Blanxart 76% Dark Chocolate

Hello! I’m still alive I promise! I’m terribly sorry for the delay. I went on vacation over the holiday and it was wonderful and much needed. Shortly after that it was full swing back to work and now I am preparing to move. Yay!

Blanxart
$7.50
76% Dark Chocolate
Ingredients: Cocoa, Sugar, Cocoa Butter and Vanilla
Made in Spain

Ok so for my first bar for the new year is Blanxart 76% single origin bar with beans from Brasil. It has been a couple weeks since I had a single origin bar and I really miss them. Not that the holiday bars weren’t fun and delicious but when I opened up this bar the scent alone was almost healing. I found this bar in a local high end grocery store and boy am I glad that I tried it.

For me this bar has the perfect amount of sweetness. The texture is clean and has a great snap but I personally didn’t like how long it took for it to melt in my mouth. I accidentally left it underneath my standing monitor and the heat from it warmed up the bar which actually improved the texture for me. The bar has a strong taste of acidity in the after taste which I don’t usually like but really enjoyed in this bar.

The packaging of the bar is simple, the bar is wrapped in gold foil and then in what I believe is bio degradable paper. It was not super eye catching, but the more I handled the bar, my fondness for the paper and design grew. The paper is sturdy and really helps keep the chocolate wrapped as I nibble away at it.

Overall its earthy, warm and acidic and I have been really enjoy snacking on it. Its a great single origin bar and I think it would be a gateway bar to many others.

Would I get it again? Yes! For the price, the quality is exceptional. I would recommend you to try it!

Till the next bar,
Mimi

For more information about Blanxart, you can go here:
http://www.blanxart.com

Theo – Coconut Mint and Peppermint Stick

Theo – Coconut Mint
$4.00
45% Milk Chocolate
Ingredients: Cocoa Beans, Cane Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Milk Powder, Coconut, Ground Vanilla Bean, Peppermint Essential Oil

Theo – Peppermint Stick
$4.00
70% Dark Chocolate
Ingredients: Cocoa Beans, Cane Sugar, Brittle (Sugar, Non-GMO Corn Syrup, Cocoa Butter, Water, Salt, Baking Soda), Cocoa Butter, Ground Vanilla Bean, Peppermint Essential Oil

Made in Seattle, Washington
Organic and Fair Trade

Extremely sorry about how long this review took, but let’s get directly to it!

This week I am reviewing two bars, Theo’s Coconut Mint and their Peppermint Stick holiday bar. Chocolate and mint is one of my favorite combinations and of course so wonderful to enjoy during the holiday season. These two bars are part of the Holiday Collection from Theo this year, I reviewed their Nutcracker Brittle last time.

I opened up the Coconut Mint bar first, and oh man. The first smell was amazing, it was like smelling those Andes mints only 100 times better. Seriously, this bar smells amazing. The bar has coconut flakes as well as coconut oil and it gives the bar a slight chewy texture and a dull snap. The coconut flavor isn’t overwhelming, but you can taste the milk powder a bit. The taste lingers and personally I found it very sweet, a little goes a long way. Like the Nutcracker Brittle both bars has an acidity to the chocolate.

Opening up the Peppermint Stick was lovely as well, it smells bittersweet and strongly of peppermint. The peppermint brittle gave the bar a nice crunch and crystallized texture. Personally I prefer the texture of the Peppermint Stick over the Coconut Mint but that is my own personal preference. I think overall I liked the Peppermint Stick over the Coconut Mint but I also prefer dark chocolate over milk.

The packing design for the holiday set is so charming. The little icons and color scheme for each bar really makes you want to buy all four, I’m sad I didn’t get to try the Gingerbread Spice bar.

Both bars would be great stocking stuffers for the mint chocolate lovers in your life and also would be great host/hostess gifts. Would I get these bars again? Maybe, I’m really glad I got to try them but I don’t know if I’m totally head over heals in love with them. But I recommend you trying it out. Theo makes a wide variety of chocolate flavor combinations and their chocolate is fair trade and organic, yay!

