Reviews of chocolate from around the world
We’ve found that unless you use the chocolate, it goes bad. Doing episodes once in a while just won’t cut it – nor will not looking at expiration dates on bars when we purchase them. These next two episodes are devoted to the chocolate that must be tried before it dies.
A nice little sampler of varieties that was given to us by the folks at Fran’s Chocolate at the Northwest Chocolate Festival.
Another episode with Miles, however we start to see he’s quickly losing interest in this whole, sordid after hours affair and is getting ready to fall asleep.
Confetti? Colors! Fun! Like Funfetti frosting, cake batter & frosting.
Get some here –http://bit.ly/seattlechocolate
Kit – 4 out of 5 stars
Hans – 4 out of 5 stars
Good for those who yearn for the scent of burning motor oil in their mouths. We abhor this.
Get some here – http://bit.ly/drostepastilles
Kit – 0 out of 5 stars
Hans – 0 out of 5 stars
Another round from the Northwest Chocolate Festival! Sooner or later I think you’ll be seeing a whole slew of varieties from this event – the companies were very kind and gave us so many samples. Not only that, they’re really good! Let’s check out two more!
We want to be best friends with the guy who gave us these. Seriously. Both varieties we sampled were top notch and just extraodinary!
Check them out here – http://bakerynouveau.com/
Kit – 5 out of 5
Hans – 5 out of 5
Dairy free bar with horchata flavor. Leaps and bounds closer to horchata than the last one we tried.
Kit – 4 out of 5
Hans – 3 out of 5
Paste like substances steal the show in this sugary mess with chocolate as a kind of aftertaste or afterthought. Enthuse yourselves with our gall and sheer love for bringing you the finest entertainment.
A checkerboard with an odd initial scent. Speculoos cookies are made into a paste; almost like peanut butter or cookie dough.
Speculoos! – https://amzn.to/2RDil5g
Kit – 1 out of 5 stars
Hans – 0 out of 5 stars
Okay so in Canada, it’s not Reese’s it’s Reese. These are big cups with Reese pieces inside as well as peanut butter. It’s a double slam of sugar.
Reese Stuffed Cups – https://amzn.to/2QuSEDB
Hans – 5 out of 5 stars
Kit – 1 1/2 out of 5
References throughout about our love for the meat of the dolphin and our enjoyment of the concept of broken glass. Enjoy this episode with a loved one in between your harpooning sessions!
An interesting mashup of broken up candy root beer barrels and slightly dark chocolate.
Theo Chocolate – https://amzn.to/2Orx6Gc
Kit – 3 1/2 out of 5
Hans – 4 out of 5
I guess we got the idea that it contained sea salt from somewhere in the aether, but who knows. Either way, it gave us both poo-poo faces which we really don’t care for.
Dolfin Chocolate – https://amzn.to/2quu3DD
Kit – 1 out of 5
Hans – 1 out of 5
Here’s a couple more we found at Cost Plus World Market nearby Jinya Ramen in Bellevue, Washington. I still have the receipt in our chocolate storage vessel – $70 on chocolate. Debauchery!
If you like milk chocolate, this is where it’s at. We agree that this doesn’t have the fun of crisps or anything else but for a straight milk chocolate, it’s the bomb.
Tony’s Choco Lonely – https://amzn.to/2yM1s1a
Kit – 4 out of 5
Hans – 3.5 out of 5
Dry. Plus, it’s dry. Pretzel, funky peanut butter. Chocolate. With more dry. Meh.
Jimmie Stix – https://amzn.to/2RwSMTi
Kit – 0 out of 5
Hans – 1 out of 5
We started going all in for requests. Although we don’t record these episodes on a regular basis (we usually will do two or three then chill out for a few weeks), we still can do a few special requests. Well, today we got something from Kit’s mom and gave it a try among other things. The other two are ones that were found at Uwajimaya, a Northwest based chain of Japanese supermarkets. Let’s give everything a look.
Loard’s is a fixture in downtown Livermore, California and has been there since 1950. The little shop offers candy as well as ice cream – on one of the first visits Hans made to California to see Kit, she took him to Loard’s to try it out. Her family has frequented the place since she was young, and her mother thought maybe we should try out their rocky road (one of her favorites).
Kit – 4
Hans 1.5
A bar along the lines of a Krackel or a Crunch bar. This one’s from Japan. Here’s a little from Japan Talk –
Crunky is a chocolate bar filled with toasted grains often listed as “malt puffs” on the ingredients. A large number of flavors of crunky have been launched over the years including ice cream snacks. Crunky products often have engrishnames and marketing slogans. Oddly, Japanese products covered in engrishtend to get attention in the English speaking world and candy companies appear to have caught on.
Crunky bars – https://amzn.to/2DqAdMp
Kit – 1
Hans – 1.5
Another J- Coco variety. We’ve tried quite a few of these in this, past and upcoming episodes and we’ve had mixed feelings.
J Coco – https://amzn.to/2Td85la
Kit – 4
Hans – 0.75
In our third espiode, we’ve started to venture out and really start seeing all the different chocolate on the market. Well, at least we thought so. Lots of stores – many Asian groceries – perusing the chocolate sections. We were starting to see the products that were imported from foreign countries and ones produced very locally. This is the first episode with Kit’s Hello Kitty knife.
Founded in Stuttgart, Germany in 1912, Ritter makes a lot of different varieties. While marizpan isn’t Kit’s favorite thing (nor is dark chocolate), she decided this looked interesting enough to try.
Kit – 1 1/2 stars
Hans – 3 stars
Total – 4 1/2 stars
Ritter Sport – https://amzn.to/2AZ0EHO
jcoco is part of Seattle Chocolate. Tried to find specific information about jcoco in particular, however mainly for that they are 100% woman-owned and fair sourced, as well as charitable to those in need. Hans is a big fan of exotic flavors such as curries, laksa and masala. This one jumped out immediately and sounded good.
Kit – 1/2 star
Hans – 4 stars
Total – 4 1/2 stars
jcoco – https://amzn.to/2z1bzPS
In our second episode aired on August 3rd, 2018, we announce our intention to make this a regular program and try our first pair of found chocolate. We start to learn the flavors we both like – and dislike.
We oft times journey northward to the magical land of Tim Hortons and maple syrup – Canada. You’ll be seeing a lot of Canadian chocolate as the series progresses. The Mars bar is one of them.
Kit – 2 stars
Hans – 1 3/4 stars
Total – 3 3/4 stars
Mars Bars – https://amzn.to/2OCuWna
Kit is from the Bay Area and during our courtship, one place we visited was a big Ghiradelli store. It was pretty epic and they had these tornado or hurricane milkshakes where you could get a square of their chocolate blended into it. Was pretty amazing stuff. This is a dark chocolate bar.
Kit – 0 stars
Hans – 1 star
Total – 1 stars
Ghiradelli Bars – https://amzn.to/2DhPPlV
