Organic Dark Chocoalte 60% from GO*DO

Well let's see if this little bar lives up to the statement written on the outside of the wrapper, "GO*DO is my moment of pleasure!" 

This is the second bar that I've reviewed from this company and I'm afraid the first bar was a particularly unpleasant encounter. I can still taste those coffee nibs which were so overpowering. Anyway enough moaning onwards and upwards!

The Packaging: The packaging is not particularly eye catching but the little cow is amusing. All the technical information about the bar is available on the back and carries the Certificate of conformity to the EU organic Regulations which defines Organic Agriculture and the foods derived from organic farming. That is a mouthful! The outer wrapper is fairly thick which protects the bar from the usual retail hazards that might befall it!

The Chocolate: This is an organic dark chocolate (60% cocoa) which has a soft, mellow tobacco aroma. The dark chocolate quickly melts and produces a delicious fruity almost milky texture in the mouth. As it has a 60% cocoa content the flavour is not particularly long lasting. But it is delicious and the 35g bar is going to disappear in no time. 


To quote from Planet Organic's website, "GO*DO chocolate bars are made by a fifth-generation Italian family in their state-of-the-art factory near the Italian Lakes. The GO*DO objective is to guarantee the best quality products, the strict adherence to the rules of organic farming and the total support of local people in their small farms in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Peru, in order to produce a totally delicious chocolate.The secret of GO*DO is the total control of all elements of production, a rarity in the chocolate world where even the most important brands buy the cocoa paste or butter from wholesalers".

GO*DO 60% Dark Organic

This is a great little bar of chocolate is 99p from Planet Organic plus postage and packing and for a 35g bar it is good value for money. It certainly is a moment of pleasure and I want more moments!


To find out more about this company click here!


To buy these little bar go to Planet Organic

Jungle Fever - Montezuma

Keeping with the Montezuma theme this weekend. We enter the jungle with just this little bar of fruit and nut to keep us going. Something I'm sure the contestants on "I'm a Celebrity Get Me out of Here" would rather be eating than those delicious grubs that are on offer.


I think you'd agree with me that the name "Jungle Fever" conjours up spice and heat, I don't think this bar is going to deliver any of these flavours or tastes. According to the packaging this bar contains, sultanas, apricots, walnuts and coconut. Which I'm sure you agree is not your usual offering when thinking about traditional fruit and nut bars.


The Packaging: Bright pink certainly catches your attention! Nothing more to say about this really. Let's not waste any more time and get on with eating the chocolate.

The Chocolate: Venezuelan milk chocolate (43% cocoa solids) has been used to make this bar so it should be powerful enough to cut through the various ingredients that have been added. There is a good cocoa smell when you open the packaging and the taste is not lost as the chocolate quickly melts on your tongue. I love the organic look and feel of this bar and the way they've just blended in the crushed nuts and sultanas. The coconut is a great alternative to the usual mix that you find in other bars. The balance between chocolate and ingredients is just right and you don't feel as if you've been short changed. I guarantee that this bar will not last long. I've made short work of it this afternoon and there goes the last piece....oh no!

Jungle Fever

Overall this is a delicious bar of chocolate that is not pretentious, apart from the name, which doesn't make sense to me but I think I know what they're trying to do? Therefore, I score this bar 8/10 for flavour and 9/10 for value for money at £2.39 when you buy a pack of 3. Order a big stack now before it snows and the postman can't make it up the path! Sundays were made for this bar or is it the other way round?


To buy this bar just click here!

Montezuma's Orange and Geranium on Dark Chocolate

All these early mornings and late nights are causing havoc with my blogging! There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day at the moment. Anyway enough of my moaning let's taste some chocolate!


Orange and Geranium certainly sounds like a weird combination and I'm sure it presented a real challenge for the guys and gals at Montezuma when some bright spark came up with this idea!


I wondered why anybody in their right mind would want to include Geranium oil in their chocolate. So, a quick search on the internet turned up a number of health benefits that can be derived from using this oil. You'll be amazed to know that it acts as an astringent to induce contractions of muscles, blood vessels and  prevents skin from hanging loose which is always good to know. It will also stop bacteria multiplying on wounds and it also acts as a deodorant. The list goes on and on but I think you get the picture that it's doing you some good, allegedly. 


