MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I never meant to get into dark chocolate too far. I’ve always liked it, but not as much as the milk. Then this diet where I quit milk chocolate for one thing. Then I read that a square of dark choc every day is good. So I saw some 95% stuff in Lidl and grabbed a bar.
All I can say is wowaweewa! Unexpected. Since tried a Montezumas 100% and a (Lidl again) Madagascan 70%
The difference between all three is massive. One side-effect of losing weight I’ve found is that it restores higher function to the taste-buds. So I’m really enjoying flavours again.
The Arriba 95% is my favourite so far. It’s bitter and smooth at first and then velvety and complex on the tooth, then it lingers, and then intensifies, building to a crescendo. I don't believe I just wrote that.
So what dark choc?
Tesco's Intense - 85%. Does the job.
I've done extensive testing of the widely available stuff - Montezuma's, Hotel Choc, Green and Blacks etc., but Lindt 70% is still my favourite.
I'm waiting for someone to tell me it's the dark chocolate equivalent of liking Stella.
I tried the 100% once and it felt like I was eating chalk (texture not the taste).
90% is about my limit but that's nice and bitter
I’m waiting for someone to tell me it’s the dark chocolate equivalent of liking Stella
🤣
Used to love Green & Blacks back in the day. Maya Gold was my favourite chocolate of all. Don’t what happened to them since, I was given a mini selection in recent years and it was rank.
Never tried Lindt dark. Am imagining it’s more like baking chocolate? Sweet? This 70% Madagascar is slightly sweet and still like a baking chocolate (albeit a nice one) compared to the 95% Arriba which is in a different league. Barely any sweetness, but loads of deep flavours.
I find anything more than 70-75% to be a bit too sharp and bitter, but I do like the Lindt one.
Green & Blacks
Was it around 2005 you stopped liking their stuff as much? When they became part of Cadbury (who promised to run them as a separate operation honest)?
Or 2010 when Kraft acquired them as part of the buyout of Cadbury?
Cooking chocolate.
Coop single origin 85% is a solid value buy.
There is a co called Original Beans you can pick up at a few supermarkets that also do some very good bars inc a Porcelana bean which is def worth a try at the upper end of the price scale.
Good thing I like about dark chocolate is you only eat a little at a time so it lasts 5x the time of milk + no palm oil bla like the old brands that have been reformulated.
Hang on..... green and blacks are part of kraft?
M+S Ecuador 72%. My personal favourite.
And here's far too much detail about it!
Ingredients: Cocoa, cane sugar, vanilla
Appearance 9/10
Colour: Medium brown
Texture: Very smooth
Mould: 5 x 2 M&S blocks
Snap: Crisp
Temp/Shine: Matte gloss
Aroma 8.5/10
Intensity(0-10): 8
Notes: Smooth refined cocoa, honeyed almonds, pansies
Quality: Smooth, refined, sweet, simple
Melt/Mouthfeel 8.5/10
Length: Long
Evenness: Even
Texture: Glossy, syrupy, honey
Quality: Refined, lightly viscous, lightly juicy
Acidity 8.5/10
Intensity(0-10): 2
Notes: Citric, orange
Quality: Fruity, equalising
Sweetness 8.5/10
Intensity(0-10): 8
Notes: Honey
Quality: Light, developed
Flavour 8.5/10
Intensity(0-10): 8
Type: Sweet
Notes: Smooth cocoa, honey biscuit, acacia honey, star anise
Quality: Archetypal, mellow, refined
Length 8.5/10
Flavours are mellow and subtle, but long making their presence known over the course of the melt, rounds come unevenly from peaks of sweet fruitiness
Finish 8.5/10
Notes: Smooth cocoa, honey biscuit, acacia honey, star anise
Quality: Bar has cocoa and honey flavours from start to end, but there’s a spicy note like star anise in the finish that lingers on after the honey fades away
Balance 9/10
Bar has very equalised levels, with a good balance, medium to firm structure provides plenty of anchoring and natural stability
Overall 8.5/10
Green & Blacks
Was it around 2005 you stopped liking their stuff as much? When they became part of Cadbury (who promised to run them as a separate operation honest)?
Or 2010 when Kraft acquired them as part of the buyout of Cadbury?
Now you say it, I can answer ‘both’. I remember being disappointed by the Maya Gold quality around early 2000’s, so I stopped buying it. I liked their milk though. Then was given a variety box a few years ago and I couldn’t stand any of it. Oily odd gak!
Good thing I like about dark chocolate is you only eat a little at a time so it lasts 5x
^ This x 100. I save my daily square for the evening. Sometimes take a small Jameson’s with it. More often a decaff coffee.
Rather these few calories and massive flavours that I absolutely relish for 10 minutes vs 30 mins absent-mindedly inhaling a 3/4 of a family-sized Fruit And Nut bar, to be left feeling smug/guilty, yet also slightly nauseous & somehow teased/unsatisfied!
Again, this is a weird discovery for me as I was a big milk chocolate bar smasher, and yet never could imagine enjoying one square of anything (vs a block of something)
I only got into eating dark choc because the kids got a "chocolate treat" after tea if they were good and I felt left out!
I really like the Lindt 70%, it definitely has some complexity to it. I've currently got some of the Lidl 70% stuff and it's not even close to the Lindt IMO.
I need to try a few different brands, I think between 70-80% is my preference, any darker gets too bitter for me
Holymoly @ that analysis. Emperor’s new clothes effect comes to mind? Now I have to buy some!
