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.

Cocoa Parlor Simple Pleasure

When it comes to reviews, I don't like giving bad ones. Unfortunately, because honesty is a concern of mine, rotten tomato critiques are a must sometimes. Such is the case with one of the Simple Pleasure bars by Cocoa Parlor I tried recently.

It's always a disappointment when you select a bar, pay more than $4.00 and end up not liking it. It's worse when it goes beyond merely not liking to the "this is icky" stage, complete with yuck noises and a wrinkling of the nose upon first taste. Fortunately, I bought two flavors from this company, so at least one was edible.

Milk chocolate with nibs

Without carefully reading the mostly bland looking label that has only a splash of color in the cutesy drawing of a girl on it, I picked the Crushed Velvet bar, thinking it was a dark chocolate with crushed cacao nibs. It turns out it's milk chocolate, but since I'm one of the few who likes both milk and dark chocolate I wasn't disappointed when I took a closer look. I thought the combination of milk chocolate with nibs might even be better than the typical dark with nibs bars found on so many shelves these days, a good contrast of flavors. The letdown came later when I put a square of the chocolate in my mouth.

WHAT IS THIS?!?!

The company claims:

This milk chocolate has a higher cacao content then most milk chocolates 

giving it a very rich chocolate flavor.

Well, that's not exactly true about the flavor. In fact, there's not much resembling chocolate in this bar except the color. Even the first bite had me questioning what I was putting in my mouth. There wasn't even a hint of true cocoa flavor.

More than chocolate, it tastes like poo. Well, it tastes how I imagine poo tastes. I don't actually know that particular flavor, but I know that it's rare that I want to spit out a mouthful of chocolate. Sadly, I went back to it several times thinking maybe I was too harsh in my initial analysis. Could it be that bad? Yes, it could. Each time I took a nibble, my taste buds were offended. On one occasion, I did detect a single note of chocolate somewhere in the mess of other confusing flavors, but otherwise the flavor was overwhelmingly foreign.

I can only guess, but it seems that whatever nibs were used were probably burnt. Also, the milk in the chocolate may have been sour. Whatever's going on in this chocolate, the end result is a bitter, acrid, sour and slightly sweet combination of flavors. The aftertaste is terrible and lingers painfully long. It tastes unnatural. I needed a real chocolate chaser and was glad I had some of the L'Amourette chocolate left with which to cleanse my palate. Sadly, I think I'm going to have to toss what I have left of this one.

With the toasted hazelnut and salt in dark chocolate bar, the big plus is that the hazelnuts are fresh. Yahoo! That's a very good thing. I have to drop into lecture mode, though, because following trends doesn't always pay off, and in this case, adding a generous dose of salt to the mix is unnecessary. Hazelnuts have a strong flavor, and the classic combination with chocolate doesn't need additional competing flavors. If you're going to add an ingredient, make sure that it serves a legitimate purpose. Here, all the salt does is become a distraction.

Hazelnuts and salt in dark chocolate

Even in this bar there's an occasional sour note. It makes me think something sinister is going on in the cacao bean roasting process. Either that or the beans are not being picked at the optimal time or stored properly. Whatever the case may be, the chocolate, despite the quality of its combined ingredients and the nice hazelnut flavor that occasionally shines through, comes of as average at best. The chocolate is only memorable in that it has a strange flavor, one that adding or subtracting sugar or other ingredients to probably can't fix.

Now for the good.

The good thing about chocolate is that it's a little bit like art. Maybe coffee is a better metaphor in this case. What one person loves, another might strongly dislike, and a third person might find mediocre. Just because I wasn't impressed with the flavors doesn't mean someone else won't find these bars great. I should add too that there are some very nice qualities about these bars that include the following:

1. They are soy free, gluten free, fair trade and organic.
2. The dark chocolate bars are vegan.
3. The products are GMO free.

I noticed that the company makes hand-made truffles too. Their website can be found here.

L'Amourette Chocolat

I've been having a blast selecting various chocolate bars to sample at the Boulder Book Store lately. They have an amazing selection of fine chocolates. I can't wait to try the chocolate bar I saw with the whole animal crackers on top! Those look fun.

This time, I settled on L'Amourette chocolate bars. The packages are artsy and colorful. It's hard to resist the bright pink, yellow or even the black packages with the elegantly printed labels. The heart embracing the name of the company on the package should resonate with many chocolate connoisseurs who know the undeniable connection between chocolate and love.

Holy WOW! These bars are good.

The chocolate itself tastes like a cup of very lightly sweetened gourmet hot chocolate in bar form. It's playfully bitter, more on the verge of being than actually being, and the subtlety of it makes a perfect vehicle for the outrageously fresh ingredients that flavor each bar. It's a brilliant strategy to use quality chocolate that's not overly complex to showcase the flavors of the added ingredients. I sampled two products, the dark chocolate fig bar and the dark chocolate with sour cherries and salted almond.