The Packaging: As with all their packaging their colorful concepts have been continued through in this range of bars. Montezuma packaging is always very good and I like the bright and bold statements them make. They also like to think about the effect their packaging has on our little planet which is very Eco-friendly of them. To find out more about their Trading Fairly policy click here.

Orange & Geranium on Dark

The Chocolate: To counteract the strong floral geranium and citrus orange a 73% dark organic chocolate has been used. When you open the packaging you are hit by a strong orange aroma which hides the geranium and to some extent the cocoa. The chocolate is well tempered and passes the snap test with flying colours. This bar of chocolate reminds me of a fine wine from the French region of Alsace where the famous Gewürztraminer is produced. Those of you who have tasted this wine will know that it is highly perfumed and spicy. This is exactly what you'll experience when you taste this chocolate. The perfume of the geranium works well with the dark chocolate which just about holds up.

Overall I really enjoyed this bar of chocolate even though it was a bit unusual. I'm therefore going to score this bar 8/10 for balancing of flavours and 9/10 for price. I could not see this bar on their website but similar bars are priced at £2.39 when you buy a pack of three. 


Click here to buy similar bars.

Arricua - 72% Dark Noble Chocolate

Well after all the excitement of today's Grand Prix I need some chocolate to calm me down! Chocadores kindly sent me a bar of Arricua produced by Pamaco the famous Swiss chocolate maker. Not knowing anything about this company I did some research and discovered that Pamaco means roughly 'to melt tenderly'. When you think of Switzerland and chocolate you tend to think of Lindt rather than the little known Pamaco. According to several websites their chocolate is renowned especially for their conching process which can last up to 72 hours.


A little history lesson...In 1879 Rudolphe Lindt invented the "conching" machine, which really improved the quality of chocolate. The word conch was apparently derived from the Latin word that describes the machine's shell-like shape. His conching machine consisted of heavy granite rollers which moved backwards and forwards creating heat and subsequently developing flavours. Not only does it develop flavour but also it takes on a smooth quality, due to a reduction in size of the particles.


The Packaging: UK chocolate makers take note of this packaging! This bar is stylish and put together with the type of precision you would expect from a Swiss watch maker. It really helps to set the scene.

The Chocolate: The Arricua is made from a blend of the Criollo and Arriba cocoa beans grown in Ecuador using Pamaco legendary 72 hour long refining process. The cocoa flavour is enhanced by the intense coffee and liquorice notes. The bar itself is attractively presented with the Pamaco logo placed in the middle of the bar. Can anyone tell me why they have three owls depicted on their chocolate? The bar is beautifully tempered and the outside of the chocolate is smooth as glass. For me Pamaco is not about intense flavours. I'm finding it hard to pick out the coffee and liquorice but the smoothness is almost velvety and the flavour is subtle and long lasting. Like a Swiss banker its smooth and well heeled and everybody likes a little luxury once in a while.

This bar of chocolate is addictive as it is not overpowering and certainly does not leave the mouth dry. In terms of price this excellent bar is fairly reasonable when you consider that it is a hefty 125g which is one of the biggest bars I have seen on the market. At £4.75 for 125g this high quality bar is very reasonable when compared to the competition. Based on a 100g the price equates to £3.80.


I give this bar 8/10 for flavour, 9/10 for packaging and 9/10 for price in comparison to similar bars on the market. You also have to remember that this bar is made with Criollo beans.


To buy this bar please click here BUY NOW

70% Dark Venezuela Chuao Purist Bar

Well, that week certainly sped by and what a crazy busy week it has been! 


This is the last of the Purist bars from Hotel Chocolat that I'm featuring this year as it will take me another year to save up to buy three more! If you've seen my price survey you'll be aware that these bars are top the price charts. 


The Chocolate: No need to repeat myself about the packaging as the picture below tells you everything you need to know. However, it does make you wonder how something so expensive can be in such mediocre and simplistic packaging. Clever marketing I suppose?

