Hachez 88% Cacao Premier Cru

By JeanFrancois

When I saw this bar I could not resist buying it. I mean, 88% Cocoa “Premier Cru” in a very attractive Red and Gold packaging, who could resist?.

The bar had a strong and pleasing cocoa smell. The 88% cacao content is quite high so I expected to get a burst of bitterness from this one. Visually the bar was very dark with a good sheen.

Now for the actual consumption of the chuck of cocoa. To me a good piece of chocolate should start melting almost right after being put in the mouth and have a velvety smooth feeling. With this “Premier Cru” bar the feeling was more watery and thin, not satisfying at all.

Now for the taste, being disapointed with the mouthfeel, I was equally disapointed with the taste. It’s not that it was bad. There was some bitterness but it is expected with such a high cocoa content. It’s just that there was nothing there. At one point I could feel something coming but then it was gone, I suspect that the watery feel had something to do with it. There was nothing to keep the taste around my taste buds. 10 to 15 minutes after consumption I was still left with a bitter aftertaste.

As you can tell, this bar left me disapointed. The “Premier Cru” moniker is supposed to be for something special, like in wines. But, like with wines, you can fall on some duds every now and then.

If you feel like trying out this bar here are some sites where you can order some:

• http://www.amazon.com/Hachez-88%25-Premier-Cru-Bar/dp/B0009Z9FFW
• http://cgi.ebay.com/Hachez-88-cocoa-Germany

Green and Blacks Dark 85%

By JeanFrancois

Hi and welcome to my chocolate blog

As my first post I’m going to review a chocolate bar from Green & Blacks. Green & Blacks have a number of bars available, today I’m going to be talking about the Green & Blacks Dark 85% Cocoa bar.

The bar looked really nice and well tempered with a mirror surface. The bar weighed in at 100 grams divided in 30 pieces. Each piece has the distinctive “leaf” of the Green & Blacks logo on it.

Breaking off a piece produced a nice snap, another sign of good tempering. It started melting melting almost instantly after being put in the mouth. This bar produced an instant velvety smooth melt.

With an 85% Cacao content, some bitterness is expected but it was very subtle and actually quite enjoyable. After the initial bitterness was gone I detected a fruity ( cherry? ) or citrus taste.

Although I liked the cherry/citrus taste, my tasting partner actually described it as “Cherry Cough Syrup” so I guess everyone has their own preferences.