Description
TASTING NOTES
A wonderful fruity dark chocolate made from fine Peruvian Criollo cocoa beans. This chocolate has and raisin and floral notes with a hint of balsamic, and we love it.
ABOUT THE MAKER
You may remember Willie Harcourt-Cooze as the larger-than-life character behind Channel 4’s “Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory” back in 2008. The series followed Willie from his cacao farm in Venezuela through his roller coaster ride setting up his bean-to-bar chocolate factory in Devon.
Willie is a true pioneer of the artisan chocolate movement in the UK, and the first of the modern independent bean-to-bar makers. His passion is to open people’s eyes to real chocolate. By this he means chocolate that really brings alive the flavour characteristics of the great single-estate beans that he uses. The recipe is simple – cacao, natural cocoa butter and raw cane sugar – no vanilla and no soya lecithin, nothing that can get in the way of the flavour of the beans. He even uses less cocoa butter than most chocolate makers because, although that means more stopping and cleaning in the factory, the flavours last longer in your mouth.
Charlie S. –
‘Juicy’ is how I can best describe the initial taste presented by this bar. The packaging promises notes of plum and it certainly does not disappoint! A range of different fruity notes greet you, which when combined gives a certain sharpness / sourness to the overall flavour. –This is by no means unpleasant, but a little surprising at first and definitely adds some excitement to the experience!
Due to the relative thickness of the bar, it is slow to melt in the mouth, but when it does, it is beautifully smooth and lacks the graininess that so frequently goes hand in hand with higher cocoa content. However, I did find it was noticeably drying, leaving a slightly powdery sensation in the mouth.
Most impressive though, is the way in which this bar possesses a rich dark chocolatey taste, but without any hint of bitterness. I personally found the level of sweetness just right, (i.e. not much!) which complemented the smooth cocoa depth of flavour. To achieve such a result without addition of cocoa butter and using only minimal amounts of unrefined sugar, is no mean feat, and testament perhaps to the quality of this product.
Overall this bar cleverly manages to balance competing tastes, which aside from a somewhat drying sensation, results in an enjoyable experience, full of flavour and character.
Kresimir D. –
Absolutely magnificent; this was one of the best bars I’ve had up to date; leaves amazing, fruity aftertaste lingering in the mouth