Here’s current stash
Fair Trade suggestions extra-welcomed 🙂
Not my thoughts, offof google, still worth a try though.
I usually eat dark, but I've had a couple of really nice high cocoa milk chocolates recently. There's a Lindt 65% and the Sainsburys 55%, both good, and slightly less affordably there are these
https://cocoarunners.com/app/uploads/2013/09/Labooko_70_30_Milk_Chocolate-scaled.jp g" alt="" />
https://cocoarunners.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Zotter_Labooko_80_20_Milk_Chocolate.jp g" alt="" />
love anything between 85% and 95%, the bitterer the betterer. thought that would mean id like 100% even more but that didnt happen, it tasted yuk as grahamt1980 found out too ^^^
im guessing tho that itll be an acquired taste, and ill grow to love it eventually 🍫
Willie's Cacao range - we get them from Waitrose (I use my topcashback earnings to get gift cards.....) And they're all excellent.
Willies is fab. I always aim for over 50% and under 85% - more than that and it doesn’t melt well and tastes too bitter.
The stuff from Lidl and Aldi is good as is 70% Lindt.
Unless flavoured, I do conservatively sprinkle with sea salt.
Agree with the coop stuff being a great bargain buy. I've found it to be the nicest of all the own brand supermarket dark chocolate.
You get the odd decent stuff in Aldi, but very rarely in our local.
My favourite is the tasting bars from hotel chocolate. A small bite each evening means it lasts ages. I can go up to the 95%.
Meanwhile, in other chocolate related news....
BBC News - UK hit by Cadbury 99 Flake shortage
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57149071
sprinkle with sea salt.
Excitementation intensifies
Agree with a few of fellow STWers above - Co-op Irresistible Fairtrade Single Origin 85% Cocoa Dark.
Really like the Tesco classic dark chocolate - 74%
70% lidl stuff is excellent.
Lindt 85%. Averaging a bar a day right now.
Antidepressant and antioxidant right 😉
Anti money for sure as that's a 600quid a year habbit I've got going.
We have a 78% Lindt over here which is excellent, but twice the sugar than 85%
Melt a little dark chocolate in your mouth and add a sip of whisky - heaven!
Another vote for co-op 85%. Good session chocolate 😂
100% is a step too far.
Embarrassingly, I have a hamper load of 100% Montezuma chocolate (there are more flavours online than the plain [but amazing] chocolate in Tesco). Love the stuff. Pricey, but nowhere near as silly as prices can get for all sorts of 100& weird and unpleasant varieties. I'd like to say that my sugar intake has reduced, but instead I've taken to buying huge bags of figs as well.
85% is the sweet (not literally) spot for me. I get the stuff from Aldi with 5 little 25g bars - stops me eating the whole pack, though as above you really don't need that much and sometimes I'll just have half a bar: basically one square in old money.
All the brands taste a little different but I have a hard time saying one's any better.
I bought a 100% from Pump house bakery recently, touted as being all the flavour none of the sugar. It's like chocolate with all the joy removed!
Lindtt dark with Hazlenuts at the moment (the whole nuts not chips), it's amazing!
Tesco 85% stuff is good.
Lindt at 70%, sometimes the 85% for a more intense and bitter taste is good too.
Montezuma is good too, and given they have a xc race team, it must be good for you 🙂
This is my favourite. 70%, and has quite a fruity, raisin-y sort of flavour going on
https://www.choctree.co.uk/product/peru-chililique-dark-70/
But because it's fiercely expensive I only have it about twice a year. The rest of the time I make do with the little Aldi bars
*Cracks knuckles in preparation to write most middle class sentence in all of STW history*
My godmother has rented her converted cow shed in Suffolk to a couple who make their own chocolate.
It's here: https://tosier.co.uk
Their chocolate is bloody amazing. I get 4 random bars from them a fortnight, I'm worried that now we're out of lockdown and people start coming round, they won't last a week.
If anyone has any 100% they can’t stomach you can try melting it into porridge with milk and another sweetener of your choice. Banana and honey or maple syrup works quite well with it.
*Cracks knuckles in preparation to write most middle class sentence in all of STW history*
My godmother has rented her converted cow shed in Suffolk to a couple who make their own chocolate.
In other news:
Chocolate manufacturer pays rent.
It's interesting to see how much the sugar content varies even for high cocoa content chocolate. For example:
Lindt Excellence 85% = 11g sugar per 100g
Green & Blacks 85% = 14g sugar per 100g
Co-op 85% = 17g sugar per 100g
Green & Blacks Butterscotch has 48g sugar per 100g!
I quite fancy a subscription to https://cocoarunners.com/shop/by/bars/
They seem to have a good selection of unusual chocolate, but it ain't cheap!
Massive dark chocolate fan, i chucked a 70% lindt bar in the fridge earlier. Always have a bit of a stock of various types
A couple of shockers to add to the pile
- choco low Aldi bar. it's got sweetener in. guilt free eating, it's better than you think
- aldi dark chocolate and (whole) hazelnut. I could eat the whole bar in one go, it's so nice
(all my chocolate lives in the fridge, unless i'm storing it for the fridge in which case it's in the cupboard)
We are addicted to Lindt Dark Chilli. or for general use 85%. I started buying dark chocolate on the theory that you can't eat that much of it so I wouldn't wolf it down like I do milk chocolate. That lasted for a short acclimatisation period.
BTW I read that shit tastes like dark chocolate. I'll be taking that on trust, though. I've no desire to verify it.