Darker than Black, Week 5: Ghirardelli Intense Dark Cabernet Matinee
"Intense Dark Cabernet Matinee" is the name of my goth lounge music quartet.
Back when softlykarou was in grad school, we would occasionally meet up downtown and head to the Ghirardelli shop on Pearson and get ice cream. I always got a Midnight Reverie sundae--or at least, I did until I saw how it was made. It was just chocolate ice cream, chocolate chips, and dark chocolate sauce. I thought there was something extra they put it in, and knowing that there wasn't, it just didn't taste the same. I rarely get chocolate ice cream because it's not dark enough chocolate for me, but until I knew what was it in, I could fool myself that it wasn't too sweet. There's so much that goes into taste other than the molecules in the food.
I bring this up because this week's offering says "intense dark" and then refuses to tell me how dark it actually is. I'm guessing that it's 72%, since I know that Midnight Reverie is 86%--I used to get a lot of that before I found Lindt 90%. And then there's fruit flavor on top of that, rendering it pretty sweet.
While looking it up, I also realized the Ghirardelli shop where we used to go is closed now. We are, all of us, rushing headlong towards the grave.
"Natural flavors."
When I opened it up, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It wasn't perceptible from too far away, but it had that extremely strong chemical fruit flavor that you associate with cough syrup. It didn't taste like cough syrup, fortunately, but it certainly smelled like it. The other giveaway was how it talks about natural blackberry and grape and natural flavor and natural this and then on the back the ingredients are "semisweet chocolate, natural flavor" with no blackberry or grape to be seen. I was expecting that it would have fruit filling, but it didn't. So basically, the fruit flavor was a tantalizing advertisement that never really materialized.
It was a bit sweet with a fruity taste, but there wasn't anything really grapey or blackberryish about it. It certainly wasn't cabernet, which I guess was only chosen because grapes go into wine and grapes went into here and "Grape Matinee" doesn't rhyme or sound nearly as good. I'd at least have expected to see some fruit on the back that wasn't just "natural flavors." Who knows what that is.
The back also says "sweeter dark chocolate," and that's a good summary of the bar. Pretty sweet for what I like, nonspecific fruity flavors, smells of cough syrup. Not really ringing endorsements.
I apologize for the smudge mark.
softlykarou's OpinionI didn't mind this chocolate and there are a few things that led me to say I am glad we had it though it's not something I'd purchase for myself. I know I have a more expansive definition of dark chocolate than my husband, this chocolate was a bit too milky even for me. I like the bitter tang of dark chocolate. The other piece is the grape flavor. It's a hard flavor to nail and it tasted a bit like the cough syrup we had as a kid (the kind what was sweetened, not robotussin). It's an artificial flavor that leaves an odd aftertaste.
I didn't notice the aftertaste like softlykarou did, but maybe it's because of the smell. That and "natural flavors" are the things that put me off, and while I didn't dislike this, I won't be eating it again.
(This chocolate was provided to me by a friend, but I can't remember who it was!
)
Back when softlykarou was in grad school, we would occasionally meet up downtown and head to the Ghirardelli shop on Pearson and get ice cream. I always got a Midnight Reverie sundae--or at least, I did until I saw how it was made. It was just chocolate ice cream, chocolate chips, and dark chocolate sauce. I thought there was something extra they put it in, and knowing that there wasn't, it just didn't taste the same. I rarely get chocolate ice cream because it's not dark enough chocolate for me, but until I knew what was it in, I could fool myself that it wasn't too sweet. There's so much that goes into taste other than the molecules in the food.
I bring this up because this week's offering says "intense dark" and then refuses to tell me how dark it actually is. I'm guessing that it's 72%, since I know that Midnight Reverie is 86%--I used to get a lot of that before I found Lindt 90%. And then there's fruit flavor on top of that, rendering it pretty sweet.
While looking it up, I also realized the Ghirardelli shop where we used to go is closed now. We are, all of us, rushing headlong towards the grave.
"Natural flavors."
When I opened it up, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It wasn't perceptible from too far away, but it had that extremely strong chemical fruit flavor that you associate with cough syrup. It didn't taste like cough syrup, fortunately, but it certainly smelled like it. The other giveaway was how it talks about natural blackberry and grape and natural flavor and natural this and then on the back the ingredients are "semisweet chocolate, natural flavor" with no blackberry or grape to be seen. I was expecting that it would have fruit filling, but it didn't. So basically, the fruit flavor was a tantalizing advertisement that never really materialized.
It was a bit sweet with a fruity taste, but there wasn't anything really grapey or blackberryish about it. It certainly wasn't cabernet, which I guess was only chosen because grapes go into wine and grapes went into here and "Grape Matinee" doesn't rhyme or sound nearly as good. I'd at least have expected to see some fruit on the back that wasn't just "natural flavors." Who knows what that is.
The back also says "sweeter dark chocolate," and that's a good summary of the bar. Pretty sweet for what I like, nonspecific fruity flavors, smells of cough syrup. Not really ringing endorsements.
I apologize for the smudge mark.
softlykarou's OpinionI didn't mind this chocolate and there are a few things that led me to say I am glad we had it though it's not something I'd purchase for myself. I know I have a more expansive definition of dark chocolate than my husband, this chocolate was a bit too milky even for me. I like the bitter tang of dark chocolate. The other piece is the grape flavor. It's a hard flavor to nail and it tasted a bit like the cough syrup we had as a kid (the kind what was sweetened, not robotussin). It's an artificial flavor that leaves an odd aftertaste.
I didn't notice the aftertaste like softlykarou did, but maybe it's because of the smell. That and "natural flavors" are the things that put me off, and while I didn't dislike this, I won't be eating it again.
(This chocolate was provided to me by a friend, but I can't remember who it was!
)