According to the tasting notes provided Hotel Chocolat managed to obtain some of the most prized cocoa on earth! Criollo cocoa beans have been used to make this bar of chocolate producing mellow flavours of roasted nuts, cream and caramel, raisins and malt. For those of you new to chocolate Criollo trees are notoriously difficult to grow. Not only do they produce fewer pods containing even fewer seeds but they are more susceptible to disease. Why would anyone want to grow this seed variety? Well, the flavours and aromas that the Criollo producers are far better than those of the hardier Forastero, which accounts for more than 80% of the world's cocoa crop. 


The word "Chuao" actually refers to a small village on the north coast of Venezuela. Founded in the 16th century it was famous for its cacao plantations, producing very high quality cacao.

The aroma from this bar is certainly less intense to the Purist bar I tasted recently. However, for a 70% dark chocolate it has a certain intensity and there is a fruity acidity to the chocolate that lasts for a long time. It's also creamy and doesn't dry your mouth out which is so much more agreeable than the "With a Dash" Purist bar. I'm not picking up the nuts, caramel or malt flavours that are listed.


Overall it is a good bar of chocolate that is full of flavour. Unfortunately the price is very high and even though this is good quality chocolate £3.00 for a 35g bar is excessive. For that reason I'm going to give it 8/10 for flavour, 4/10 for price and 2/10 for packaging.


If you'd like to buy this bar click here.

Hotel Chocolat - Dash of Milk 70% PURIST Bar

This is the second of three Purist bars that I will be reviewing from Hotel Chocolat. This particular bar is from the Rabot Estate, Saint Lucia. 


The estate is owned by Hotel Chocolat and came into their ownership in April 2006. The race to find such a location came about when a member of the Hotel Chocolat Tasting Club found a book dating back to the 1920's, Cocoa & Chocolate, Their History from Plantation to Consumer. The book covered how in the 1920's it was common place for Chocolatiers to make their own chocolate from the bean and how important the region of the Caribbean was. Cocoa production almost disappeared as bananas and tourism took centre stage. The cocoa beans from this part of the world are mainly Trinitario and therefore of good quality. 


To cut a long story short Angus Thirlwell (co-founder) gained approval from the board, searched the Caribbean and found the Rabot Estate plantation in St Lucia. In May 2006 the restoration of the estate began and as they say the rest is history.


The Packaging: As with the other Purist bar I reviewed the packaging is exactly the same. Each 'tongue' of chocolate is wrapped in cellophane taped down with a long label which includes some helpful tasting notes.

The Chocolate: This is an interesting bar of chocolate and to quote the tasting notes, "Dash of Milk - a new style of chocolate midway between a classic milk and a classic dark". When you open the wrapper on this bar of chocolate you are immediately greeted with a strong tobacco and leather aroma which gives you the impression that it is going to be very dry. Usually a 90% dark chocolate will have little sugar and is likely to be dry on the pallet. So, it will be interesting to see how the milk chocolate works. The bar is beautifully tempered and has a great snap! Immediately on placing this bar on your tongue you can taste the depth to this chocolate. There is a slight bitterness which sends me on edge slightly but this is quickly lost as you hit a layer of creamy milk chocolate. 

The combination of dark and milk layers certainly helps to reduce the chalky, dryness that appears and then disappears. This dark chocolate is not for a 'beginner' as it is fairly stringent and strong in flavour. Sugar is very low down on the ingredient list!


Overall I give this bar 7/10 for presentation and flavour unfortunately for me it was just a little too strong and the dry, chalky feeling on my mouth was not encouraging me to eat more! This 35g bar will cost you £3.00 but I received a discount of 50p when I purchased 3 bars.


To see their full range connect to Hotel Chocolat

Devnaa - White Chocolate with Pistachios, Cardamom and a hint of Saffron

Devnaa is not a company that I've heard of before but I recently came across them on Twitter. At the moment, you can win a free bar of their chocolate until the end of 2010 by just following them on Twitter! A family business based in Wembley they provide a range of chocolate bars and chocolates inspired by Indian spices. Only this year Devnaa were awarded a Gold Taste Award for their chai masala milk chocolate. I'm not exactly sure where their chocolate comes from but their website information claims that they use some of the worlds finest Belgian chocolate couvertures. They cater for the Indian market especially festivals such as Diwali with their eye catching boxes of chocolates. 


