Sale: World Wide Chocolate 20% Off

UPDATE September 20, 2014: this sale was extended through the end of the month.

World Wide Chocolate is again having a nearly storewide sale for 20% off chocolate from all makers other than Amedei (multi-kilogram products by Valrhona are also excluded). No minimum purchase is required.

The current offer, using coupon code sept20, runs through September 19th 30th.

Note that given the temperatures this time of year, you'll want to add warm weather packaging for $6.99 and ship via two-day or overnight air, which is relatively expensive. World Wide Chocolate ships to United States, APO (military), and FPO (diplomatic) addresses. Please see their shipping policies for additional information.

Review: Dick Taylor Ecuador Camino Verde

Richard's Rating: 7.0

chocolate maker Dick Taylor bar Ecuador Camino Verde region Ecuador plantation Camino Verde cacao trees unknown year unknown size 57g ~ 2.0oz cocoa solids 76% added fat (none) sweetener cane sugar emulsifier (none) flavoring (none) other ingredients (none) list price $8.00

color medium-dark brown PANTONE 19-1012 Dark Brown appearance imprint, smooth aroma earth (hay, burlap), spice snap hard taste roast (tea, cocoa), earth (hay), nut, fruit melt more smooth length medium finish sour, somewhat tannin

Dick Taylor made this Ecuador chocolate with cacao beans from the Camino Verde farm. The chocolate was crafted from 76% cacao beans and 24% organic cane sugar.

Inside a paper envelope, the chocolate came wrapped in gold foil-sided wax paper. The best before date was September 2014 and the batch number was 13252.

The unscored two ounce bar had Dick Taylor's intricate imprint with only some insignificant, barely detectable bubbles. The color was a medium-dark brown Dark Brown (PANTONE 19-1012). The bar had a hard snap.

The aroma smelled strongly of hay. Secondary scents included an earthy burlap and some spice.

Camino Verde had flavors of roast, earth, nut, and fruit. The roast was mostly tea with a little cocoa. The earthy flavor was primarily the dominant hay of the aroma. Nuttiness and fruit developed, but remained in the background compared with the tea roast and hay earth flavors.

The chocolate had a more smooth melt. The length was medium, with the chocolate flavor lasting 30 to 35 seconds after the chocolate was gone. The finish was sour and somewhat tannin.

Overall, it's a great bar if you like the flavors found in this chocolate. The other chocolate we've reviewed made from the high-quality Camino Verde cacao, Rogue's Balao, is even better, but costs quite a lot more.

You can purchase Ecuador Camino Verde online for $8.00 directly from Dick Taylor or from Chocolopolis. I also found it for only $7.00 at The Chocolate Clinic.

Review: The Chocolate Conspiracy Dark Bar

Richard's Rating: 6.0

chocolate maker Chocolate Conspiracy bar Dark Bar region Peru plantation blend cacao trees unknown year 2013 size 56g ~ 2.0oz cocoa solids 74% added fat cocoa butter sweetener wildflower honey emulsifier (none) flavoring (none) other ingredients (none) list price $9.00

color medium-dark brown PANTONE 19-1012 Dark Brown appearance smooth, text imprints, uneven sheen, bubbles aroma earth, spice, fruit, floral, cocoa, sweet snap medium hard taste earth, nut, spice (cinnamon), fruit, coffee, sweet (honey), acidic melt less smooth length short finish acidic, slightly sour

The Chocolate Conspiracy made several changes to their Dark Bar since we reviewed it in 2012. The cacao beans for this chocolate now come from Peru rather than Ecuador. Vanilla beans are no longer among the ingredients. The Chocolate Conspiracy has new wrappers and shapes their bars in new molds.

A.J. Wentworth still crafts his chocolate raw, with the temperature never exceeding 105°F (41°C). The 74% cocoa solids of Dark Bar were cacao beans and cocoa butter, both of which were certified organic. The 26% sweetener was unfiltered wildflower honey.

Inside an outer paper wrapper, the unscored two ounce bar came wrapped in copper-colored foil-sided wax paper. The best before date was September 12, 2014.

The bar had a smooth surface, but the sheen was uneven and there were several bubbles around the text imprints. The chocolate had a medium-dark brown Dark Brown (PANTONE 19-1012) color.

Dark Bar had a medium hard snap. The aroma contained scents of earth, spice, fruit, floral, cocoa, and sweet.

An initial earthy taste developed additional flavors of nut, cinnamon spice, fruit, coffee, and honey. The coffee flavor grew dominant. The taste was acidic.

The melt of this chocolate was less smooth, with a slightly grainy texture. The length was short, with the chocolate flavor lasting about 15-20 seconds after the chocolate was gone. The final aftertaste was acidic and slightly sour.

