Darker than Black, Week 27: Taza Wicked Dark 95% Dark Stone-Ground Chocolate
So last time I posted a Darker than Black entry, ccamfield expressed astonishment that I was writing about chocolate that he would actually want to eat! I mean, isn't this called "Darker than Black"? Shouldn't this be about chocolate that curdles milk if placed within 10 yards, that travelers keep in their pockets to ward off the evil eye, and that which can only be eaten after secret rites are performed under the waning autumn moon?
I mean, those weren't his exact words. It's just what I took from it.
Fortunately, while we were shopping a couple weeks ago I happened to spot something darker than the chocolate I usually eat on the bottom shelf of the specialty chocolate aisle. Most of the chocolate at Whole Foods has berries or coconut or just isn't that dark, presumably because the number of people who happily munch on extremely dark chocolate bars like me is pretty low. But there it was, we bought it and added it to the queue, and after I was called out, well. I had to respond.
It's strangely shaped. Short and squat, like a hobbit.
I mentioned way back in week four that stone-ground chocolate has a particular texture. A kind of gritty creaminess that normally I would probably hate but which I don't mind that much when it's in chocolate. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this, since one of the main characteristics in the dark chocolate I eat is the creamy texture along with the sour flavor.
Well, this managed to unit super-dark chocolate with the stone-ground texture in a way that I didn't utterly hate!
It had a bit of the sourness that I mentioned when I wrote about the French Broad chocolate. Then I was leery of it, but I've since come to like it a lot more, and the grittiness meant that the sourness wasn't nearly so overpowering. This was obviously very dark chocolate, but it didn't taste as dark as some of the other dark chocolates that I eat. I think in a blind taste test, people who didn't like super-dark chocolate wouldn't realize how dark it was. That can be either good or bad, depending on how much one likes dark chocolate, but it's a strength here. I think this can be all things to all people, as long as those people really like dark chocolate.
If most of the chocolate I try sounds too dark for you, I'd suggest this one. It won't be as bad as you fear.
I like how it's so dark my phone's camera was confused by it.
softlykarou's OpinionI always know when I've been eating a lot of sweet things because I have a lower tolerance for the acidic-ness of very dark chocolate. I really liked the stone-ground texture of the chocolate, it helped address some of the chalkiness that I taste in chocolate above 90%. It had that bite which I enjoyed. I think I'd have eaten more of it if I hadn't been messing up my sweetness metrics by eating Halloween candy. I'd like to try it again!
I know that feel. Sometimes I feel like I want something sweet so I eat a bit of ice cream, and then I try to eat dark chocolate and it tastes awful. It's like drinking milk after brushing your teeth, except way worse because chocolate is much better than milk.
I like the creamy texture of non-stone-ground chocolate better than this, but I almost like the taste of this better than the Lindt 90% I usually eat, since it splits the difference and gets some of the sourness of ultimate darkness.
I mean, of dark chocolate, of course.
I mean, those weren't his exact words. It's just what I took from it.
Fortunately, while we were shopping a couple weeks ago I happened to spot something darker than the chocolate I usually eat on the bottom shelf of the specialty chocolate aisle. Most of the chocolate at Whole Foods has berries or coconut or just isn't that dark, presumably because the number of people who happily munch on extremely dark chocolate bars like me is pretty low. But there it was, we bought it and added it to the queue, and after I was called out, well. I had to respond.
It's strangely shaped. Short and squat, like a hobbit.
I mentioned way back in week four that stone-ground chocolate has a particular texture. A kind of gritty creaminess that normally I would probably hate but which I don't mind that much when it's in chocolate. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this, since one of the main characteristics in the dark chocolate I eat is the creamy texture along with the sour flavor.
Well, this managed to unit super-dark chocolate with the stone-ground texture in a way that I didn't utterly hate!
It had a bit of the sourness that I mentioned when I wrote about the French Broad chocolate. Then I was leery of it, but I've since come to like it a lot more, and the grittiness meant that the sourness wasn't nearly so overpowering. This was obviously very dark chocolate, but it didn't taste as dark as some of the other dark chocolates that I eat. I think in a blind taste test, people who didn't like super-dark chocolate wouldn't realize how dark it was. That can be either good or bad, depending on how much one likes dark chocolate, but it's a strength here. I think this can be all things to all people, as long as those people really like dark chocolate.
If most of the chocolate I try sounds too dark for you, I'd suggest this one. It won't be as bad as you fear.
I like how it's so dark my phone's camera was confused by it.
softlykarou's OpinionI always know when I've been eating a lot of sweet things because I have a lower tolerance for the acidic-ness of very dark chocolate. I really liked the stone-ground texture of the chocolate, it helped address some of the chalkiness that I taste in chocolate above 90%. It had that bite which I enjoyed. I think I'd have eaten more of it if I hadn't been messing up my sweetness metrics by eating Halloween candy. I'd like to try it again!
I know that feel. Sometimes I feel like I want something sweet so I eat a bit of ice cream, and then I try to eat dark chocolate and it tastes awful. It's like drinking milk after brushing your teeth, except way worse because chocolate is much better than milk.
I like the creamy texture of non-stone-ground chocolate better than this, but I almost like the taste of this better than the Lindt 90% I usually eat, since it splits the difference and gets some of the sourness of ultimate darkness.
I mean, of dark chocolate, of course.