This is another one of Stainer’s chocolate bars blended with herbs and spices (part of the same family as the White Chocolate with Madras Spice), and the ‘subtitle’ says it’s a speciality of Northern Europe. As you can see, it also comes in a beautifully illustrated box, just like it’s counterpart.
As I mentioned in my review of the alcoholic bars, most of the Stainer chocolate I’ve seen (and the majority of those currently in my possession) come in lavishly illustrated boxes, quite unlike anything I’ve seen before.
The cocoa content is a respectable 43%, and the herbs and spices in question are:
Coriander, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Ginger, Caraway, Cloves, Nutmeg and Anis.
Quite a serious amount of extra flavours there, and given that they were blended with milk rather than dark chocolate, I was curious as to whether the spices would overpower the chocolate.
The first flavours to come out are the nutmeg and cinnamon. The milk chocolate is quite rich, not entirely dissimilar to Cocopia’s Ghanaian slab in both texture and flavour, but obviously with an undercurrent of warmth and a slightly spicy tang.
The overall flavour is interesting but not electrifyingly different. Minute fragments of the herbs and spices accompany the last traces of melting chocolate, but never detract from the overall taste, which is a bit like the very disappointing M&S bar I had around Christmas time, but with a much more pleasant and subtle blend of flavours.
It’s definitely not horrible, but at the same time it didn’t have me wanting more. The combination of flavours left me wondering what the chocolate would have tasted like on it’s own. Mildly disappointing, a little odd, but still a very good milk chocolate.
Information
- Contains milk chocolate (43% cocoa solids).
- Filed under anis, caraway, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, coriander, ginger, italy, milk chocolate, nutmeg, stainer.
There I was, feet firmly planted in the Dark Side, feeling happy with my choice, secure with my tastes, minding my own business. Then all of a sudden my beady eyes fixated on the most sign most sought after and revered by chocaholics the world over. Those three magic words: Lindt on Sale.
Whilst the range of Lindt in Australia is less than what the lucky Europeans – and experts such as our Simon – regularly enjoy, I tend to pride myself on keeping tabs on what we do have available and in making sure that my taste buds get to try each one. However, I hadn’t seen this little fella on our shelves before. Lindt Wafer: milk chocolate with wafer and hazelnut cream centre. Nothing about the packaging or description leaped out at me necessarily, but it was intriguing if only because of Lindt’s worldwide reputation for never mucking things up.
Twelve squares instead of their usual ten, so there was no squabbling for that mystical fourth piece out of ten in our three person household. And the taste? Wow. This was a genuine revelation. Milk chocolate – yes it’s sweet, yes, it’s very creamy but yes it’s extremely delicious and, dare I write this, but as and more-ish as dark chocolate. The wafer filling was delicately thin and folded over via some inexplicably elegant feat of modern engineering and had a lovely crunch with a hint of toffee for that extra crispy crackle. The hazelnut cream revealed itself to the senses a few moments later, blending in expertly with the milk chocolate after the final crunch of the wafer had gone. This milk chocolate was truly superb and I never thought that things as humble and everyday as a wafer and hazelnut could be so divine.
This block is like the unsung sidekick to the superhero; the Lone Ranger’s Tonto; Batman’s Robin or Snickers’ Mr T. Despite the unassuming packaging shyly hiding behind the pistachio crème and the 70% excellence, this lovely block is just as deserving of accolades, attention and my appetite.
When I first saw this line of chocolate, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Was it just some average chocolate, parading under the Starbucks banner, for people to supplement their breakfast coffee with? I’m not a coffee drinker, so I couldn’t try and imagine how the quality of Starbucks’ coffee would transfer to coffee. So there was only one thing to do: give it a try.
It really looks quite decent. The packaging gives off an air of everyday sophistication. And the motto: “When coffee dreams, it dreams of chocolate.” Okay, I think we know who they’re targeting here: all those people who wait half an hour in line every morning to treat themselves to some Starbucks coffee. I guess that’s why they don’t bother to mention the cacao content.
All the same, the chocolate lover in me was pleased with the design of the bar. It’s coffee-colored top is covered in cacao beans growing off of their vines. Not something you find everyday. It is a little sad to break it apart, though. The chocolate also presents itself with an intoxicating smell of vanilla, which carries on into the taste. It’s enjoyable, if a little too sticky. It’s also fairly sweet, which I didn’t mind and I doubt the Starbucksers will either, though it might be too much for some palates.
But I myself sat for a while with this bar, trying to decide what I thought. I like it, and now I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s nice for under three dolllars for 85 grams. It fits its intended purpose and might even drage some newcomers to its audience. But I’ll have to try some more before I put too much faith in that last part.
This bar is the usual 47% dark blend that Lindt use for the range, but it also contains tiny crystals of sea salt. 3% to be precise.
Now you may not consider 3% to be a great deal of salt, but once you sample a piece of this chocolate, it isn’t very long before you start finding the crystals melting on your tongue.
If you’re a fan of salty caramel (think Green & Blacks or Cocopia to name but two) then this combination will be one you’ll love. The dark chocolate has already been described in detail by both myself and Dom in the Pear, Coffee, Cuba, Caramel and Mint reviews, and is a very pleasant slightly bittersweet blend. It isn’t really that dark; it doesn’t ‘snap’ (unless it’s been in the fridge) and it doesn’t have a hugely complex flavour, but it’s pleasant enough and delivers enough flavour to make it very popular.
In my conversations with various chocolatiers here and in Europe I have noticed that they tend to look down on Lindt. I suppose it must be because the company identity retains some of the ‘chocolatier’ feel whereas the reality has to be a series of huge factories churning out truckloads of chocolate bars for every country in Europe (and probably most of the world). However, they have achieved consistently high standards in terms of flavour and variety, and I suppose it’s for that reason they have maintained a very high share of the market.
Well, this is definitely one to look out for if Lindt is your thing. I found the pairing very moreish indeed.
