainly the baked butter of the biscuits and some hints of the milky chocolate.

Summary

The biscuits have a crunchy structure and a rich buttery flavour which mixes nicely with the milk chocolate.

Verdict

The biscuits are rich in flavour and structure. The milky chocolate mixes nicely but the chocolate tastes mainly of milk and sugar and could deserve a bit more attention. 4 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: 6060, best before 28/02/2017, tasted 10/04/2016

Schönenberger - Chocolate with rice milk and hazelnuts

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Chocolate with rice milk and hazelnuts
Main ingredients are cane sugar, cocoa butter, rice glucose syrup 17%, cocoa solids, hazelnut granulate.
Cocoa content: minimum 41% cocoa

Manufacturer

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

Packaging

The chocolate is wrapped in aluminum paper and a small cardboard box. Packaging size is 100g.

Look

The chocolate is light brown and pieces of hazelnuts are partly visible.

Sound

The chocolate is surprisingly hard to break and does so with a clear snap sound.

Smell

The chocolate bar smell of sugar and something like perfume.

Mouthfeel

The surface is very smooth. The chocolate melts into a doughy liquid before dissolving finely.

Taste

Initially, the chocolate tastes very sweet with a distinct almost perfume-like flavour. After melting, the hazelnuts contribute only little to the flavour.

Aftertaste

The aftertase is dominated by the sweetness and a hint of the perfume like flvour.

Summary

This is a rather sweet chocolate with hazelnuts. The flavour is mainly is sweet with a distinct flavour which might be from the rice milk.

Verdict

The Swiss chocolate lacks the typical richness of Swiss milk since it relies ob rice milk, They surface and smoothness of the rice milk was well mastered. However, its flavour is still challenging. 1 Star.

Dates

Lot number: 16820215D, best before 30/09/2016, tasted 03&04&10/04/2016