The business was founded by Jay and Roopa Rawal literally from their kitchen table. To quote from their website, "Roopa’s knowledge of authentic Indian cooking has been learned from our Mum’s superb recipes and also from our Grandmother’s guidelines. Our grandmother was famous amongst her local community in Nairobi for making the best Indian sweets! We knew that if we were going to make our treats available to the rest of the world they would have to surpass all expectations people associated with Indian sweets". Both Jay and Roopa have put a lot of work into getting this business off the ground. Jay went to India to research Indian chocolates and Roopa went to the Slattery School of Excellence to learn about artisan chocolate.


Devnaa support heal which is a UK registered charity committed to providing shelter, support, education and healthcare for children in India. With each bar sold 5p is donated to heal.


The Packaging: I'd love to know where the name Devnaa actually came from as it is intriguing and I can't seem to find any reference on their website? Each of their 70g bars are wrapped in traditional foil with a colorful outer wrapper. The design on the front is distinctly 'Indian' reminding me of the beautiful henna designs you see on Indian women.

The Chocolate: The bar I'm tasting today is white chocolate with pistachios, cardamom and a hint of saffron. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to white chocolate and it is important to use one that has a high cocoa butter content. According to their packaging this bar contains cocoa solids 28% min, milk solids 22% min. Sugar is at the top of the list so I expect this bar to be very sweet which considering the market this is aimed at is probably the right approach.


The strong aroma of cardamom is the main scent that hits you when you release this bar from it's package. Both the pistachio and cardamom have been ground up and mixed into the chocolate to give a light speckle effect. The bar has been well tempered and as it quickly melts you can feel the small pieces of pistachio and cardamom on your tongue. The bar is very sweet and has slightly soapy feel. I'm pleased to say that I picked up the hint of saffron that comes through at the end. Apologies for the picture quality but the bar didn't make it through Royal Mail unscathed!

Devnaa White Chocolate Bar

This bar wasn't for me possibly due to the over use of Cardamom and the fact that it was very sweet. The bars are available from their website starting at £4.99 for two. Overall I give this bar 5/10 for presentation, price and corporate social responsibility.


If you'd like to find out more about Devnaa click here.

Chateau Civrac 2006 Ganache Grapes by Paul A Young

Christine is actually making her own chocolate creations today so it has been left to me to review Paul Young's latest creations. I'm so lucky I get all the good jobs. Christine, I have to say that though your bars are very good these little beauties are in a different league. Well, after that remark I might have to forage for my own dinner tonight and I certainly deserve to go hungry! To a professional patissiere these creations are probably fairly straight forward, if not a little fiddly? If it was left to me I'd probably find it easier to build a spaceship than to construct something like this.

About: Chateau Civrac is a vineyard based in Bordeaux run by Mark Hellyar who champions the 'slow' approach to wine making, including hand harvesting grapes and minimizing chemicals used in the wine making process. I wonder if they still squish the grapes up using their bare feet? To quote directly from the website,  "Our wine is a classic blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and malbec but made in a contemporary and honest style".

The Packaging: As always it is only about the chocolate when reviewing the marketing side of Paul's business. It's simple, straightforward and subtle. The purple ribbon just adds that touch of colour and in this case ties in nicely with the wine theme.

The Chocolate: It would be too easy to make fun of a 'bunch of grapes' theme and I promise that I'm not going to go down that route. Those over a certain age will probably remember your granny bringing out a box of liqueur chocolates at Christmas which was probably quite innovative at the time. So, I suppose this is how things have moved on, bringing fine wine together with excellent chocolate in the form of a ganache. Well I'm sorry granny I know which chocolate I'd choose. A 64% Madagascan dark chocolate has been used to create these exquisite chocolats amusants.

When you open the package there is not a hint of wine only a delicious fruit, chocolate aroma wafting up through the bag. The thinest amount of chocolate has been used to contain the ganache, producing a delicate crack as your teeth break through the chocolate casing. To obtain the best result from this chocolate I've left it out at room temperature for a few hours as it was sitting in our cold kitchen last night. I think it makes all the difference as the ganache has softened. As you bite into the ganache a rich sweet port wine taste comes oozing through and I have to say it is simply amazing.  

