Cacao Sampaka Dark Chocolate Arabica Coffee

More from Barcelona based Cacao Sampaka, and this time it’s coffee flavoured, or should I say it contains coffee. It’s slightly strange to see chocolate that doesn’t have a cacao percentage listed on the packaging. There’s plenty of nutritional information and a comprehensive list of ingredients, but nothing about the beans used or how much of them went into making these two 50g slabs.

The two long, elegant looking tablets of glossy dark chocolate, each bearing the Cacao Sampaka name in capitals at the top have a certain European ‘look’ about them, but as you can see from the photo they are a little fragile. They don’t smell particularly strongly of coffee, which is possibly a good sign. Combining coffee and chocolate is one of those things that could go either way (many of us still remember ‘the coffee one’ in Revels) and if the chocolate still smells like chocolate that’s usually a positive sign.

The chocolate itself has a slightly bittersweet opening note before the coffee starts to develop. Having read Dom’s review of Sampaka’s Gin & Tonic bar, I was expecting similar small crystals of coffee flavour (and therefore a slightly grainy texture) but there was more to this chocolate. Melting a little between finger and thumb revealed what could only be tiny grains of coffee as well, so the graininess persists throughout. The actual coffee taste was quite reasonable and went well with the chocolate, but I have to say that it was all a little on the average side. The cocoa doesn’t really have much in the way of nuances, but to be honest I expected as much before I opened the package.

There really isn’t anything outstanding about this chocolate at all, other than it being one of a handful of coffee bars that achieves harmony between the two mighty beans. I suppose if you’re on some sort of coffee chocolate quest this might be of interest, but otherwise I’m going to have to say I found it fairly forgettable.

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