One year ago

 
One year ago

this blog was born. 

As 2016 begins, I reflect on my year-long journey of chocolate discovery and anxiously anticipate what is to come. I had been overwhelmed at the vast variety in aisle 4A of Central Market. Last week, I again found myself in the chocolate aisle, this time at Whole Foods, in search of a last minute gift. This time, I felt comfortable there. I was confident in my ability to make a smart chocolate purchase. 

Despite the huge amount I have left to discover about the complex world of chocolate, I have come a long way in 2015. Familiarized myself with top shops, craft and bean-to-bar makers, festivals and awards, tastings, types of cacao beans, cacao growing regions, etc. When I started this blog, I knew I would never run out of things to write about. Sitting here today, I know that to be truer than ever. I have a lot of room for improvement in blog post frequency...but I certainly have not run out of bars or chocolate experiences to write about and share. 

In 2016, I will continue on this path of learning and discovery. Tasting and buying. Reading and blogging. Sharing my love of chocolate. 

With the clean slate of the New Year, I'm excited to begin introducing new features, sieries', shopping guides, giveaways etc, while I continue Power Ranking bars. Stay tuned and get excited for our 2016 journey down The Chocolate Aisle. 

Experience it with me. Evolve with me. Join me. facebook twitter instagram pinterest 

Power Rankings #5: Divine

I purchased 5 of these bars at Whole Foods in Lynnwood ($3 down from $3.99/bar). One of them (70% Dark Chocolate with Mint) I got from Santa in my stocking for Christmas.

This was an interesting brand to rate because the Dark Chocolate bars were SIGNIFICANTLY higher quality than the Milk Chocolate. Strange. And annoying because I really love milk chocolate!!!

 

1.***70% DARK CHOCOLATE with MINT - I got this bar for Christmas and it was a great bar. It was good balance of mint and chocolate. I am a little picky about that. This was refreshing but not overpowering. Great snap, also. Quality chocolate.

2.***DARK CHOCOLATE with RASPBERRIES - It’s really hard to go wrong with chocolate and raspberry in my book. This bar went beyond just raspberry flavor and had chunks of actual raspberry in it. YUM YUM!

3.**70% DARK CHOCOLATE intensely rich - This bar was a tough one to rate because it tasted great and the quality was there, but it was just not a bar that I couldn’t put down. Enjoyable enough though, just comes down to personal preferance.

4.**MILK CHOCOLATE with TOFFEE & SEA SALT - Well, the brand was going good until I got to the milk...the toffee masked some of the off taste of the poorer quality milk chocolate. Why is it so hard to make good milk chocolate?

5.*MILK CHOCOLATE seriously smooth - This was such a disappointing milk chocolate. There was such an aftertaste with this bar. So sad.

6.*DARK CHOCOLATE with GINGER & ORANGE - I couldn’t get past the ginger in this bar. It was surprisingly not actually a bad flavor combo but I could hardly taste anything else. Also, the orange bits were chunky and got stuck in my teeth. Not a fan.

So, this wasn't the best brand I've tasted thus far, but not the worst either. I'd buy a few of the bars again and stay away from the others.

CHEERS!

Power Rankings #3: Alter Eco

Because Alter Eco is a brand that makes a lot more than just chocolate, I went into these power rankings with lower expectations for quality. I was quickly proved wrong when even the bars I didn't care for had really nice flavor balance and quality (there was only one of the 8 bars that I wouldn't eat again). The box-type packaging was particularly useful in my case. (I keep eating all my bars before I get a chance to take photos.) The boxes make it impossible to tell how much chocolate is or is not there. ;) 

I purchased these bars at Whole Foods in Lynnwood, WA. They happened to be on sale when I bought them ($3, on sale from $3.99/bar). There are two bars missing from my power rankings- "Dark Brown Butter" and "Deep Dark Sea Salt." Deal with it. :)

1. ***Dark Velvet - "a touch of milk MELTY SMOOTH" - 47% cocoa - Nice snap, especially for a milkier chocolate. This one had me saying “MMMMMMMMM CHOCOLATE”. I LOVE a good quality milk and they are SO few and far between.

2. ***Dark Mint - "cool crispy mint BOLD AND BRISK" - 60% cocoa - There is something so refreshing about a good combo of mint and chocolate. MMMMMM. I started eating this bar with no intention of finishing it all. I had to stop and write this review before gobbling the whole thing up. And now I’m left with the delicious aftertaste - the true mark of quality chocolate.

3. ***Dark Cacao - "crunchy cocoa nibs BITTERSWEET BITE" - 63% cocoa - I like the crunchy of the nibs and the slight bitterness it adds to the bar. It is still plenty sweet. A great combo of bitter and sweet.

4. **Dark Quinoa - "nutty toasted quinoa LIGHT CRISPY CRUNCH" - 60% cocoa - This unique bar is clever. I am always a fan of crunchy chocolate, you can hardly tell this is quinoa. Upon reading the labels, there isn’t a significant nutritional difference between this and other similar bars, like one might assume.

5. **Dark Almond - "slow-roasted TOASTY NUT" - 60% cocoa - This is a good bar. Not great. Forgettable but pleasant. I feel like I’m beginning to sound like Simon Cowell.

6. **Dark Coconut Toffee - "butter and sea salt CRUNCHY AND TOASTED" - 47% cocoa - I am not usually a big fan of toffee...but this bar was so deliciously milk chocolatey smooth that I quite enjoyed it. There was some saltiness which was nice, but I feel like that is executed better in other bars. I would eat it again, but given a choice I’d go for the straight milk “Dark Velvet.” Sidenote - I don’t know why this brand calls all of their bars “DARK” when two of them were 47% cocoa and very milky in flavor…

7. **Dark Blackout - "bittersweet cocoa DEEP FRUITY INTENSITY" - 85% cocoa - I can definitely taste the fruitiness of the dark chocolate. It’s just not something I enjoy enough to choose. The nib bar was a much more preferable dark for me. Although, there are 10g of fiber and only 12g of sugar in an entire bar (2 servings)! A FiberOne bar only has 9g of fiber but also less sugar at 10g. All in all...pretty comparable!

8. *Dark Twist - "crystallized orange peel VIBRANT AND TANGY" - 60% cocoa - This bar has a good flavor balance with the orange. The “crystallized orange peel” chunks could have been smaller to give it a smoother feel. Some of them were big enough to get stuck in my teeth which makes me prefer Chuao for a dark chocolate orange fix. 

Have you ever had Alter Eco chocolate? What do you think of my rankings? We'll see this brand again when I move on to truffles. 

Cheers!