There is no faulting this chocolate apart from a few annoying holes where the chocolate has not run completely into the mould and therefore it get's a score of 9.5/10. But I say look beyond the holes and enjoy the flavours which are superb. At £3.95 each I can see many Christmas trees decked out with these lovely ornamental chocolates, just make sure they're high enough up the tree away from the dog and any small children that might investigate. When you buy them check out the Best Before date as mine were dated 27/12/2010. 


To buy these chocolates you'll need to visit Paul's shops click here for details. SHOPS 


Review posted by Richard.

Toscano Black 63% Amedei (Madagascar)

"Chocadores Gourmet Chocolate" or "Chocadores" for short, is a great name for a website, it has such a fun and slightly operatic feel about it. The name really conjours up what I think about chocolate and has already put me in a good mood to review a sample of the gourmet chocolate they provide via their website.


About: Chocadores came to fruition after the owners tasted some delicious chocolate from Artisan du Chocolat. Armed with scant knowledge of chocolate but with huge bags of enthusiasm they embarked on a journey to discover the world of fine chocolate. Their mission is to bring some of the finest and purest chocolate to our attention. Not only do they want to bring excellent chocolate to the fore but they also want to ensure traceability and sustainability is high up on the producers list of responsibilities. 
They have set 5 key criteria that the chocolate must meet before it will go on sale via their website, as follows:

• Have an ethical/fair trading policy in place
• Use of only real ingredients (no additives, artificial flavourings)
• True provenance must be demonstrated on products
• Cocoa beans sourced from sustainable plantations (non African)
• The finest beans to be used in production (Criollo, Trinitario and sustainable Forastero)

There are a wide variety of products to choose from Chocolate Selection Boxes, Chocolate Bars, Chocolate Buttons and even Chocolate Gift Sets. Chocolatiers featured on their site include Amedei, Artisan du Chocolat, Auberge du Chocolat, El Ceibo (this is a favorite of mine), Pamaco and the list goes on!

Ok, let's get down to tasting this bar of chocolate. 

The Packaging: I would describe this as typically Italian, very stylish, smooth and sophisticated! A lovely red package with the Amedei logo emblazoned in black, on the inside there is lots of information about Amedei and the chocolate you're about to try. The chocolate is encased in a yellow foil jacket to keep the chocolate in tip top condition.

The Chocolate: The 'Tuscan Blacks' are a blend of three different cocoa beans with varying cocoa % exclusively selected by Amedei. This particular chocolate has a 63% cocoa content. The chocolate is perfectly tempered and has a good 'snap' as you break into it. It is a very acceptable and agreeable chocolate but it's not going to set the world on fire. It does not have the intensity of single origin dark chocolates but it is certainly smooth, creamy and slightly sweet. There are definite fruity tones, a hint of tobacco but no bitterness and the flavour lasts.

Toscano Black 63

Overall I give this bar of chocolate a score of 7/10 for balance, flavour and ethical policy. If you're looking to break into dark chocolate, no pun intended, this is a good place to start. This bar is available from Chocadores at £4.25 for a 50g bar plus postage and packing. 


To purchase this bar now click here, Chocadores

Melt Bar - SEA SALT

Melt Chocolates have been at the top of my shopping list for sometime and I couldn't resist spending a mind blowing £6.50 on this 90g bar when visiting Chocolate Unwrapped!

About Melt: Louise Nason is the founder of Melt which she started in 2006. Chocolate seems to have been in her life since she was just knee high to a grasshopper. From an early age Louise was always baking, especially if the recipe included chocolate. Having become a mum Louise made a monumental career change and decided to set up her own chocolate boutique and 6 months later her first shop opened! 

Louise is supported by Head Chocolatier Chikako Watanabe. Their website has a great feel and is filled with some fantastic images and information. Melt's boutique is located in the heart of Notting Hill at 59 Ledbury Road, near Westbourne Grove. They also have a concession at Selfridges in Oxford Street and you can also find them in Wholefoods on Kensington High Street and Lidgates in Holland Park Avenue. Some very select addresses! 

