I should not be allowed on the internet.

So I tried to buy chocolate on the internet a while ago, and this happened:

WorldWideChocolate.com is a terrifying place.  In a good way.

Slitti GranCacao 90% bar.  UliMana truffles (peppermint, nib, and dark).  Lake Champlain bars (80% and peppermint crunch).  Artisan du Chocolat Java 72% bar.  Domori Arriba 70% bar.  El Rey Gran Saman 70% bar.  Chocolat Bonnat Trinite 75% bar.  Patric In-NIB-itable bar.

The Lake Champlain bars were the least fancy, which actually made me like them a lot.  Chocolat Bonnat was unsurprisingly excellent.  They are often found in very large sizes with price tags outsized even for their weight.  It's worth it.  Everything was good, though.  Except my wallet and waistline.

Bottom Line: Be careful when making internet purchases.  It's not safe out there.

Bedford Cheese Shop: Middlebury Chocolates 75% Dominican, Dick Taylor 70% Ecuador, Ritual Chocolate 75% Balao (Ecuador), Twenty-Four Blackbirds 68% Dominican, and Zoe's Chocolate Co. Raw Bar with Nibs

This was a surprise.  I got tipped off by a friend of a friend that Bedford Cheese Shop on Irving Place had a great chocolate selection.  And they did!

I had not tried any of these before, and I really stocked up.  With all the fancy, single-origin chocolates, my favorite was actually Zoe Chocolate Co.'s "The Raw Bar" with nibs.  Because it was the chocolatiest.  Obviously.

But the Dick Taylor bar was great too.  The consensus was that the Ecuadorian origins had a leg up on the Dominican origins.  We had lots of complicated things to say about these bars, but honestly, who really cares?  They were all delicious.

There was a split over whether the Ritual bar (above) was better than the Dick Taylor bar.  I had a mild preference for the Dick Taylor, but they were both excellent.

The Middlebury bar (above), had SO MUCH WRAPPING that it made the chocolate look tiny, even though it was a totally respectable quantity of chocolate.  It was good, but not quite as rich as the others.

The Twenty-Four Blackbirds bar (above, smaller than it looks) suffered from some bloom (as you can see).  As a result, it was probably the weakest of the four.  In other chocolate-offs, though, it could easily have been the best -- it was up against stiff competition and not in top form.

I did not get to try the Poco Dolce toffee, because it had dairy in it, but it seemed to go over pretty well.

Bottom Line: A great haul from a surprisingly great chocolate shop.  Or cheese shop.  Details.

Raaka "Heartbreaker" Espresso 75% and Fine & Raw Truffles again

Another day, another trip to Treehaus.  As usual, I picked up a Fine & Raw truffle bar.  I eat so many of these that it could bankrupt a small country.  There are three types -- Almond Chunky, Truffle Chunky, and Cacao & Coconut.  Truffle Chunky is my favorite, as it's the richest and chocolatiest, followed by Cacao & Coconut -- a bit much on the coconut -- and Almond Chunky -- definitely too much almond.  But all three are really incredible.  They also happen to be vegan, but it's one of those things where you keep checking the ingredients, because it is so good it is hard to believe.

Okay, so I have a confession to make.  Leila, look away.  Guys, I don't hate coffee so much anymore.  I still don't love it.  I still prefer my chocolate without it.  But I can definitely tolerate it.  I also typically prefer my beans roasted rather than raw.  But somehow Raaka's espresso bar works.  I don't think I'd take it over a good, plain 75% bar, but a coffee lover should definitely check it out.

Bottom Line: Coffee lovers should go for the Raaka espresso bar, and every human should basically subsist off the Fine & Raw truffles.

Cardullo's Gourmet Shoppe in Cambridge, MA: featuring Olive and Sinclair 75%, Fruition 70%, Vosges 65% Gingerbread Toffee, and The Tea Room Green Earl Gray 60%

During a recent trip to Boston, Kasey and I purchased three bars at Cardullo's Gourmet Shoppe:

The Olive and Sinclair bar was too fruity for me, and -- while I believe it when the label says it is stone ground -- it did not have the classic, gritty "stone ground" texture.  Kasey liked it though.  When I complained that it was too fruity, Kasey brought out a 70% Fruition bar that immediately sent me into fruitiness shock.  I had previously taken issue with their 66% bar as being too fruity, and the 70% was even more extreme.  

The Vosges Gingerbread Toffee bar was surprisingly delicious.  Kasey liked it but was not as excited as I was.  I thought the gingerbread and toffee added a nice texture and did not take away from the chocolate flavor.

The Tea Room Green Earl Gray bar was the most interesting.  You get smacked by the taste of tea and oils the moment you bite in, before even tasting the chocolate.  It was all too much for me, but Kasey clearly enjoyed it.

Bottom Line: Three interesting bars from a shop(pe) with a great selection.  As usual, I pick the Vosges bar.

The Meadow Round 3: Claudio Corallo 100%, Slitti "GranCacao" 90%, French Broad 81%, Cacao "Love Bar Patanemo Straight Up" 75%

I went to the Meadow and purchased a lot of chocolate for Leila's birthday a while back, and I gave it to her.  Then I ate it.  Anyways, I'll let her tell you about that.

Between the time I gave it to her and the time I ate it, I was feeling pretty jealous, so I went right back to the Meadow and bought some chocolate for myself:

The Claudio Corallo 100% was nice.  It fit in with my not minding Peruvian fruitiness on 100% bars, because it masks the bitterness.  It didn't stand out too much, but I enjoyed it.

Similarly, the Slitti 90% had a good, chocolatey taste, but it didn't jump out at me among other 90% bars.  I think I prefer Lindt's 90% bar, which is cheaper and more readily available.  I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

The French Broad 81% was a real winner, though.  It used raw sugar thick-grained enough to make the whole bar taste stone ground.  Nice!  I'm definitely interested in trying a broader selection of their products.

I think the best of the bunch, though, might have been the "Love Bar Patanemo Straight Up," whatever that could possibly mean, by Atlanta-based chocolatier Cacao.  It was just one of those instant, perfectly chocolatey moments.  Then, like all good things, it was gone.

Bottom Line: The Meadow's still got it, and here are four good examples.

Fearless 75% and 70% Green Tea Mint

During passover, I needed a bar without soy lecithin.  From a bodega.  In Gowanus/Park Slope.  It was an emergency.  Enter: Fearless:

I devoured this bar really quickly.  I loved it.  It tasted super chocolatey.  I discovered later that they are based in Berkeley and all their beans are sourced from Brazil, which honestly surprised me, because Brazil is usually to fruity of an origin for me.  But the 75% bar was terrific.

Later, on a Treehaus run, I spotted Fearless again.  The 70% Green Tea Mint sounded super appealing -- I love green tea and mint, after all.  It was very good, but not nearly as good as the 75%.  The green tea brought out the fruitiness of the bean a bit too much.

Which is not to say that I didn't devour it just as quickly as the 75%.

Bottom Line: Among my favorite Brazil-origin bars.  Also, I really want to be friends with that adorable, winged elephant on the package.