Vivani is an Italian-sounding brand name for a German chocolate manufacturer and I found two bars lurking in my local corner store and was keen to try them.
Their very informative website has as an English-language film clip that states that Germans are second only to the Swiss for sheer volume of chocolate eaten, averaging 8.5 kilograms a year.* Vivani are justifiably proud that their products are made from organic ingredients and they pay local growers a fair price for their cocoa beans. This second fact might go down a bit better if there was the official ‘Fair Trade’ logo on their product.
However the means used to get their hands on them, Vivani manufacture their chocolate straight from the cocoa bean (most from Ghana, I think) and use more cocoa butter so that they don’t have to include lecithin – a thickener that is often genetically-modified and most certainly not organic. Neither wrapper has anything in English, so I’m assuming that ‘vollmich schokolade mit knackerbrot und zimt’ is something to with little caramel crisps in the ‘Crisper’ bar, and ‘mit knuspriger espresso-cremefullung’ is chocolate biscuit cream. There isn’t any nutritional information on the wrapper either, so I’m content to remain ignorant about fat and sugar content; especially seeing as I ate both bars in one sitting.
Whatever the translation, they are both rather scrummy. The milk chocolate has 32% cocoa solids and is a lovely, European-style creamy version that was all too quickly eaten and enjoyed with my second cup of coffee for the morning.
To be honest, the flavours for each bar aren’t vastly different; just pleasantly sweet and crunchy with a toffee-edge to the ‘Crisper’ but with bits in it barely visible to the naked eye. There was a noticeably more creamy filling for the espresso but only the faintest hint of coffee. If blindfolded, I’d struggle to identify the differences.
Whilst they’re nothing earth-shattering, they hold their own alongside the bigger, more mainstream chocolate bars, but I’ll certainly keep my eyes open for Vivani’s more gourmet-sounding blocks.
*I’d love to see us chocabloggers surveyed as we’d be way waaaay over that amount!
Since I really enjoyed the bars from Theo’s 3400 Phinney range that I tried last year, this bar caught my eye at Pier 1. I didn’t even know they sold chocolate. Another reason to always be on the lookout. It instantly attached itself to my hand, like many other high percentage chocolate who have the potential to be either inedible or incandescent.
I’m a little confused why this bar doesn’t appear to be Fair Trade or completely organic when Theo markets itself for being Fair Trade and all the 3400 chocolates were. Anyway, this Venezuelan cocoa bar is the darkest in Theo’s Origin collection at 91%. I’m no strange to upper ranges, but the only 91% I’ve had was by E. Guittard; others have stuck to the 80’s or gone closer (or up to) 100. This bar is bigger than the 3400’s at 84 grams instead of 57, broken into six of the large rectangles this time. It isn’t quite so “mirror-shiny,” but still healthy-looking.
Theo says it “offers 91% cacao content without any of the bitterness typically associated with such a high percentage dark chocolate.” I’ve formed my own opinion on that statement. The initial hit is dusty, earthy, and yes, kind of bitter, though in a flavorful way. About halfway through, cocoa flavors come into domination like a rich, rich chocolate dessert. There’s a bit of spice in the aftertaste. The mouthfeel’s just a bit stickier, not so smooth and clean, than I like, but it works.
This is one your mouth needs tempering for. Only then is the no-bitterness quote true. I enjoyed the second piece much more, tasting only thick chocolate. By the third or fourth piece I even started reacting to it as to sweetness, enjoying the delicious moment. The flavor becomes so much a part of your mouth that cutting it off prematurely would hurt as much as cutting off your hand. I think I’m in love with a chocolate again, and Theo passes the test again.
Another raw chocolate bar, this time from Mood Foods in Cambridge. The wrapper is a bit battered because I had it stashed in the glove box of my car and only discovered it the other day.
This one is packed full of purple antioxidant power, containing powered freeze dried blueberry and Açai (pronounced as-ah-ee). Using powdered fruit rather than whole gives the chocolate a consistent flavour – there are no fruity highs or chocolatey bits here – and it’s very fruity indeed, with the blueberry being the predominant taste. It sits well with the dark chocolate flavour (this chocolate is 50% raw cocoa) which has the characteristic fast melting, smooth, clean mouthfeel.
For raw chocolate this bar is very zingy. The underlying cocoa flavours are topped by a very bright, tingling citrus note from the berries. The finish is definitely more cocoa than fruit with the blueberry and acai providing a palate-cleansing climax to a soft, rich mouthful.
I liked this enough to be interested in trying some more. Next time I pass a health food shop I shall be keeping an eye out for more Mood Foods bars (particularly the banana and hemp seed one).
According to the 574 pages of PR bumf that came with these six chocolates, “Ooh La La Chocolaterie was founded in 2007 by professional chocolatier, Antonia Corp.”
Which is nice. But unfortunately, after having spent several hours reading through reams of marketing nonsense, I discovered that they had neglected to tell me what the chocolates they had sent me actually are. Sure, they’re pretty, but that’s not really enough to base a review on.
Fortunately, after several weeks negotiations with the PR company, 947 email exchanges, several high level meetings and a top secret prisoner exchange, I managed to get the details out of them. So what we have here is:
- Spiced Chai
- Chilli and passion fruit
- Sherry-soaked raisin
- Pistachio
- Ginger caramel
- Cranberry and amaretto
… which apparently is part of the ‘Christmas Collection’. Quite why Ms Corp is promoting fresh, handmade Christmas chocolates in August, I don’t don’t know. I can only assume that it’s another part of the PR blitz – trying to get us bloggers to write about them in plenty of time.
Thankfully, the chocolates themselves are all pretty good – at £5.50 for a box of six chocolates, they need to be! The flavours all work together quite nicely, but there isn’t really anything hugely exciting. There’s a little bit of spice, but nothing too strong. The spiced chai and ginger chocs would have to be my favourites here, with the sherry and raisin coming bottom – the flavours immediately brought back memories of cheap 1970s chocolate liqueurs – not really my thing.
I did have a slight issue with the textures of the fillings. They are smooth, but just too thick to be luxurious. If I’m paying nearly £1 per chocolate, I really want a softer, silkier texture than anything in this selection provides.
At the end of the day, this is an interesting little box of chocolates. The flavours are pleasing, but the texture and finish isn’t up to the level it needs to be at this price point.
