One cool thing about coaching synchronized swimming is that, in addition to the fact that I can use my fellow coaches and officials to dispense of chocolate treats that come out of my kitchen, the parents of the swimmer I coach are well-aware of how much I like chocolate.
And Diet Coke. But this isn’t a Diet Coke blog, so let’s move along.
Fortunately, these folks want a happy coach working with their swimmers, so they routinely bring me both Diet Coke AND chocolate. One bar that I was given on such an occasion was a bar of Alter Eco Blackout Dark Chocolate bar.
I saw that this bar was 85% cocoa solids. Yowzers. I usually top out at around 75%, but I was game to try this. After unwrapping this carefully contained bit of chocolate.
The bar has an impressive texture for something with such a high cocoa content. The melt is very smooth, and it is clearly made with great cocoa butter.
The taste is exceptionally bitter and intense with a bit of an earthy undertone. The bitterness was just a little much for me, and there wasn’t quite enough sugar mixed in to cut through the bitterness, and it was almost like eating straight coffee beans.
So I’m a bit of a wimp on super-dark chocolate. Deal with it.
That aside, the ingredients used to make this bar were top notch, and I’ll probably look for another Alter Eco bar in the future. They did a good job in production, it’s just this particular bar is a bit strong for me.
Have you tried anything by Alter Eco? What did you think?
Super dark chocolate is my thing! I'll have to try that bar, where can you get it?
ReplyDeleteI've never tried any Alter Eco Chocolate...but dark is my absolute faaavorite! Too bad they don't have any here....=(
ReplyDeleteI am *such* a wimp. I usually top out at 60%. Don't hate. However, I love the name of this chocolate!
ReplyDelete@Beth I'm pretty sure that most Whole Foods stores stock Alter Eco bars - I guess try there?
ReplyDelete@fitchocoholic What? No dark chocolate in Brazil? Surely you can have some shipped!
ReplyDelete@Alina I'm kind of like you - I can only go into the 60s and higher if it's really high quality. Otherwise it is too dry and bitter for me. No shame in loving some milk chocolate. None.
ReplyDeleteI have tried them and I really liked them. However I really like dark chocolate...if I could I'd eat the rest of yours (if there is any) so you don't have to waste it (if you would ever do such a thing)
ReplyDeleteI think the highest I've gone is 85%. I think. I didnt like it. It tasted sour. People always say bitter, but it was sour. Is that how it's supposed to taste? I might still have it in the pantry. I'll have to go find it.
ReplyDeleteI adore 85% chocolates. I actually usually prefer the 80% range to the 70% range, as the latter are often more tangy and the former more eather. Can I have the rest of your blackout bar? :D
ReplyDelete@NYgirl@heart Hey now, I said it was a little intense for me - not that I stopped eating it :).
ReplyDelete@foodjunkPoor quality cocoa will make it taste sour - but it's a little different from bitter. What brand was yours? What did the storm trooper think?
ReplyDelete@Hannah Ah, I'd send it to you, but I did, of course, eat it all.
ReplyDeleteMmmm...dark chocolate. My sister got me this for my birthday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cacaobug/3063138877/
ReplyDeleteIt's been really interesting to taste each bar, single sourced from different countries, and taste the very different characters.
@Michelle That sounds like a great experience, Michelle. You have a very cool sister.
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