I went to the Belmont Stakes a while ago, and obviously I brought chocolate. And obviously my friends did too.
Here is one chocolate:
I've never been much of a fan of nuts in my chocolate. I honestly did not particularly appreciate the almonds in this bar. But I must say that I didn't really mind them too much. The chocolate was really excellent -- Theo always does a great job -- and the nuts were unobtrusive. The chocolateyness, as always, was key.
The biggest disappointed was the Noi Sirius 45% bar. Especially because I love Noi Sirius. Really, it was my fault. I saw 45% and expected milk chocolate. I tend to prefer dark to milk, but sometimes I am in the mood for milk chocolate. But here's the thing: 45% dark chocolate is way too sweet. As someone used to 90%+, this was difficult for me to eat in the way I imagine my high-percentage bars are difficult for the lay chocolate eater.
I did manage to succeed in getting one bar of milk chocolate: The Wild Ophelia Southern Hibiscus Peach bar.
It was 41% chocolate -- almost as much cacao as in the Noi Sirius -- but with the milk and peach, it had way less sugar. The peach was honestly a bit too subtle -- which may have been a blessing as this was a weird experiment -- but the bar was delicious, and we wolfed it down in about 5 seconds.
Next came the Patric Columbia Art Bar, which was just a 70% dark chocolate bar with a fancy name.
This was a solid chocolate bar -- definitely recommended -- but not as good as the Mint OMG.
Last, we went with the Jelina Chocolatier "Noir Dark" 72%. I am always dubious of companies that use high-percentage sounding names for mid-percentage bars. But good thing I did not prejudge here.
This was probably the best bar of the bunch, at least in my opinion. It was not too fancy, but had a nice rich taste. I look forward to trying more Jelina-brand bars in the future!
Bottom Line: This might not sound like the most successful haul, but if you knew how badly I did at the race track, you'd see how this was sort of the highlight of my afternoon.
Nice bottom line. Well played, sir.
ReplyDeleteI've actually tried three of the five brands you reviewed here (first three). I found all of them disappointing, if I recall correctly. Especially Sirius, but I don't remember which bar I had. As is now obvious, I don't have anything substantive to say, but I felt good about being in the know (you can be in the know even after you've forgotten what you know...knew..whatever) and wanted everyone else to know that I was in the know. So now you know.
ReplyDeleteAnd knowing is half the battle. But seriously, Theo and Noi Sirius have made my favorite 90+% and 70+% bars ever, so I definitely hold them in high regard, though I have similarly had disappointing bars from each.
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