Valrhona - Gran Couva Trinidad Noir 64%

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Chocolate de Domaine Gran Couva, Trinidad - 64%
Main ingredients are cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, vanilla extract.
Cocoa content: minimum 64% cocoa

Manufacturer

Valrhona, 26600 Tain L'Hermintage, France

Packaging

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

Look

The chocolate is very dark brown and appears almost black with a light red hue. The edges of the broken chocolate pieces have red and white hues.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a clear snap sound.

Smell

The chocolate has aromas of ripe melon and guava and molasses. The intense cocoa aromas add a dark-ish twist to the smell.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate melts into a very fine liquid. During process, its surface and edges remain almost perfectly solid and even.

Taste

The initial flavour is a light sweetness. Fruity flavours of guava and melon unfold quickly towards middle and front of the tongue. Light spices such as clove, cardamom, Moroccan mint and tonka combine with the cocoa flavour at the middle and rear of the tongue.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste alight cocoa taste at the rear of the mouth with a very little astringency and bitterness.

Summary

This is a dark chocolate with very light and complex flavours of fruit and spices.

Verdict

Astringency, bitterness and sourness are (almost) completely absent in this dark chocolate. Instead it shows the very fruity and spicy notes of the cocoa. The dancing complexity of its flavour is exceptional. 5 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: LP7516239, best before 01/2018, tasted 24/09&21/10/&12/11/2017&07/01/2018

Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé - Trincheras 95%

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Trincheras 95%
Main ingredients are Trincheras cocoa beans, cocoa butter, cane sugar. No vanilla.
Cocoa content: minimum 95% cocoa

Manufacturer

Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé Kft., Ringló út. 33, 1221 Budapest Budafok, Hungary

Packaging

The 25g chocolate bar is wrapped in quite strong parchment paper and little card board box.

Look

The chocolate is very dark red-brown with a lighter red-brown hue at the edges.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a clear and edgy snap sound.

Smell

The chocolate has a rich and warm cocoa smell with hints of hazel and grass. As chocolate warms in the hand, some darker notes of oak unfold. The grass aromas slowly develop into a more flowery note of dried fruit.

Mouthfeel

The thin chocolate bar melts quickly into a very fine liquid. The solid part becomes softer.

Taste

The chocolate unfolds a dark-ish and intense cocoa flavour. Its astringency and bitterness are mild and almost tickle the tongue. Flavours of smoke and roast build up. The last bit ends in an almost fruity sweet kick of dried fruit.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is cocoa flavour with notes of roasted nuts and wood. It lingers at the front of the mouth and on the tongue. After a few minutes, the aftertaste moves slowly towards the rear of the mouth, has few more fruity hints and slowly fades out.

Summary

This is a very dark chocolate with intense cocoa flavours, notes of wood, smoked and roasted nuts and a noticeable but mild astringency and bitterness. It ends in a little kick of dried fruit. Small pieces of chocolate are very intense already.

Verdict

This is a very well made chocolate with intense and complex flavours that unfold over time and remain present for several minutes even with tiny pieces of chocolate. The cocoa has an interesting astringency and bitterness. 5 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: T4229, best before 30/04/2018, tasted 17/09&08&15/10/2017

Neuhaus - Dark Chocolate

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Dark Chocolate
Main ingredients are cocoa mass, sugar, butter oil, soy lecithin, flavours.
Cocoa content: minimum 52% cocoa

Manufacturer

Neuhaus NV, Postweg 2, 1602 Vlezenbeek, Belgium

Packaging

The 45g chocolate bar is wrapped in aluminium paper and a paper sleeve.

Look

The chocolate is dark brown with red and whit-ish hue at the edges.

Sound

The chocolate bar is quite thick and hard to break. When it does, there is very robust snap sound.

Smell

The smell is dominated by sugary sweetness and light notes of cocoa.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate melts slowly into a very fine liquid. It surface becomes softer during the process.

Taste

The initial flavour is strongly dominated by sugary sweetness. Cocoa notes unfold slowly but the sweetness is building up as well and tends to overwhelm the slightly more bitter and dark-ish flavours. However, the cocoa and nut flavours remain noticeable.