 

Till the next bar,

Mimi

Theo – Nutcracker Brittle

Theo – Nutcracker Brittle
$4.00
70% Dark Chocolate
Ingredients: Cocoa Beans, Cane Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Brittle (Sugar, Non-GMO Corn Syrup, Cocoa Butter, Water, Salt, Baking Soda) Almonds, Hazelnuts, Ground Vanilla Bean.
Made in Seattle, Washington
Organic and Fair Trade

Happy holiday season guys! For me Christmas is in the air and I absolutely love it. Sorry I’m a little late on this review, work has been busy. This week’s bar is the holiday bar from Theo, their Nutcracker Brittle bar. Last week I bought three out of the four Holiday Bars from Theo and I’ll try to review another one of their bars in a couple days.

I always feel good buying Theo’s chocolate because their bars are fair trade, organic and non gmo, the trifecta of good purchases. So when I first saw them on Theo’s instagram account I knew I had to try it! This bar is great for the holiday season, the chocolate is fruity and has a slight acidity to it and the almond and hazelnut brittle pieces give the bar a great texture. A must for any who love nuts with their chocolate. I brought this bar into work and people loved trying it. It’s a fun bar and would be a great stocking stuffer.

The packaging for this bar is ridiculously cute. It’s festive with simple illustrations and added red foil. There’s even a printed to and from label on the back, which is such a great touch. I also really like the typeface they used for the packaging, it’s simple and neutral.

Would I get this bar again? Maybe not, I have my favorites from Theo and while this one is good it’s just not one of my favorites. I would recommend you getting this bar if you like nuts in your chocolate or you like your dark chocolate with some acidity to it.

Which bar should I try next? The Coconut Mint Milk Chocolate or the Peppermint Stick Dark Chocolate? Help me decide!

Till the next bar,
Mimi

Xocolatl de Davíd – Jacobsen Sea Salt

Xocolatl de Davíd – Jacobsen Sea Salt
$9.00
72% Ecuador Dark Chocolate
Ingredients: Cocoa mass, cococa butter, sugar, vanilla, Oregon sea salt (Jacobsen Sea Salt)
Made in Portland Oregon

Hello everyone! This week’s bar is Xocolatl de Davíd’s 72% Ecuador dark chocolate bar with Jacobsen Sea Salt! Again a Portland bar and my first bar from Xocolatl de Davíd and it certainly won’t be my last. Besides bars Xocolatl makes caramels, truffles, spreads and confections like their Raleign bar. So much wonderfulness, so little time! Be sure to go to their site and check them out. Also if you have any favorites from them you would like to recommend please let me know down in the comment section!

I love that this blog has given me the opportunity to buy really nice chocolate I normally would be hesitant to buy and try. Given that idea I should probably start a blog on wine and cheese.

When you first taste the bar the sea salt hits you like a wonderful surprise. Jacobsen Sea Salt prides themselves for their clean crisp taste and you can taste it in the bar. I’ve had other bars with sea salt in them and they were mostly all lovely, but this bar is different. The bar is fantastic and their use of sea salt is amazingly fantastic. Not only does it enhance the flavor of the chocolate but the sea salt also creates this slightly flaky texture within the bar. The chocolate is very smooth and solid, it was tempered beautifully. It has a strong clean snap and with the added sea salt the texture has an added level of depth making the bar feel also delicate.

I love when a dark bar taste creamy and this bar does this wonderfully. As mentioned before the bar snaps beautifully but it also melts fairly quickly. It could be that its a lot warmer in my house cause the weather has been really cold. The aftertaste is bittersweet with a faint aroma of coffee that lingers just a little.

As for their packaging, its equally wonderfully. I love the stock they used for the packaging, its nice and sturdy and the way its folded is so cute. Like opening an important package its folded like a envelope and finished with a long seal that carries from the front wrapped over the top and along the back.

Would I get this bar again? Yes! But after I try all of Xocolatl de Davíd bars, and the their truffles, and the caramels and well everything they have to offer! Go check them out, fill stocking with their chocolate, go go go!

If you guys have any chocolate recommendations please let me know!

Till the next bar,

Mimi

http://www.xocolatldedavid.com

http://jacobsensalt.com

Cocanu – Romulus Remus

Cocanu – Romulus Remus
$5.00
68% Dark Chocolate with Coffee Nibs
Ingredients: Cacao, Coffee, Sugar

My first Cocanu chocolate bar and what a great bar to start with! I have seen these bars at Cacao all the time but for some reason never picked one up. Their collection is so beautiful, maybe I felt I could never buy just one alone.

