Review: Endangered Species: Supreme Dark

Lindy's Rating: 8.0 (previously ***)

Richard's Rating: 5.5 (previously **)

chocolate maker Endangered Species bar Supreme Dark region (unknown) plantation (blend) cacao trees (unknown) year (unknown) size 85g ~ 3.0oz cocoa solids 72% added fat cocoa butter sweetener beet sugar emulsifier soy lecithin flavoring vanilla other ingredients (none) list price $2.99

color medium-dark brown PANTONE 19-1015 Bracken texture smooth, with branch imprints and scoring aroma roast (tobacco, smoky), coconut, woody, acidic, sweet snap hard taste fruit (coconut), roast (tobacco, cocoa), sweet, nutty melt slow start, smooth to more smooth length short finish acidic, sweet coconut

UPDATE: Endangered Species has reformulated this chocolate to use cane sugar rather than beet sugar, and has renamed the bar to Natural Dark Chocolate.

Unfortunately, Lindy has been swamped with making a (hopefully final) round of revisions to her Ph.D. dissertation, so she hasn't been able to taste with me recently. I'm going to go ahead and review a few bars in her absence, and later update the reviews with her perspective when she gets to them. Note: updated February 11th, after tasting again with Lindy.

Known as Endangered Species's "chimp bar" due to the picture of the chimpanzee on the cover, Supreme Dark has 72% cocoa solids and uses beet sugar as a sweetener. The color was a medium-dark brown closest to Bracken (PANTONE 19-1015). This bar was scored into 15 pieces, each with their imprint of what appears to be a stylized sparse tree or branch.

Supreme Dark had a hard snap. Its aroma included a roast that smelled like a smoky tobacco, a tropical fruit in the form of coconut, a woody scent, a clear sweetness, and a surprising acidity.

As suggested by its aroma, the taste of this chocolate had both coconut and roast flavors, the latter of which was primarily tobacco in nature, but also contained some cocoa. Lindy noticed a generally nutty flavor. Substantial sweetness was also present.

Supreme Dark took several seconds to begin to melt, but soon became smooth. Lindy found it to be more smooth. The flavor lasted 10 to 25 seconds, solidly in the short duration. The finish was acidic to me, but Lindy was left with an aftertaste of sweet coconut.

This chocolate maker donates 10% of its net profits to organizations conserving species or habitat. The inside wrapper of the Supreme Dark provides compelling information about the plight of chimpanzees.