Sometimes it isn’t that easy being an International Chocablogger. Take, for instance, my recent visit to Kiev. As is the case with so many European countries, there are kiosks on the streets which sell cigarettes, sweets, alcohol and foodstuffs. The difference here was that they were sealed AND attended by non-English speakers. Having no command whatsoever of Ukranian, I was reduced to trying to point at various products in an attempt to purchase a small selection of what was available.
This box of twelve Espresso flavoured ‘tablets’ are manufactured by Kraft/Jacobs, and I’m afraid that beyond the fact that they contain 6% coffee, I can only guess at the cocoa content. There is a “75%” somewhere in the ingredients list, but the three languages it was printed in were all Cyrillic, and so I’m at a bit of a loss to translate.
Anyway, as soon as I opened the box, slid out the gold foil wrapped tray and tore it open, I was immediately informed that these were indeed coffee chocolates. The rich, dark aromas of coffee and chocolate were only to eager to introduce themselves!
When it came to tasting these little oblongs, I was impressed with the first taste. A good, strong chocolate taste backed up with a rich, deep coffee flavour. The centre of each chocolate was made up of a soft paste which wasn’t very sweet at all, and delivered a healthy belt of coffee.
How unfortunate then that my taste experience should end with what can only be described as instant coffee granules loose in my mouth. Yes, as the filling melted away I found that I was left with a multitude of small grains of coffee flavoured something, and instant coffee granules is about the best way of describing them. As someone who hasn’t partaken of a cup of ‘instant’ for a good few years, I found myself wondering why on earth anyone would want to incorporate ‘pretend’ coffee into what would appear to be a premium product. Then I remembered who had made it. Kraft probably have silos full of instant coffee, and they probably just came up with a new way of shifting some of it.
A very promising start with an ultimately disappointing finish. Shame.
I’ve now officially decided that I love the 3400 Phinney Chocolate Factory range. It’s wonderful. I was curious, though, how they would handle my friend hazlenut, again worried that I wouldn’t like it so much with “crunch.”
Sure enough, this bar doesn’t have the smoothness of the Bread and Chocolate one, but is instead specked with bits of hazelnut. Actually, quite a bit of them. It almost looks like there’s more hazelnut than chocolate. As I was examining this, something struck me: oh, that’s right, it’s milk chocolate. Would the milk match up to the dark?
To tell you the truth, I’m still not sure on that one. The chocolate is a more minor taste, so it’s hard to isolate it. The hazelnut pieces take the show, with chocolate and salt and sugar working behind the scenes. I started to observe how the crunch reminded me of toffee when I spotted a honey-colored crystal. So that’s what I was chewing. You know, the larger-sized crystals they usually sell cane sugar as. Judging from the little spots of salt that jump up on your tastebuds every so often, I wouldn’t doubt that there are salt crystals in here, also. Is that supposed to be a good thing? Probably not, but it just makes this bar all the more fun.
“Fun” is amazing when it collides with “fine”. But that’s what this range seems to do. I wish more places carried them: it’s one of those “great for any occasion” chocolates. Except this time, that’s the truth, not propaganda.
My friend Ashleigh and his lovely wife Marie have recently returned from taking their two sons on a four week European holiday. Now, to you US, UK and European readers bear in mind that such a trip from Australia is a huge undertaking. Think $10,000 for the flights alone, a 30 hour journey home with your knees up under your chin and a mere 22kg weight allowance for each traveller.
Therefore, it was a real feat for them to bring over two kilograms of chocolate they’d gathered from Switzerland, Germany, France and England all the way back to South Australia. Ashleigh’s eyes gleamed with pride at his selection and Marie said, “Go on, pick some and try them out.” She didn’t need to ask twice…
Cote d’Or is a French brand and the ‘Degustation Sesame Noir 70%’ was chosen because it seemed so unusual. Sesame often ends up in a paste or crammed into a health bar, and this was neither of those two unappetising options. Besides, isn’t degustation normally associated with picking the right wine to go with the right meal?
