Review: Ghirardelli Midnight Reverie

Lindy's Rating: 5.0 (previously **)

Richard's Rating: 5.0 (previously **)

chocolate maker Ghirardelli bar Midnight Reverie™ region (unknown) plantation (blend) cacao trees (unknown) year (unknown) size 90g ~ 3.2oz cocoa solids 86% added fat cocoa butter, milk fat sweetener sugar emulsifier soy lecithin flavoring vanilla other ingredients natural flavor list price $3.95

color medium-dark brown PANTONE 19-1015 Bracken texture smooth with text and image imprints, scoring aroma roast (cocoa), hints of smoke and sweet snap medium hard taste roast (smoky, burnt toast), bitter, hint of black cherry melt slow start, less smooth length minimal-short finish somewhat bitter

Midnight Reverie™ is the second chocolate we've reviewed of the three unflavored bars in Ghirardelli's Intense Dark™ line of chocolates. It has 86% cocoa solids and two unusual ingredients: milk fat and "natural flavor". Ghirardelli also made this bar smaller than the other bars in this line, at 90 grams rather than 100. It is scored into 8 pieces (the picture above only shows 4 of them, due to the bar being broken in half).

I probably would have skipped this bar had I noticed the added ingredients before I had purchased it. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the Twilight Delight™, so it's good we were able to review this bar, too.

Midnight Reverie™ had an interesting roast aroma. While primarily that of cocoa, there were also hints of smoke and other roast scents we didn't identify. We also both smelled suggestions of sweetness we didn't expect in a chocolate with such high cocoa content.

Perhaps due to the milk fat and its higher melting point, this bar took several seconds before melting and releasing any flavor. The melt was also less smooth, which was odd given the added fat and an emulsifier. We tasted a dominating roast flavor of both smoke and burnt toast. Lindy also found it bitter and detected a hint of black cherry.

For me the length was minimal, but Lindy tasted the roast flavor a bit longer than 5 seconds, putting it just into the short duration. Both of us found the aftertaste bitter, me slightly and Lindy more so.

Our reviews of all Ghirardelli chocolates can be found here or by clicking on the Ghirardelli link under the Labels section in the right column.