Overall, I preferred the prior incarnation of this chocolate, but Dark Bar remains a good choice among raw or sugar-free chocolate.

You can purchase Dark Bar for $9.00 directly from The Chocolate Conspiracy.

Sale: 20% Off at World Wide Chocolate

Through the end of August, World Wide Chocolate is having a nearly storewide sale for 20% off all chocolate makers other than Amedei.  Multi-kilogram products by Valrhona are also excluded. No minimum purchase is required.

Use coupon code AUG20 during checkout.

Note that given the temperatures this time of year, you'll want to add warm weather packaging for $6.99 and ship via two-day or overnight air, which is relatively expensive. World Wide Chocolate ships to United States, APO (military), and FPO (diplomatic) addresses. Please see their shipping policies for additional information.

Northwest Chocolate Festival Living Social Deal

An amazing deal on tickets to the Northwest Chocolate Festival (NWCF) is now available on Living Social. This year the festival runs October 3rd through 5th and has moved to the Bell Harbor conference center on the Seattle waterfront (Pier 66, 2211 Alaskan Way, Seattle, WA 98121).

Advance one day passes are regularly $25, but you can get them with this living social deal for only $15. Even better is that promocode 5off15 will bring the price down to $10!

$10 is almost certainly the lowest price you'll find to buy one-day tickets. The living social 5off15 discount code is valid through Sunday, August 24th. Regular advance price ($5 off "day of" price) full weekend and VIP passes are available on NWCF's site.

I haven't yet written about this year's event, but here's info about last year and you can read about this year on the Northwest Chocolate Festival website.

You can purchase a one-day pass for either Saturday or Sunday. Saturday tends to be more crowded. Unfortunately, the schedule of talks and workshops has not yet been posted to help you choose the day that most interests you.

Here's a direct link to the living social deal.

Review: Chocolove Strong Dark 70%

Richard's Rating: 6.0

chocolate maker (unknown) bar Strong Dark region (blend) plantation (blend) cacao trees (unknown) year 2012 size 90g ~ 3.2oz cocoa solids 70% added fat cocoa butter sweetener sugar emulsifier soy lecithin flavoring (none) other ingredients (none) list price N/A

color medium-dark brown PANTONE 19-1015 Bracken appearance smooth, glossy, scoring, adhered bits aroma roast (smoke, coffee, cocoa), sweet (caramel), earth snap hard taste roast (coffee, cocoa), nut, spice (anise, cinnamon), sweet (caramel), bitter, acidic melt more smooth length medium finish bitter, 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.

Review: Dick Taylor Dominican Finca Elvesia

Richard's Rating: 7.0

chocolate maker Dick Taylor bar Dominican Finca Elvesia region Dominican Republic plantation blend cacao trees unknown year 2013 size 57g ~ 2.0oz cocoa solids 74% added fat (none) sweetener cane sugar emulsifier (none) flavoring (none) other ingredients (none) list price $8.00

color medium brown PANTONE 19-1012 Dark Brown appearance imprint, smooth, uneven sheen aroma earth (must), roast (tobacco), dried fruit (prune) snap hard taste earth, roast (tea), fruit (plum, grapefruit, lime, raisin), sour, tannin melt more smooth length medium finish tannin, acidic, somewhat sour

U.S. bean to bar chocolate makers Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor craft chocolate in their factory in Arcata, California. Dick Taylor makes all of their unflavored chocolate from only two ingredients: cacao beans and cane sugar.

The 74% cocoa solids were entirely cacao beans. Although Dominican Finca Elvesia was not certified, both ingredients were organic.

The unscored two ounce bar came wrapped in gold foil-sided wax paper inside a paper envelope. The best before date was August 2014 and the batch number was 13246.

Even with its extremely detailed imprint, this chocolate had a smooth surface and was remarkably nearly free of bubbles. The sheen was uneven in a few spots. The chocolate had a medium brown Dark Brown (PANTONE 19-1012) color. The snap was hard.

The aroma of Dominican Finca Elvesia contained scents of musty earth, tobacco roast, and dried fruit. The dried fruit scent smelled primarily of prune.

This chocolate tasted of earth, roast, and fruit. It began primarily as earth, but the flavor of tea with strong tannin came forth fairly quickly. The fruit flavors developed more slowly, and revealed themselves as plum, raisin, and a sour citrus that seemed to be a combination of grapefruit and lime.

The melt was more smooth. The chocolate flavor lasted 35 to 40 seconds after the chocolate was gone, giving a medium length that was nearly long. The final aftertaste was tannin, acidic, and somewhat sour.

You can purchase Dominican Finca Elvesia online for $8.00 directly from Dick Taylor or for $7.49 from Caputo's.