The Romulus Remus is a great bar for coffee lovers. Open it up and break off a small piece, chew it or let it melt its going to be lovely. Theres a smoky, almost tobacco flavor that first hits you and then it turns into this amazing coffee aroma. The chocolate isn’t very sweet at all and the coffee really brings out the bittersweetness of the chocolate. It’s probably for the best that their bar isn’t very big, I would be up for days, I’m a little bit of a caffeine lightweight. This is way better than any chocolate covered espresso beans I have ever tasted but that’s also probably because I always thought the beans were too overpowering and not enough chocolate. Here both coffee and chocolate compliment each other perfectly.

Now look at their packaging, how lovely is this?! You have beautiful stock folded in a delicate way and a wax seal to keep it all together. The way the packing is folded and the size of it reminds me of how I used to fold notes in school to pass them along to my friends. Like the Woodblock bar I love the size of the bar itself. This bar is a lot easier to break off in pieces or just take little bites of. It’s like a little present to yourself for the day.

Cocanu does really interesting pairing with their chocolates. Their Moonwalk bar has dark chocolate, cacao nibs and pop rocks… I know which one of their next bars I’m trying next. If you have any suggestions on which of their bars I should try next leave a comment below. Their wide range of fascinating flavors makes me want to buy each one of their bars and host a Cocanu tasting party for my next shindig.

They also now offer candied cacao called Craque, I’ll provide a link below. It’s made with cane sugar from Brazil and Jacobsen’s salt from Oregon (yay!). Can you imagine how amazing it would be to make cookies with these or even to top a really lovely ice cream sunday?

Would I get this bar again? Yes, yes, yes! I’m probably going to pick up a few more of these for the coffee lovers in my life. I highly recommend it and Cocanu, looking forward to trying more of your wonderful whimsical chocolate.

Till the next bar,
Mimi

Cocanu
Cocanu – Craque

Woodblock Chocolate – Salt

Woodblock Chocolate – Salt
$4.00
70% Dark Chocolate
Rating: 3/5
Ingredients:  Cacao, cane sugar and sea salt

Today I’ll be reviewing this cute little bar from Woodblock Chocolate from my city of resident, Portland Oregon! You can find this bar all over Portland and I have tried this bar before but I need to do another tasting of it (for science of course). This bar is also my go to as gifts to friends when they were having a bad day; it just feels like a little present.

So this is a little block of chocolate, perfect for one person or sharing it with someone. I personally liked the fact that I can bite off a small piece slowly making the bar last about the whole day. The bar itself is super smooth and shiny, I could almost make see my reflection on the bar when I first opened it.

Since the bar is pretty thick the snap is a little dull. I suggest you cut it into smaller pieces with a knife if you don’t want to bite bits of it off. The bar is not very sweet; the salt really brings out the bitter sweetness of the bar. It has a slight acidity to it and a milky aftertaste that lingers for a while. I bit off the bar in tiny pieces so it melted it fairly quickly in my mouth but the after taste that linger is lovely so I didn’t really felt the need for another bite right away.

Again, I love the size of this bar. It would be great as stocking stuffers or a for a gift basket. Their packaging is simple and very welcoming. The bar is wrapped in a thick textured stock. It’s not pretentious it’s just a bar of chocolate waiting to be enjoyed. Their type choices are fantastic, somewhat timey and industrial while still being friendly.

Would I get this bar again? Yes! My friends might see them in their stockings this year for Christmas.

Till the next bar!
– Mimi

Dandelion Chocolate – Butuo Liberia

$10.00
70% Dark Chocolate
Rating: 4.5/5
Ingredients: Cocoa beans and cane sugar
Soy, Dairy and Gluten Free

This week’s bar is the amazing 70% Butuo, Liberia bar from Dandelion Chocolate. I love, love, love this bar, everything from the packaging, to the chocolate, to Dandelion Chocolate themselves is fantastic. So, lets get started!

I have never opened a bar chocolate so carefully before. I opened it up like it was a romantic letter, really slow and unsure what was waiting inside. To open it I grabbed a kitchen knife and ran it slowly under the seal.  All of Dandelion Chocolate’s wrapping paper is handmade from a garment factor in India. Each bar has a different pattern with very simple and clean branding that makes their whole product line something to be cherished. Their logo is pressed in luxurious warm gold on a cream colored label. The copy is printed in an autumn brown that compliments the gold so perfectly and to finish it off the type of the bar is printed in a slight magenta red only adding to the warmth of this bar. On the back the wonderful branding continues. The bar has the initials of the chocolatier that made the batch, a lovely touch. It is also wrapped in the nicest foil I have ever seen a chocolate bar in. I’m absolutely serious about this foil. It reminds of tin and of little Christmas ornaments, its sturdy and shiny and I want to save the foil and make a bunch of gold foil cranes with it.

