Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Review: Chocolove Strong Dark 70%

Richard's Rating: 6.0
chocolate maker(unknown)
barStrong Dark
region(blend)
plantation(blend)
cacao trees(unknown)
year2012
size90g ~ 3.2oz
cocoa solids70%
added fatcocoa butter
sweetenersugar
emulsifiersoy lecithin
flavoring(none)
other ingredients(none)
list priceN/A
colormedium-dark brown
PANTONE 19-1015
Bracken
appearancesmooth, glossy, scoring, adhered bits
aromaroast (smoke, coffee, cocoa), sweet (caramel), earth
snaphard
tasteroast (coffee, cocoa), nut, spice (anise, cinnamon), sweet (caramel), bitter, acidic
meltmore smooth
lengthmedium
finishbitter, somewhat acidic, somewhat astringent
Chocolove is not a bean to bar chocolate maker, and instead uses cocoa liquor from Belgium. Strong Dark was made "primarily from African cocoa beans and a small amount of Caribbean cocoa beans".

This chocolate contained 70% cocoa solids (included added cocoa butter). The other ingredients were sugar and soy lecithin.

As with all of Chocolove bars, a love poem was printed on the inside of the outer paper wrapper. In this case, that poem was an excerpt from John Donne's Elegy XVIII: Love's Progress.

Wrapped inside the inner gold foil-sided wax paper was the 90 gram bar. The lot number was 081012 and the best before date was August 2014.

The bar was scored into 18 pieces, each with the imprint of a stylized heart. The surface was smooth and glossy, with some adhered bits of chocolate. The chocolate had a medium-dark brown Bracken (PANTONE 19-1015) color.

Strong Dark had a hard snap. The aroma contained a complex roast, along with caramel sweetness and some earthiness. The roast was smoky, with scents of coffee and cocoa.

The taste began with those same roast flavors of coffee and cocoa. The middle added flavors of nut, anise, cinnamon, and the caramel sweetness from the aroma. Bitterness and some acidity were also present.

The melt was more smooth. The chocolate flavor lasted 30 to 35 seconds after the chocolate was gone, giving a medium length. The finish was bitter, somewhat acidic, and somewhat astringent.

At roughly $1.00 per ounce, Strong Dark is a bargain for a good, albeit bitter, chocolate bar. You can find it near the top of our Best Chocolate Values page.

You can purchase Chocolove Strong Dark 70% online for only $2.95 at Chocosphere.

1 comment:

  1. Readers here may be interested to know that, per the FAQ on their website, the sugar in Chocolove's non-organic bars comes from sugar beets, not cane; that would explain the omission of 'cane' on the ingredient list

    ReplyDelete