These are the kinds of confections that tempt you to continue eating and call to you when you let your mind wander. A nibble just isn't enough. I can often take a small bite of chocolate and be satisfied, but only a few chocolates make me want to devour the entire thing. I had a moment of panic when I was down to the last square of one of the chocolate bars I purchased. Remember the Good & Evil bar? That was one that's impossible to resist, and these are also on my "I can't resist" list. However, to me, these are more about the added ingredients than the chocolate, though the chocolate is good. Actually it's really the combination of ingredients that makes the bars so irresistible. And they are very affordable for what they are.

Dark chocolate and fig bar.

Most people who read my reviews know how fussy I am when it comes to nuts in chocolate. Rancid nuts added to any product make me cringe, and this mishap seems to happen a lot in the chocolate world. This was definitely not the case here. In addition, L'Amourette bars are a welcome counterpart to all those chocolates I complained were too sweet. The bars I sampled are 72% cacao.

My first bite of the fig bar made me swoon. I was blown away by the overall texture and the freshness of the figs. The fruity pieces enrobed in chocolate are soft, chewy and sweet, the perfect partner to the sturdy, dark chocolate. The pieces of fig are substantial too, which added to the allure. I just can't get enough.

Dark chocolate with cherries and almonds.

Let me tell you about the other flavor, another great find, but before I do, I have to say that L'Amourette produces some pretty outrageous bars like the dark chocolate with salami and bacon bar, the exotic berry bar and the candied pomelo chocolate bar. I want to sample them all.

Now to rave about the cherry and almond bar. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but it could stand to be a teeeeeennnnnny tiny bit sweeter, though it was very, very good as is. I think a touch of sweetness would enhance the cherries even more. Other than that, this item is outstanding in every way. Oh yes they did use whole salted almonds and moist dried cherries! Two thumbs up on that move there. This combination makes for an excellent party of textures with the hard crunch of the nuts, the firmness of the chocolate and the chewiness of the cherries. The cherries are very slightly sour, but with the lack of sweetness in the chocolate, the sugars in them are more pronounced.

There's just the right amount of salt on the almonds. Salt should enhance the food, not overwhelm it, and that's exactly what happens with this bar. It's so beautifully balanced.

I'm amazed at how good L'Amourette bars are. It's rare to find such quality ingredients like this without spending a fortune. Usually the nuts used in chocolates are chopped fine, so the company can get away with using fewer of them. Nuts are expensive these days. I like when a company puts it all out there in an honest way for all to see, and I am jumping for joy that, not only are there whole almonds and plenty of them in the bar I sampled, all the ingredients are FRESH, not a single rancid or stale nut to be found. I might have to lobby for a hazelnut praline bar from them. Hint, hint.

L'Amourette bars are vegan and the company is in the process of making sure their chocolates become certified organic and Kosher. They are also aiming to make their products certified fair trade. Check out the company and its products here: http://www.lamourettechocolat.com/

Cacao Sampaka

I've become a chocolate snob. Actually, I knew that, but I didn't realize how much of one I have become. Maybe I have always been one; I'm not sure. I was born into a family of chocolate aficionados after all, and my mother is French, a sure sign that we were destined to have at least one foodie in the family.

Over the past few months, I fell into a deep writer's slump. I couldn't seem to find the motivation to put any words at all into my blogs, no matter how hard I tried. The chocolate I purchased bored me, and the cheeses I found were all too similar. It's not that anything was bad, except the Zoe chocolate bar with the extra rancid almonds on it - blah; it's more that I had a touch of writer's paralysis. There were things I wanted to say, but I could't bring myself to actually say them. For example, I liked the Valrhona I purchased and halfheartedly tossed some ideas about it around in my head, but I didn't bother to write an actual review. Valrhona has long been considered the best baking chocolate in the world by chefs. There were others, too, that were sampled and forgotten. I needed something to pull me out of my apathy.

Figs in chocolate, an incredible combination.

Finally I found the Cacao Sampaka line and got excited again. Actually, I found one bar, the dark chocolate with sea salt, hiding among a large selection of other bars in the specialty chocolate aisle at Whole Foods, a whole separate area away from the regular chocolate bar section. I also found some fancy figs covered in chocolate in the specialty imported food section, another separate aisle. Damn! Those sweet little dried nuggets of fruit dipped in chocolate are AhMazIng! So a fire was lit, and I got the urge to write again once I tasted something that got my taste buds fired up.

I couldn't find a lot of information about the Cacao Sampaka company. Most of the websites with reviews of the chocolate are in Spanish, which makes sense since the company originated in Spain. From what I could gather, rare cocoa beans from Mexico were used to create both the first classic and more exotic flavors of chocolate bars, and oh how I wish I could have tried some of the exotic flavors! The company even puts out a gin and tonic bar that sounds like it could be the equivalent of an evening beach party in your mouth.

I settled for the only option on the shelf, the dark chocolate bar with sea salt. This elegant bar seemed out of place by itself among full lines of other bars on the shelves. Perhaps it was a one-time extravagance for Whole Foods, because, sadly, I haven't seen this bar or any of its cousins again anywhere in Boulder. I guess I lucked out, or, if one thinks along these kinds of lines, one could claim it was fate.