Now onto the chocolate. This two-ingredient bar is delicious, its just cocoa beans and cane sugar but the beans must be some sort of magical beans because I almost ate over half of it in my first tasting. I usually like to try a little bit of the bar, write some notes and then try it again later but with this bar I had difficulties stopping. The bar is a dark brown color and has a great snap when you break off the little pieces. You can hold the chocolate in your hand without worrying its going to melt right away. The chocolate is very smooth in its texture and taste. Its not a bar with fruity undertones, it consists of more butter and caramel tones. It’s so creamy, it’s like having a piece of milk chocolate without all the sweetness and dairy. Each piece melts really slowly in your mouth, don’t rush it, just let it happen. It leaves a clean finish that lingers for a couple minutes till your ready for the next piece. This bar is meant to be enjoyed and I’m all for sharing my chocolate with others because I love seeing others enjoy chocolate, but this one, is mine. It’s entirely mine; I do not want to share it. Dandelion Chocolate takes enormous pride in their meticulous process and it shows in their final product.

This chocolate is delicious but it also makes me feel good. The reason? The beans used in the Butuo, Liberia bar are from the Liberation Cacao co-op. The co-op is a collective that rehabilitates former child soldiers from the Liberian Civil War who are now adults and trains them to be cacao farmer.

From Liberation Cacao’s website:
By 2018, it is our goal to employ full-time, paying living wages, more than 1,500 former child soldiers across
80-plus reconditioned farms in Liberia. Our efforts to rebuild cocoa production in Liberia have begun to attract crucial support and guidance from organizations such as ACDI/VOCA, the Sustainable Agricultural Program (SAP), the Initiative for the Development of Former Child Soldiers, and the Survey, De-traumatization, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration (SDRR) program.

I am really impressed with the whole process of Dandelion Chocolate; their headquarters is located in San Francisco’s Mission District and they have a beautiful factory and café where I can only imagine lives some of the best hot and cold chocolate in the world. They offer tours of their factories, classes on chocolate and offers chocolate trips, yes, trips. I am currently saving up funds for that now.  I really wish I lived in San Francisco again (or at least can visit there for a week). If you live in San Francisco please visit them for me and make me wild with envy.

Would I get this bar again? Absolutely! I would get it in preparation of a bad day or for when I want to treat myself. I’ll also probably need to pick up another bar to actually share with other people but yes I would get this bar again many times. I can’t wait to try Dandelion’s other bars. I have links to Dandelion Chocolate as well as the Liberation Cacao Co-op below, be sure to check it out.

Till the next bar,
Mimi

Dandelion Chocolate
Liberation Cocoa

Halloween Review – Alma Chocolate

Alma Chocolate – Halloween Chocolate Bars
$3.25ea / $6 for 2
3/5
75% Dark Chocolate and Milk Chocolate Bar
Dark Chocolate Ingredients: Pure Cocoa Mass and cocoa butter
Milk Chocolate Ingredients: Cocoa Butter, whole milk powder, sugar, cocoa beans, brown sugar, barley malt, and vanilla extract.

Happy Halloween!

Was planning on reviewing a chocolate bar I bought last week but an unexpected trip to Alma Chocolate changed that (sorry mystery bar, you’re up next). This was my first time in their shop and I really wish I could have spent more time there but I had to get back to work. Next time I will pick up their signature bars but today I was feeling festive. I couldn’t help but pick up a pair of the undead, also, shiny! I also picked up something else chocolate related but I’m going to share that later!

This chocolate hit the spot, after every meal I need some form of dessert. The dark chocolate is simple, has a bitter finish and I love the luster powder on it. The milk chocolate bar was smooth and very sweet and I actually preferred the milk to the dark today. Perfectly fitting as a holiday treat to someone but I wouldn’t go out of my way to get it. I’m sure I would for Alma’s other chocolate bar.

Overall very nice and it was awesome to finally go to Alma, next time I will sit down and have their liquid chocolate drink. Yes. Liquid chocolate.

www.almachocolate.com
140 NE 28th Ave Portland Oregon 97214

Till the bar!