Jade Chocolate

Jade Chocolates

If you're looking for something different, these bars are for you.

Mindy Fong, the founder of Jade Chocolates, takes great care in producing intriguing products at Jade Chocolate. Born in San Francisco, she made a big change in her life several years after graduating from UC Davis when she switched from a career in architectural design to creating a chocolate company. She drew inspiration from her family, her mixed heritage and her surroundings, but it was her love of and interest in chocolate that landed her in the position of starting a business in the chocolate world. With parents from both China and the Philippines, Mindy wanted to incorporate various teas, spices and other ingredients popular in these two areas into her chocolate line. Using interesting combinations in her chocolates has paid off well, because from 2008 to 2012, Jade Chocolates won many new product and outstanding product awards, especially for the milk chocolate bars.

Jade chocolate bars are packaged beautifully. The elegant label isn't flashy, but it's eye catching despite its simplicity. It has an organic, clean look. The outer paper, in this case brown, reminds me of the beautiful hand-made paper my sister-in-law used to make.

The look of the bar is unique in that the squares are alternately raised up or low. Pretty etchings are displayed on each square. It's as if the bar were designed, cut apart, rearranged and put back together. I'm not sure that's actually how the pattern occurred, though. However it was done, it's quite artistic looking.

Jade dark chocolate Kuro Genmai bar. 

I ended up trying the Kuro Genmai bar, because the only other option on the shelf was one that contained espresso beans. As some of you already know, I can't tolerate a lot of caffeine because of a heart valve leak, so I decided to play it safe and only get the one bar.

There's no doubt that this bar is exotic. Though the website boasts that there's an intense chocolate flavor associated with Kuro Gemani bar, the toasted rice overpowers it. There is, however, a beautiful and potent chocolate aroma that accompanies the bar. Unfortunately, the extra toasted rice flavor that's almost on the verge of being burnt is too strong for this particular chocolate, which tastes more like baker's chocolate than an artesional bar. When I did get any chocolate notes popping up through the taste of toasted rice cakes, they reminded me of quality bittersweet baking chocolate. I was searching for subtle spices and complexity in the chocolate, but my taste buds came up short.

The bar is nice but not extraordinary, and at close to $6.00 for a 2oz bar, I was expecting something outstanding. That said, there is something intriguing about the bar. I just wanted to like it more than I actually did. If you're into interesting flavors, you might love it. If you're strictly into phenomenal chocolate, you might want to try something else.

You also might want to try a different bar if you are adamant about avoiding soy and insist that your products are organic, because these are not. Nor are they kosher. All this information can be found on the Jade Chocolate website. It is honestly and openly presented in the FAQ section. The list of ingredients in the bar I purchased are straightforward and pure, though: 62% cacao (cacao beans, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural vanilla) and roasted brown rice. That's it.

Finding diversity in chocolate bars is not necessarily difficult, but finding something original that also appeals to many people can be. Despite my little complaints, it was a pleasant adventure sampling a bar that maybe isn't my favorite but left me curious and wanting to try more from this company.