You can probably guess this chocolate’s unique selling point. No, it’s not the odd looking cartoon man on the box. This milk chocolate is made with buffalo milk, rather than cows’ milk. The buffalo in question comes from Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire.
Although we know where the milk comes from, somewhat annoyingly, Artisan du Chocolat have neglected to tell us anything much about the actual cocoa, so frankly that’s anyone’s guess. What I can tell you is that it’s a healthy 40% cocoa solids and 28% milk solids. It’s a 45g bar in Artisan’s standard format.
Pop a chunk into your mouth, and the first thing you notice is the texture. It’s very soft, smooth and silky, and melts quickly, coating your tongue in a very creamy milk chocolate. That flavour is a little reminiscent of Galaxy, but without being ridiculously over-sweet like Galaxy. The chocolate itself is pleasant enough, but it’s the creaminess that stays with you after the chocolate has melted.
The Artisan website helpfully says “Any fan of Buffalo mozzarella will love this bar”, which I’m not entirely sure about. I can see where they’re coming from, but really… this bar tastes nothing like mozzarella. And don’t even think about grating it on your pizza.
Fans of creamy milk chocolate will love this bar though, because it’s actually very nice indeed. It’s still a little sweet for my personal tastes, but that just means I wouldn’t eat it all at once. I’d be quite happy to nibble on the odd chunk through the day, and I might even be persuaded to share it.
This bar is available to buy on Artisan du Chocolat’s site, in their stores, but it’s 5p cheaper on the Laverstoke Park Farm site, so that would be the place to get it online.
Editor’s Note: Deanna briefly looked at this bar as part of an Original Beans selection back in 2009, but we thought it was worth looking at again now the company is more established and we’ve had a chance to meet founder.
“Original Beans uses the world’s rarest cacao beans.” That’s what it says on the tin (well, box), and I for one hadn’t had a chance to taste cacao from Bolivia before.
After reading about Original Beans’ involvement with co-ops and their tree planting scheme (one bar plants one tree) there are a few tasting notes and a list of ingredients – of which there are but three. Directly traded cacao beans, sugar and cacao butter, and as they say, that’s it! Each box also carries a unique code, which you can enter on their website to see just where your particular tree(s) have been planted.
Original Beans was founded when German conservation entrepreneur Philipp Kauffmann, a Dutch fair trade pioneer, and an American organic food marketer somehow met around five years ago. The company’s trading ethics and striving for sustainability are a result of the three founder’s own views on how heir chocolate business should be run.
Looking at the chocolate you can see that dense reddish-brown hue, which matches the deep fruity aroma it gives off. It’s only 68% cocoa, so the choice of sugar was going to be fairly crucial for the overall taste.
The tasting notes were as concise as the ingredients list – cognac, raisins, honeyed black tea. The cacao flavours are light and fruity, and the sugars do indeed give off this amazing rush of light honeyed sweetness. The slight bitterness may be compared with a light tea, but to my palate it was the combination of honey, fruit and those cacao undertones that really came out.
I loved it. It’s one of a handful of bars I have found myself rationing out. Very few other people have tried it. Like Charlie Bucket, I’m eking it out piece by piece, one nibble at a time, and based on this showing I’d be more than happy to see more Original Beans chocolate in my inbox.
I spent last Saturday afternoon exploring a few of Chelsea’s chocolate shops with a friend, something I’d previously done on my Chocolate Ecstasy Tour in October, although we visited some different shops this time. We ended up in William Curley’s dessert bar where we enjoyed some amazing cakes, and picked up a couple of items to take home.
This was my choice, a soft chocolate caramel covered in dark chocolate.
At first glance, the packaging is beautiful, but my mou does look a little like it was wrapped by someone in a hurry. The box was a little wonky, and one of the two bars inside had been wrapped in such a fashion that the end was still sticking out. A minor issue, and one that I only really noticed because of the exceptional standards William sets.
The chocolates themselves look beautiful, much as you’d expect from anything with the William Curley name on it. They’re elegant and unfussy with a simple decoration of cocoa nibs on top.
The 70% dark chocolate (William exclusively uses Amedei) is quite thin, and reveals plenty of soft, smooth chocolate caramel underneath. While not liquid, the caramel was a little softer than I had expected, but that probably says more about my expectations than the product itself.
The level of sweetness is spot on, with the dark chocolate and caramel working together to produce something that’s far, far too easy to eat in a single mouthful.
The caramel doesn’t have a huge amount of flavour though, and I think I would have preferred something like a sea-salted caramel, just to give a bit more depth. But I can’t deny that I thoroughly enjoyed this little box of goodness. I just wish it had lasted a bit longer.
These bars don’t seem to be available in William’s online store at the moment, so if you want one, you’ll have to head down to Belgravia or Richmond and pick one up in person.
Whilst wandering through World Market’s Valentine’s Day displays, my eye alighted upon this offering from Godiva. While it is a newer release, I don’t believe it is strictly a Valentine’s Day one, though the red colors do fit in well with the the theme. Besides the display, it is also worth noting the store in which I found this bar. I used to only see Godiva in their shops and at department stores; that’s no longer the case.
The increased availability I find advantageous, although some might perhaps think that it takes away Godiva’s couture feel. The case is the same with the packaging: the warm brown and red colors and images of chocolate squares and ripe strawberries are both eye-pleasing and not couture. Am I complaining? Not at all. I think this look perfectly suits the product inside: just a touch, nothing more, of the special.
The 100 gram bar is molded without flaw, each square alternately marked with Godiva lettering or the Lady Godiva herself. At 31% cacao, Godiva’s milk chocolate is very creamy, yet fresh and light. Small strawberry pieces have a texture akin to crisped rice that adds a subtle crunch to the chocolate. The strawberry flavor is just right in its intensity as well as its individuality: it tastes neither artificial nor too sweet (as far as strawberry milk chocolates go, of course).
One thing more to say: I’m not sharing.
