Green & Black's: Maya Gold

With the lovely experience I had with the Green & Black’s 85% dark chocolate bar, I wasn’t about to stop sampling their offerings. Ha. As if. No, no, I moved right along to one of Green & Black's flavored bars, the Maya Gold, a 55% cacao dark chocolate bar infused with spices and orange.

The aroma of the bar is, appropriately, quite spicy. I noted some ginger and a bit of orange and found it to be reminiscent of mulling spices that are abundant throughout the Christmas season. Given the intensity of the aroma, I feared a bar so spicy that the chocolate flavor was entirely obscured.

No need for fear. The spice is pleasant and not overwhelming, though a bit aggressive near the end of the melt. The orange flavor is also immediately apparent, and is complimentary to the general citrus notes in the base chocolate. These flavors are tied together nicely with a fairly smooth melt that comes across just a bit dry towards the end. Texture aside, the flavor balance is near perfect, and this is a bar I’ll likely gravitate towards come Christmastime.

Don’t we all need more mulling spices?

Do you like the aroma of mulling spices? Or is September too early to think about that?

Green & Black's: 85% Cacao Dark

The folks at Divine Chocolate, who made that simple but nice hazelnut milk chocolate bar that I discussed yesterday, aren’t the only British company shipping their goods over to the U.S. for sale at your local grocery store. Green & Black’s also makes a wide variety of bars that you might find at your neighborhood supermarket –in fact, I spied this Green & Black’s 85% dark chocolate bar at the Giant down the street from me.

This particular bar, made from trinitario beans, has a strong vanilla aroma, which comes along with a hint of figs and banana. The texture is top-notch, with a buttery, almost creamy melt, with no hint of dryness – an impressive accomplishment for a bar with such a high cacao content.

At first, the bar is bitter with a backdrop of vanilla, but a fruity flavor develops as the chocolate melts, with a distinct banana note emerging near the end. A hint of refreshing spearmint is also evident throughout, and adds complexity to the flavor of the bar while cutting back on the bitterness. It is a well-textured bar with a balanced flavor that isn’t overwhelmingly bitter.

Now we all know what we’ll find in my shopping cart next to the zucchini and pears.

What kind of chocolate can you get from your local supermarket? Anything good?

Divine Chocolate: Hazelnut Milk Chocolate

After reviewing a bit of Hotel Chocolat last week, I was feeling inspired by British chocolate. Fortunately, several UK-based chocolatiers sell their wares here in the states. Including Divine Chocolate, which made this lovely Hazelnut Milk Chocolate bar.

The bar is made with beans from Kuapa Kokoo, a cooperative of farmers in Ghana, and includes a scant 27% cocoa solids.

The aroma is mild, and is generally creamy and nutty with a slight caramel undertone. The bits of hazelnut are nicely roasted and chopped, and are well-distributed throughout the bar to facilitate slow, uniform enjoyment of the bar.

Those hazelnuts are a crunchy contrast to the soft milk chocolate, which is sweet and milky; a bit of salting of the hazelnuts would have cut through the sugar a bit and made this bar a little more enjoyable. It’s a pleasing, but not complex, bar. And it’s one you can pick up at several higher-end grocery stores; this accessibility is nice.

What’s your favorite nut to eat with milk chocolate?

Christopher Elbow: Truffle Sample Day

This may be the last time you see a photo of this sign, which alerts passers by to the happiest place in DC, Biagio Fine Chocolate.

Fear not; I’ll still be returning to the same space to sample and purchase massive quantities of outstanding chocolate. I suspect that a new sign will be in place, as the name of this wonderful establishment will be change to Cocova effective September 17.

One last hurrah before that name change, though: Friday's Christopher Elbow truffle sample day with Mr. Elbow himself in attendance.

Another guest of honor was Marsea, who came to help me decide which truffles were best.

We had quite the assortment to examine.