I was interested to read about where they sourced their chocolate and it seems that they went to some considerable length to locate the very best cocoa. They haven't gone to the big producers, far from it, they've gone to the micro-cocoa producers that are fundamentally focused on making only the very best chocolate. For example, Mott, based in Grenada has developed his own chocolate factory over many years to form the Grenada Organic Farmers Cocoa Co-op. They've also gone to places you wouldn't even consider such as chocolate producer Art Pollard, located high in Utah's Wasatch Mountain range in the heart of the Rockies. To ensure great quality they've sourced a single origin chocolate from the department of Santander, Colombia. The cocoa from this region closely resembles those of the Criollo beans in Venezuela.

The Packaging: I haven't been to Melt's shop but you can tell from the packaging that quality is high up on their agenda. As always seems to be the case 'simplicity' wins through. I like the way they've wrapped the bar in waxed paper which is very tactile and makes refreshing change to silver foil or cellophane. There is plenty of information on the back of the box with useful tasting notes.

The Chocolate: According to the back of the box this milk chocolate has a 38% cocoa content and an ingredient that I've never seen in chocolate before, barley malt extract. What is this chocolate going to taste like, I ask myself? I'm not looking forward to tasting this bar of chocolate. 'Have faith in the chocolate maker', I say to myself as I break off the first chunk. Well, before I do that let's just take in the aroma. Wow! This is chocolate heaven, it is so rich, familiar and sweet. I've followed the instructions to the letter and placed a big square of chocolate on my tongue. The salt is embedded in the bottom of the bar so your tongue picks out the rough Maldon salt immediately. Note Maldon Salt is not as caustic as normal table salt. As the gorgeous chocolate melts and you roll it around your mouth you pick up traces of salt which blends in perfectly with the sweet, sweet cocoa.

This is a lovely bar of chocolate and I can't fault it but at £6.50 (this was the price at Chocolate Unwrapped) was hefty for a 90g bar. This is why I'm going to give it 9/10. If you buy directly from their website prices start from £6.80 but if you live in Notting Hill £6.80 isn't going to break the bank. Put this on your Christmas list and cross your fingers that Father Christmas will remember!

I couldn't find this bar on their site but there are plenty more to choose from. If you'd like to explore their full range of bars click here MELT

3 Bee Bar Set - Rococo

Well we have a hot little threesome to review today from Rococo. Included in the Rococo Bee Bar range is an Organic Dark Chilli Pepper, Organic Milk 37% Cocoa and Organic Dark Earl Grey Tea.


The Packaging: As always their packaging never seems to date and is always simple but effective. The three bars have been enclosed in a clear plastic box and tied off with a blue ribbon which looks very twee and will make a fantastic present for someone.

The Chocolates: 
Organic Dark Earl Grey Tea - I'm not a tea drinker so this is going to be interesting. There is a fantastic aroma coming from this bar and if you shut your eyes you can almost see 'the ladies' drinking their tea from fine bone china cups. It is a heavenly smell even for a non-tea drinker. The name Earl Grey was given to teas that contained oil or bergamot which is a citrus fruit. I really thought this chocolate was going to be offensive but it's got a great flavour and the tea works really well with the chocolate.

Organic Dark - Early Grey Tea

Organic Dark Chilli Pepper - I'm not sure if this bar has been packaged properly as it is minus the foil? Each of the other bars have been wrapped in foil. This has given the chocolate a strange 'paper' flavour which you can taste right through to the end. When you first smell this bar you immediately get a rich aroma of tobacco. It's really startling! The chilli heat is not overpowering and it certainly has a little kick!

Organic Dark - Chilli Pepper

Organic Milk 37% Cocoa - The aroma is not particularly strong but this is a rich, sweet, creamy velvety smooth chocolate. I've already finished half of the bar and for me it's all over too quickly. This particular chocolate is a blend of beans from the Grococo farm in Grenada.

Organic Milk - 37% Cocoa

I purchased this little gift pack the Rococo shop in Marylebone High Street for £4.95 which is reasonable considering they've done all the hard work for you, all you have to do is wrap it! Alternatively you can buy each bar for £1.25.


Overall I give this mini selection or Organic bars 7/10 for a quirky mix of flavours, excellent presentation and just good chocolate. The finish is not excellent as there are a few holes in some of the bars and the paper flavour from the Chilli bar was just strange?


To buy this chocolate gift pack click here


You might also like to read this review  Cardamom on Dark