Monday, August 12, 2013

Chocolate at Belmont: featuring Noi Sirius 45%, Wild Ophelia Southern Hibiscus Peach, Patric "Columbia Art Bar" 70%, Jelina Chocolatier "Noir Dark" 72%, and Theo Almond Sea Salt

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.

3 comments:

  1. Nice bottom line. Well played, sir.

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  2. I'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.

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  3. And 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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