Now I’ve taken the liberty of taking a photo of it alongside the curiously named Schwarze Herren Schokolade….Pour Messeurs. Roughly translated (and I’m trusting Ashleigh here) it means Black Chocolate for Men but, as he points out, it is a combination of both German and French. I suspect, as in the UK Yorkies advertisements or Solo drinks here in Australia, they’re aiming for the – Are you Man Enough for Really Dark Chocolate? market, but please feel free to set me straight if that’s incorrect.
Back to the 70% dark with sesame. As you can see, for several thousand kilometres of travel secreted in suitcases, the elephants have withstood the rigours pretty well and still have their trunks up.
There was a lovely cocoa whiff as the foil was ripped away which always bodes well for the eager chocolate reviewer. The sesame seeds are liberally sprinkled throughout the chocolate and are very lightly coated in fine toffee which not only adds a sugary kick in contrast to the bittersweet chocolate but also an extra crunch to enhance the burnt toastiness (yes, my wine tasting superlatives need an overhaul) of the seeds.
We all loved this one, even my karate buddies Naomi and Sarah who arrived part way through the sampling. It’s great to see chocolatiers using not only the best quality dark chocolate but also combining it with creative flavour combinations. This is really sensational stuff and goes down extremely well with freshly ground and brewed coffee (or tea, according to Marie). Cote d’Or have released their dark 70% and dark with raspberries here, but not this particular block. Hopefully they’ll rectify the situation very soon. If you’re lucky enough to have it in your neck of the woods, buy it.
Here’s another company producing raw chocolate using low temperature production and chemical-free cocoa and Agave syrup. Their production methods are similar to those of the two Emmas (‘Conscious‘ Emma and ‘Pure‘ Emma), so I was expecting something similar in the way of tastes as well.
The Mulu range consists of three different bars, Silk, Dark, and Dark with Raw Cocoa Nibs (of which I am very fond), all of which are made with Ecuadorean cacao. This particular cacao is known for it’s subtle, light flvours and heavy, bold body. The flavours tend to be very light, floral notes which can exhibit traces of coffee, vanilla and spice with virtually no bitterness.
As the company are still awaiting their packaging, I was sent one boxed bar and a couple of sample cubes of the other two types.
I decided to go for the Silk chocolate first, as it suggested a light, soft chocolate. The cubes were quite large, so I began by biting one in half. I was quite surprised at how sweet the chocolate was – not sugary sweet, but a very light, almost floral sweetness. The chocolate flavours were also very subtle, and it melted away with amazing lightness and delicacy. I found myself quickly reaching for the second square just so I could continue making notes on the flavours, which certainly lived up to the promise that Ecuadorean cacao offered. Silk indeed!
Palate refreshed, I ripped open the second sellophane bag and extracted a square of Dark. Again the softness, slightly less sweetness and a little more dark cacao flavour. The mouthfeel was extremely delicate and soft and the chocolate melted away leaving my mouth feeling fresh. No sign of overly powerful flavours or cloying textures here, and none of the grainy feel Ihad experienced with other raw chocolate.
Saving (what I imagined would be) the best for last, I approached the finished package which housed the Dark Chocolate with Cacao Nibs. Nine squares of the Dark chocolate topped off with raw Ecuadorean cacao nibs – fab!
I was immediately impressed by how well behaved the cacao nibs were – they had been corralled onto the top of each piece of chocolate in a terribly well organised fashion and showed no sign of wanting to break free. Once again the chocolate melted away very quickly, leaving a custer of cacao nibs for me to slowly chew my way through. The nibs provided more complex flavours – notes of citrus, vanilla and nuts to follow on from the much lighter flavours of the raw chocolate.
From a personal perspective I’m glad that there’s more of this stuff being made. Chocolate as health food must be high on a lot of people’s lists of great ideas anyway, so more awareness of just how good for you cacao can be can never be a bad thing. Being samples, I have no idea about pricing for Mulu’s range, and the website has yet to be completed, but it’s a pretty safe bet that it will cost a bit more than bar of Dairy Milk. If you haven’t tried raw cacao before, I can only recommend that you try and track some down.
