Chocolate is much like coffee in that what some people love, others dislike or merely tolerate. Some people love a strong, more bitter coffee, and others prefer a smooth, less astringent, mild coffee. Recently, I met someone who likes to eat unsweetened chocolate. That's a bit too much for me, though I have sampled a few 100 percent unsweetened chocolate bars in my life, one that was actually quite good. Something else I find interesting is that, like coffee, I can experience different flavors of good chocolate on different days. Sometimes if the chocolate is complex, notes that were hidden one day emerge the next.
Theo was the first organic, fair trade chocolate company in the United States, something they should be proud of. They source their beans from around the world, making sure the farmers who grow the beans are fairly paid. I would love to tour their factory and see (and sample) all the products they produce.
I had tried the classic Theo chocolate bars before, but I couldn't remember the details. I knew I liked what I ate, but the bars didn't leave a lasting impression. They didn't haunt me or make me have mid-afternoon chocolate fantasies, but I remember thinking that they were reasonably good at the time. What I do remember with great fondness is the fantasy collection. Those bars stood out in my mind. The Bread and Chocolate 70 percent dark chocolate bar was so much like eating pain au chocolat that I could imagine myself sitting on a patio in the morning sun eating a bar for breakfast served with a latte. Loved it!
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| Just like pain au chocolat! |
Of course, a lot of what a person might find appealing in a bar goes beyond the chocolate. The added ingredients can influence how good the bar is, and what the company stands for also plays a role in how desirable the confection is. Eating a bar from an ethical company feels good, and that can play into the whole gastronomic experience.
One problem with sampling so many complex, intriguing bars is that you become less than enthused about anything that's not extraordinary and uncommon. What once seemed great suddenly seems just OK. I think that's what has happened with the Theo bars I sampled.
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| Salted Almond Milk Chocolate |
I was given two of their classic bars to sample: the 85 percent dark chocolate and the milk chocolate salted almond. What's interesting is that I found the milk chocolate bar slightly bitter. Just to be sure, I had a friend try it, and he agreed that it was a little bit like eating a gourmet, slightly bitter milk chocolate Easter bunny. Well, the chocolate is a much, much better quality; there's no doubt about that. Still, there was a detectable bitterness, especially with the aftertaste, and much of the usual caramel and malt notes of good milk chocolate were missing. I also found it just a hair chalky, but the texture wasn't bad, just not as smooth as I like. What I liked very much about this chocolate was that it wasn't as sweet as many of the milk chocolates out there.
The almonds added were not pronounced and seemed to be a bit of an afterthought. The fact that they were salted made little difference, as the pieces of nuts were too small to be of much interest, though when I did bite into a nice salty almond, it was like hitting the jackpot, only, unfortunately, these nuts were rancid, something I bring up often and seems to be an issue with many bars. This is probably not a problem related to the company, as the other bars I have sampled in the past had fresh ingredients. It's probably one of those situations in which the bars were not properly rotated on the shelf or weren't stored properly. I generally prefer a real crunch if there are nuts in my chocolate. Perhaps leaving the almonds whole or chopping them less fine would have been better, if they were fresh, of course. At minimum, I would have liked to see more almonds added. The bar did grow on me the more I ate it, the chocolate part anyway.
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| 85% Chocolate |
For an 85 percent dark chocolate, the dark chocolate bar is surprisingly palatable. Make no mistake that it is bitter, but not so much that you think of unsweetened baking chocolate when you put it in your mouth. It has a crisp snap and is nicely smooth and even both in terms of flavor and texture. As far as super dark chocolates on the market, this is definitely one of the better ones. I've had some that are chalky and exceptionally bitter. This one may not be extraordinary, but it's consistently good.
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