Aftertaste

Once the sweetness decreased, nutty cocoa flavours linger in the upper middle part of the mouth.

Summary

This is a finely melting and comparably sweet dark chocolate with light cocoa and nut flavours.

Verdict

The chocolate flavours are dominated by its sweetness that covers most of a potentially nutty and warming cocoa. It melts and some of the flavours work as an aftertaste. 3 Stars.

Dates

Lot number: 4005302, best before 12/11/2017, tasted 17/09&01&07/10/2017

La Praline Gothenburg - Truffles Seasalt

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Truffes Fantaisie Havssalt (Truffles Seasalt)
Main ingredients are non-hydrogenated vegetable fat (coconut, palm), sugar, fat reduced cocoa powder, whey powder, seasalt (0.6%), soya lecithin, vanillin (artificial vanilla flavouring), cocoa powder for dusting.
Cocoa content: minimum 44% cocoa solids

Manufacturer

La Praline Gothenburg AB, Backa Strandgata 12, 422 46 Göteborg, Sweden

Packaging

The 200g package of pralines is sealed in aluminium wrap and boxed in cardboard.

Look

The colour is dark brown with some darker almost black spots. After cutting the truffle, the sides are dark brown with a black hue. Little salt crystals can be visible.

Smell

Intensive cocoa and fat aromas hit you when opening the packaging and linger in the air.

Mouthfeel

The truffle feels solid and cannot be squashed with the tongue easily. It has a creamy and soft surface and melts into a fine liquid. The salt crystals are noticeable int the soft and creamy truffle.

Taste

The initial taste of the cocoa powder until a more mild cocoa flavour combined with the richness of the fat evolves. Once the first salt crystals have started dissolving, they add a little salty edge to the truffle. However, the seasalt dissolves slower than truffle. Thus, after the truffle has molten, only salt crystals are left. You know that it is but it still feels really salty each single time. Occassionally, there is also a salty spicy punch.

Aftertaste

If you manage to get of the remaining salt quickly, the aftertaste is mainly fatty cocoa. However, most of the time I did not and thus, the aftertaste was simply salt.

Summary

This is a rich chocolate truffle with a salty edge. Its richness is comes from the fat and combines to a rich and mild cocoa feeling. However, the undissolved sea salt is a problem.

Verdict

The truffles have a convincing richness and density. They have mild cocoa flavour that is smoothened by the fat. Initially, the flavour is enhanced by mild note of slowly dissolving sea salt. However, the slowly dissolving salt crystals stay longer than the truffle. Thus, you end up with pure salt in your mouth. If you chew the product, the salt crystals are crushed and melt much faster. But this can bring the salt to the foreground. In particular, you get very salty spots nearby the teeth and this spoils the product, too. Melting and chewing included an almost painful salt punch. 1 Star.

Dates

Lot number: JP12HAV1216, best before 31/12/2017, tasted 15/08&03&16/09/2017

Chocolaterie Beluga - Belu Chocolate Bar 70

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Belu Chocolate Bar 70
Main ingredients are cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, natural vanilla flavouring.
Cocoa content: minimum 70.1% cocoa

Manufacturer

Chocolaterie Beluga, Viktualienmarkt 6, 80331 München, Germany

Packaging

The square 60g chocolate bar is wrapped and sealed in transparent plastic wrap.

Look

The chocolate is dark-brown with a light hue of red-brown at some edges whereas other edges have white shimmer.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a clear snap sound (and is actually quite hard to break).

Smell

The smell is sweetness, light hints of coffee aroma, and cocoa. The warmer the chocolates becomes in the hands, the stronger the cocoa aroma unfolds.

Mouthfeel

First, the chocolate is very solid but until it melts into a fine liquid. It maintains an even structure but feels more softly. The rice pops add a bit of crunchy texture but also seduce to chew the chocolate rather than letting it melt

Taste

The flavour unfolds once the chocolate has started melting. Its initial flavour is an earthy, coffee-ish cocoa flavour. A mild bitterness unfolds that is slowly countered by a balanced sweetness. The sweet note becomes slightly too strong over time compared to the bitterness.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is dominated by the cocoa's bitterness and the chocolate's sweetness. It is mainly present in the upper part/palate. A more cocoa-like flavour develops in the rear of the mouth.

