Teuscher: 77% Cacao Bar

I’ve finally worked through my backlog of Vosges reviews after all that Vosges talk in the last week or so. A relief, right?

No. The work of a chocolate blogger is never complete. I must move along to the list of Teuscher creations to review. While I concluded the Vosges series with a relatively disappointing dark chocolate bar, my experience with Teuscher has been that they work fairly well with plain chocolates. With that high expectation in mind, I checked out their 77% cacao dark chocolate bar.

A fruity aroma, with distinct banana notes present, is accented by some coffee and vanilla.

A smooth, buttery melt makes it possible to enjoy every individual flavor as it builds: a coffee flavor, followed by some nuttiness and a bit of cranberry at the end. A tiny bit of sugar cuts through the bitterness of the bar, and the overall effect is a pleasing dark chocolate bar.

Dark chocolate: who makes the best stuff?

Vosges: Dominican Dark Bar

Another plain Vosges bar was sitting right next to that plain Dominican Milk bar that I discussed yesterday. It was…wait for it…the Dominican Dark bar.

This 74% bar is also made from Criollo and Trinitario beans from the Dominican Republic; in this case, the dominant fruit in the aroma is cherry. A very subtle coffee aroma accompanies it.

Now that cherry aroma doesn’t carry over to the flavor, which is bitter with hints of sour fruit, notably grapefruit. This sour flavor is a bit overwhelming, and the texture is a tiny bit waxy though generally smooth. It was disappointing after my experience with the Dominican Milk bar, and I’ll probably stick to better dark chocolate Vosges creations, like the gingerbread toffee bar.

Are there any chocolatiers who you find make better milk chocolate than dark chocolate?

Vosges: Dominican Milk Bar

As I noted yesterday, Vosges is distinguished by their willingness to work nonstandard flavors into chocolate. Wasabi, people, wasabi. So imagine my surprise when I happened upon this plain deep milk chocolate bar – the Organic Dominican Milk.

The beans for this bar are sourced from the Dominican Republic, and both Criollo and Trinitario beans are used in the making of this bar.

The flavor is fairly complex for a milk chocolate bar, with an intense banana flavor hitting immediately. Cream, caramel, and vanilla all accent the banana flavor and complement the soft, creamy melt. This complex flavor tempers the sweetness of the milk chocolate, and makes this a truly enjoyable bar.

I might have been in doubt about Vosges work with plain chocolate – but not after this bar.

What is your favorite plain milk chocolate bar?

Vosges: Goji Bar

Alright. That mushroom bar by Vosges that I wrote about yesterday may have been a little out there in the flavor department, at least conceptually, if not very heavy on the mushroom flavor. But it’s what they’re known for – pushing the boundaries of sensible flavor combinations involving chocolate. Today’s bar, however, is a bit more normal: the Goji bar is a deep milk chocolate bar that hosts Tibetan Goji berries and pink Himalayan salt.

The bar has a creamy aroma with subtle fruity notes, and the base chocolate has a smooth melt with strong caramel and light cream notes.

The salt and goji berries are both well-distributed throughout the bar, resulting in a uniform tasting experience that more chocolatiers should strive to replicate.

The Goji berries are a bit tart, but are generally not noticeable aside from the slight added crunch.

Now the salt, that hits pretty soon in the melt of the bar, and is present in every bite. While this was a very enjoyable milk chocolate bar with a bit of salt for interest, a bar advertised as a Goji berry bar should, well, feature the flavor of Goji berries.

Have you had Goji berries? With or without chocolate?

Vosges: Enchanted Mushroom

Now, the Naga Mango pieces by Vosges may have not been their finest moment. But in no way does that discourage me from eating more Vosges. I mean, you can’t abandon folks who think to combine chocolate with WASABI. Or, well, ‘shrooms.

This Enchanted Mushroom Bar, which is apparently just made from non-psychedelic mushrooms, is a bit different from your average chocolate bar. Sure, there’s the 66% cacao dark chocolate. And some walnuts. But Reishi mushrooms? Yeah, not so normal.

The bar has a caramel aroma with a hint of nuttiness, and the walnut bits are well-displayed throughout the bar, adding a bit of crunch and delightful richness with their fatty edge.

The mushroom bits were also crunchy, though they were distributed in tiny little bits that made the chocolate come across as grainy. Aside from the effect on the texture, the mushroom was not evident, aside from a very slight earthy aftertaste. The good news is that this allows the pleasing coffee flavor of the chocolate, which is balanced with just a bit of added sugar, to come through. The bar isn’t offensive, but it’s not Vosges best work. Next time, I’ll just add more Habana bars to my stash and leave this one on the shelf.

Have you had chocolate and mushrooms together?

Vosges: Naga Mango

I’m kind of liking this Vosges review kick I’m on here. It almost makes up for missing their Michigan Avenue shop when I was in a meeting a mere mile away for two days. So let’s keep on going, continuing with these Vosges Naga Mango Bombalinas.

Now, the neat thing about this take on the Vosges Naga line is that it uses dark chocolate, so our vegan or otherwise dairy-free friends can enjoy it. And this time, it’s not just a bar. This time, that 62% cacao dark chocolate surrounds dried mango, and is dusted with curry powder, which adds visual interest to each piece.

The pieces aren’t Vosges best work, most notably because the mango is a bit tough.

A lot tough, actually. Tough enough that the chocolate breaks away from it, ruining the combination of chocolate, curry, and mango and forcing the consumer to eat it all in separate bits. That all said, the mango flavor is delightful – tart and sweet – it’s just that the texture makes it difficult to enjoy. It’s unfortunate, because the flavor combination has serious potential.

Have you ever eaten really tough dried fruit? What was it?

Vosges Truffles: Gianduja

When I went to the Vosges shop on Michigan Avenue in Chicago this spring, I really did pick up a lot of truffles. And I got some free truffles!

Now, let’s be fair for a minute: When you regularly drop a good deal of money on chocolate at a shop that is several hundred miles away from where you live, nothing is really “free.” But it was nice to get 1. yet another viola truffle, bringing my grand total consumption of these to four and 2. a different kind of truffle to evaluate; in this case, the gianduja truffle.

This truffle, topped with sweet caramelized hazelnuts that are crisp and nicely toasted, has a very faint creamy and nutty aroma. The creamy flavor is evident in the couverture, as is a sublte note of caramel.

The interior offers a strong nutty flavor that nearly overpowers the chocolate flavor, and is smooth and soft. So soft that, as this picture shows, the couverture breaks away from the interior. The flavor is pleasing but not adventurous (no wasabi or lemongrass here), and I’d likely steer away from this truffle in favor of other more exotic Vosges treats.

Am I the only one who gets angry when truffles crumble? (probably)