Our favorites were the Blackcurrant, as Marsea enjoyed the contrast of the fruit pate and I was impressed with the notable but not overwhelming tart flavor of the blackcurrant, and the Brown Butter Molasses, which tasted like cookie dough in truffle form. We also enjoyed the Fleur de Sel Turtle, which had a soft caramel interior and just a hint of salt to contrast the sweet caramel.

I may or may not deplete Biagio/Cocova of their entire supply of the brown butter molasses truffles. Mr. Elbow may need to up the production rate. Get yours before I eat your share.

Have you ever seen a chocolatier in person? Who was it?

Hotel Chocolat: 65% Cacao Rabot Estate

My package from Natalie, packed to the gills with Hotel Chocolat goodies, was pretty extensive, but I’ve finally worked my way through it and have one more piece to review. This Hotel Chocolat 65% cacao bar, made with cacao from the Rabot Estate in Saint Lucia.

Now, while the bar didn’t arrive in great condition, I attribute that to trans-Atlantic shipping rather than Hotel Chocolat. These things happen. Fortunately, despite the abuse the packaging took in its travels, the aroma of the bar wasn’t compromised, and featured red fruits and a subtle woody note.

The bar is a bit dry, though it offers a slow melt to allow for full appreciation of the flavor notes. An earthy flavor comes forward immediately, with red fruits emerging later. Just a pinch of sugar is added to subdue the flavor intensity, and the bar is neither bitter nor sweet. It is a fairly balanced bar, but I had difficulty getting past the dry texture to fully appreciate the flavor.

Have you ever had chocolate with a pleasing flavor but less-than-excellent texture?

Hotel Chocolat: Fruit and Nut Bar

Natalie sure sent over quite a bit of chocolate from the UK. Hence it has taken me so long to review all of it. No complaints, just an observation. And a warning that you may be reading about chocolate that you’ll have a hard time getting your hands on if you live in the States.

Example: This Hotel Chocolat Fruit and Nut 40% Cocoa milk chocolate bar, which is only available in Boston, with spotty availability there.

This bar, which includes raisins, cranberries, hazelnuts and almonds, is chock-full of add-ins. As you can see from the bar, these add-ins are not very finely chopped and the nuts are barely roasted. The nearly-raw nuts did not meld very well with the chocolate, and, as they were not chopped, they distracted from the bar a bit.

The bar has a fruity aroma, which is unsurprising, but I was intrigued to find a distinct cherry note, as dried cherries were not part of this bar. However, the dried fruit that was part of the bar was high quality; the cranberries in particular were juicy, tart, and not at all chewy such that they meshed perfectly with the soft milk chocolate.

With all the fruits and nuts included, the bar was a tad light on the chocolate, which had a slow creamy melt and a standard caramel flavor. It meshed well with the tart flavor of the dried fruit, and a bar of the fruit and chocolate would be most enjoyable. With the large pieces of raw nuts added, it was still pleasing but not top-notch.

Do you like fruit or nuts in chocolate? Which do you like better?

Hotel Chocolat: Caramel Cheesecake

Writing about the Hotel Chocolat Summer Desserts collection reminded me of some Hotel Chocolat goodies that Natalie had sent me from the UK. Time to dig in, beginning with the caramel cheesecake pieces, which were touted as layers of firm sour cream cheesecake and super soft caramel.

The aroma is just faintly creamy, and the thin exterior shell has a bit of a caramel flavor alongside its creamy texture.

It’s unfortunately just a bit too firm for the interior, and it is difficult to nibble on this piece without the shell breaking apart and collapsing.

At least that interior is worth the crumbling shell. The sour cream layer is luscious, with a tart flavor and perhaps a hint of lemon. The caramel, which features a hint of vanilla flavor, is sweet and gooey but not runny. The overall piece includes a wonderful combination of sweet, tart and chocolate that is not quite perfect in the texture department.

Have you had cheesecake-inspired chocolates?