Summary

This dark chocolate is slightly dark, earthy and coffee-like in flavour. It has a balanced sweetness that counters the cocoa's bitterness and astringency.

Verdict

This chocolate is well conched and emphasises the more earthy notes. However, the rice pops do not contribute to its flavour but rather seduce you to bite the chocolate. Thereby, the chocolate gets eaten faster and its flavours cannot unfold but are reduced to mild bitterness and sugar. 3 Stars.

Dates

Best before 19/01/2018, tasted 15&19&27/08/2017

Chocolaterie Beluga - Belu Chocolate Bar 60

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Belu Chocolate Bar 60
Main ingredients are cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, natural vanilla flavouring.
Cocoa content: minimum 60% cocoa

Manufacturer

Chocolaterie Beluga, Viktualienmarkt 6, 80331 München, Germany

Packaging

The square 60g chocolate bar is wrapped and sealed in transparent plastic wrap.

Look

The chocolate is very dark brown with hints of black. The edges have white and light brown shimmer.

Sound

The chocolate breaks with a clear snap sound.

Smell

The smells is mainly of vanilla, sugar, some cocoa, and a few coffee aromas.

Mouthfeel

The chocolate melts slowly into a very fine liquid and remains very smooth.

Taste

Once it has started to melt, the chocolate has an initial flavour of sweetness. Cocoa and nutty wood flavours unfold before they are replaced by coffee and sugar flavours. The sweetness is very central in the mouth on the tongue and the coffee unfolds slightly behind that. However, only little flavour is perceivable elsewhere.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is mainly of coffee and sugar. There are only hints of a mild cocoa towards the rear of the mouth.

Summary

This is very smooth dark chocolate. Initially it feels very solid but melts evenly and slowly into a very fine liquid. It has a mild sweetness and coffee flavours.

Verdict

This chocolate is very well conched, melts slowly on the tongue and maintains an even surface. Its main flavours are sugar and coffee. The cocoa flavours are present but are overpowered by the sweetness and the coffee flavours. 3 Stars.

Dates

Best before 14/12/2017, tasted 13/06&08/07&13/08/2017

Original Beans - Piura Porcelana cocoa nibs

The tasting notes reflect my personal opinion.

Name

Piura Porcelana cocoa nibs (Peru)
Main ingredients are cocoa beans.
Cocoa content: minimum 100% cocoa solids.

Manufacturer

Original Beans, Keizergracht 452, 1016 GD Amsterdam, Netherlands
But the packaging indicates that the product was actually made in Switzerland.

Packaging

The 150g cocoa nibs are wrapped in a paper bag with an inner lining from transparent plastic.

Look

The cocoa nibs are dark brown from the outside. The edges are very light brown and almost appear white-ish.

Sound

The nibs break with clear crackly sounds.

Smell

The cocoa nibs have an intense cocoa smell with aromas of nuts, roast, wood and light floral notes.

Mouthfeel

The nibs have an even surface feeling that initially feels cold. The nibs are brittle and crunchy.

Taste

The nibs have a nutty cocoa flavour with roast, dry wood and hints of roasted walnuts. A little astringency and bitterness unfold over time.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste is dominated by the cocoa's darker flavours of roast, dry wood and a little bitterness.

Summary

These cocoa nibs have an intense cocoa smell. The flavour is mainly cocoa, wood and roasted nuts. Their astringency and bitterness are very mild. Their flavour is not heavy and dark. It comes with finer and lighter flavours.

Verdict

The cocoa nibs have an intense smell of cocoa with dry wood and nuts that is lifted with floral notes. Their flavours are dominated by cocoa, dry wood and roasted. The nibs have no acidity and very mild bitterness and astringency. Thus, finer flavours can shine through and make the nibs lighter and more subtle than other products. 5 Stars.

Dates

Best before 11/11/2018, tasted 25/05&03&13/06/2017