What I noticed right away is that the chocolate is of a superior quality than most bars. The perfectly balanced flavors are the result of a chocolatier who knows what he's doing. This is no ordinary chocolate, though. Unlike many American sea salt and chocolate bars that taste like someone dipped a cow's salt lick in a thin layer of mediocre chocolate, this bar showcases the chocolate and adds a notable but not overwhelming bite of salt, just enough to enhance the chocolate.

Dark chocolate with sea salt.

The texture of the chocolate is interesting. If I say that it's a little bit sandy or grainy, don't be turned off, because, like with one of the French Broad chocolate bars I mentioned earlier that had a similar consistency, the very slight grittiness does nothing but add to the complexity and allure of the bar. Plus, the sandy texture is temporary and disappears as the bar melts into a smooth, rich mass of deliciousness in your mouth.

The chocolate is dark, but it's not bitter. The sweetness is subtle, as it should be with good dark chocolate.

If you're a chocolate connoisseur and get super stoked at the thought of something different in the chocolate world, you are in luck, because this bar is unique. I have't been this excited about chocolate in a long time, probably back when I was drooling over the Good & Evil bar, so if you can find the Cacao Sampaka line on any shelf, do yourself a favor a buy a bar. You won't regret it. If you do, send the bar to me, and I will very happily and quickly dispose of it in probably just a few bites.

Ghirardelli Mint Chocolate Cookie

AAK!

Mint cookie goodness

OK, maybe it's not the most gourmet chocolate in the world, but DAMN! Ghiradelli, did you create some kind of chocolate crack here? I dare anyone to eat just one bite. No, it's not possible. You stand a better chance of eating one potato chip when craving something salty.

Maybe it's a tad too sweet, but just follow it with a dark chocolate chaser. Jeez, though, the texture is fucking amazing, the perfect balance of light crunch and smmmmooootttthhh melty chocolate. Yeah, it's good stuff. Eat some.

Soma Chocolate Review

As some of you might have noticed, I bailed on my one post per day goal. I learned a great deal in doing this, mostly that I hate deadlines. The other thing I learned is that it's probably better to put out quality over quantity. I also learned that sometimes life gets in the way, and it's important to prioritize. It turns out that health and well-being are pretty high on my priority list, so when I came down with pneumonia, I had to let some things slide.

Before I got sick, I was feeling a lot of pressure, mostly internal, and I think my blog posts suffered as a result. Oddly, at the same time, I fell into sampling both cheeses and chocolates that were all a little too similar and not all that noteworthy, or so I thought. What may have happened is more that I was losing my passion about reviewing, and it all started seeming overwhelming and overly challenging. It's true that I get into these funks from time to time where everything seems pointless, even breathing, so I knew it was time for a break.

I took some time away from writing and absorbed myself in watching Luther, Dexter and Sherlock on Netflix. I guess I'm suddenly into titles with no more than one word in them.

Now that I'm feeling better, I'm ready to get back into reviewing. 

I went to the Boulder Bookstore in February and purchased some Soma chocolate. The flavors looked promising, but the reality was that there wasn't anything outrageously memorable about what I purchased. I don't regret buying the bars; I was just expecting more. 

As you can see from the images, one of the bars I tried had dried cherries in it. The plump cherries on the thick square of dark chocolate that showed through the cellophane looked appetizing. I love the idea of a thicker bar in general, and one with cherries is exceptionally tempting. Unfortunately, the chocolate, while good, wasn't extraordinary. As a result, I felt let down. The cherries were nice and tart and chewy, and the chocolate-cherry combination is always a good one. It's just that with this bar, it seemed disjointed, like someone accidentally spilled a few dried cherries onto the chocolate bars as they were hardening. I think the biggest issues were that the chocolate was good but not great, and the cherries didn't carry enough flavor to truly enhance the bar. Still, there's something very nice about sinking your teeth into a thick bar. 

On a side note, someday, I will have to share my idea for a line of thicker chocolate bars. It's a good one, and someone should be doing it. In fact, I saw a soomewhat similar idea recently in a chocolate Easter bunny, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before someone runs with my idea. Sigh. Any of you chocolate makers want a good idea? 

Cherry mini bar

Thick chocolate and tart dried cherries.

The other Soma bar I picked was packaged completely differently. It was sealed in a foil package, and the bar itself was very thin. The tangerine-chocolate combination was intriguing. Think of chocolate and oranges and add a splash of lemon with just a hint of bitterness. I think anyone who likes more adventurous flavors will go wild over this one. This is a bar that commands attention. With this one, you can get a better sense of the quality of the chocolate, and the tangerine and chocolate combination is certainly one that's intriguing and different. This is no orange-chocolate bar, so be prepared for something a step above that. The tangerine taste really jumps out at you, but not at the expense of the chocolate, and, unlike some citrus flavors, this one tastes natural, not like furniture polish. 

Elegant chocolate with a bold citrus flavor.

Yum!

I do need to catch up on my reviews. I have several cheese reviews on hold and a few more chocolate reviews coming soon. Keep checking back! 

Oooo A Gooey Chocolate Cookie!

Gooey Chocolate Cookie