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

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

Marou – Tiên Giang 70%

Marou Faiseurs de Chocolate – Tien Giang 70% Single Original Dark Chocolate
$9.00
70% Dark Chocolate
4/5  
Batch number: 1225
Ingredients: Cacao, Cacao Butter and Palm Sugar
Soy, Dairy and Gluten Free

A few years ago I was researching food packaging when I stumbled about Marou Faiseurs de Chocolate. I was gawking at how beautiful their packaging was. It would be a years later till I could actually try their chocolate.

Learning that Marou is set up in Vietnam was really heartwarming for me. One of my favorite memories of Vietnam was of my family eating the little dark chocolates that were left for us during turndown service. At this resort we were staying at turndown service was twice a day (you nap a lot in Vietnam), so our opportunity for chocolate was pretty high but that didn’t stop us from grabbing a few off the maid’s cart when we walked by. My mother asked where the chocolate came from and we learned it was from a small chocolatier studio up North in Ha Noi. Luckily we were heading there and made sure to find them. I never seen anyone buy so much chocolate. We gave most of them as presents when we returned to the states but they were every where in our house. Biting into Marou’s chocolate is a reminder of that time I spent in Vietnam and the start of my love for dark chocolate.

The bar itself is beautiful, it’s a dark mocha color and cast in a simple mold with the chocolatiers’ branding. The pattern of the bar lets you break off the bar into small diagonal pieces that are perfect sizes to put into your mouth. The first bite is a satisfying dull snap that releases a wonderful bittersweet warmth throughout the month. I love how slightly sweet it is. I recommend taking a bite of the bar, chewing once or twice and then just letting the chocolate melt in your mouth. The chocolate has a slight bitter taste but offers a clean finish.

Like the chocolate I had in Vietnam the Marou bar is a dark chocolate. Personally I love dark chocolate and think this would be great to bring to party to share with other dark chocolate lovers. It would also be a great  gateway bar to those who prefer milk chocolate.

As for paring this chocolate, it would go great with a nice shot of espresso. I plan to take some with me next time I go to the coffee shop. It’s sweet taste would compliment a strong dark espresso while providing a clean finish. It also would be great made into hot chocolate with cinnamon.

As I mentioned before, their packaging is beautiful. The paper, the ink, the design, all of it is beautiful. Marou has also done limited edition runs of their chocolate for Air France and La Grande Épicerie de Paris and I’m so sad I won’t be able to get my hands on them. Its one of the first bars I go to pick up and hold when I visit Cacao, local chocolate haunting ground. Just looking at the slight shine from the gold ink makes it feel so special and a true luxury item. Their branding is simple, a blend of Vietnam and of France. A little side note about chocolate in Vietnam, the word for chocolate in Vietnamese is Sô Cô La, a phonetic spelling of the french word for chocolate, Chocolat. Like many things in Vietnam there is a french influence. The typography used reflects the typography common in Vietnam, the use of all cap characters. This style was really prominent in the Vietnam war, but their type choice really portrays elegance, quality and importance. The overall feel of the packaging is a nod to the past. You can really see that in the pattern the created for the packaging, the simple diagonal lines and the beautiful hand drawn illustrations of thte cacao plant.

I like to think the designers of the packaging, Rice Creative wanted Marou to feel familiar and yet luxurious. We all have found memories of eating sweets and as we grew up we want to relive those moments. Growing up doesn’t have to be a bad thing, what is wrong with enjoying a really nice piece of chocolate every now and then, absolutely nothing.

So. Would I buy this again? Absolutely. I’ve had their Lam Dong 74% bar before but I absolutely need to get it again to do a full review.

You can find more information about Marou Faiseurs de Chocolate and the video that started my love of their packaging and ultimately their chocolate below. Also below is the Behance link for the design agency of Rice Creative.

http://marouchocolate.com
https://www.behance.net/Rice_Creative/

 Want me to review a certain chocolate bar? Please let me know in the comment section!

Till the next bar,
Mimi