Blind tasting #4

Chocolate #4

Appearance:

This chocolate's appearance was described as medium brown in color and slightly shinny.

Touch:

 The chocolate was very silky and smooth.

Sound:

The tasters thought that this chocolate had a soft break and created a soft "pop" when broken.

Aroma:

The smell was described as sweet with a milky hint.

Mouthfeel:

The chocolate had a smooth and creamy mouthfeel.

Flavor:

The flavor was noted to be mainly sweet with milky, nutty and slightly acidic undertones.

Aftertaste:

The aftertaste was brief and was both sweet and dry.

Overall comments: 
This chocolate seemed more like milk chocolate due to its sweetness and milky taste. The taste though was very pleasurable and I enjoyed eating it. It was also very smooth.

This chocolate is Patricia's Chocolate Fortunato No. 4 47% Dark Milk Chocolate.

Overall thoughts:

Personally this was my favorite chocolate but I tend to enjoy the sweeter chocolates. After doing a little research on this chocolate it was noted that this comes from a rare cocoa bean. It also has a special cocnching technique to retain as much flavor as possible. It is known to contain nutty, floral, and fruity undertones. I think this chocolate cantains great flavor and is highly recommended especially for those who want a lit of flavor but maybe not as much of an intense dark chocolate flavor. 

This chocolate is sold for around $3.80 for a 0.56 oz bar so about  $6.79/ oz. 

Blind tasting #3

Hello,

Here is info on a third chocolate

Chocolate #3

Appearance:

This chocolate's appearance was described as slightly shiny and waxy. Also the chocolate appeared to contain small chances in it.

Touch:

 The chocolate was very smooth and silky but also was gritty due to the small pieces in it.

Sound:

All of the tasters thought that this chocolate created a crisp snap when the chocolate was broken in to pieces.

Aroma:

The smell was described as having a rich and intense cocoa smell. It instantly made you think of good dark chocolate.

Mouthfeel:

This chocolate was noted to be smooth and gritty at the same time. In your mouth the pieces seem to pop and fizz. Also the chocolate did not melt as easy as the other chocolates did.

Flavor:

The flavor was described as a good mix between sweet and bitter notes.

Aftertaste:

The aftertaste was brief and dry.

Overall comments: 

This chocolate was a favorite among the tasters due to its tasting experience. When eating this chocolate it was smooth but also fizzled and made noise in your mouth. Later we found out that this was due to the pop rocks in the chocolate.

This chocolate is Christopher Elbow Artisanal No. 6 Dark Rocks Chocolate.

Overall thoughts:

This candy bar allows for a new tasting experience. The chocolate is a perfect blend of bitter and sweet which can appease many chocolate lovers pallets. The pop rocks slightly enhance the sweetness and allow for a multi-sense experience. The pop rocks add and interesting texture and you can hear them as they explode as well. Overall I loved this chocolate and would recommend it to others to give it a try. It may take a little getting used to your chocolate fizzing in your mouth but overall it is an amazing product. 

This chocolate is sold for around $3.50 / oz 

Blind tasting #2

Hello everyone,

Following is information gathered about another chocolate that was blind tasted.

Chocolate #2

Appearance:

This chocolate's appearance was consistently described as slightly shiny and waxy looking. It also was lighter in color than most of the other chocolates.

Touch:

 The chocolate was very smooth and silky between your fingers and melted very quickly. 

Sound:

All of the tasters thought that this chocolate created a soft breaking noise and it did not "break" as much as it "bended" and then softly broke into pieces. 

Aroma:

The smell was described as a very faint sweet smell. Some said it smelled similar to a Kit-Kat bar.

Mouthfeel:

This chocolate was noted to be extremely smooth and easily melted in your mouth. Some thought it seemed slightly waxy as well.

Flavor:

The flavor was described as very sweet.

Aftertaste:

Very brief but it was sweet.

Overall comments: 

This chocolate was a favorite among the taster but it could be due to the fact that we recognized the flavor.

This chocolate is Dove's Milk Chocolate bar. 

Overall thoughts:

Dove is an extremely sweet and silky chocolate bar. Dove is noted for its silky texture and after some research I found out it could be due to the process called conching. This is a procedure where the cocoa and liquid chocolate is worked on by rollers to create a very fine mixture. The longer it is processed the finer the chocolate and thus the silkier. This can be expensive, so maybe that is why Dove adds so much sugar so it can use less of the liquid chocolate. Also, Dove is able to buy ingredients for their chocolate in bulk, which also allows them cut back on the cost. This shows that not all cheap chocolates have a waxy taste. This chocolate overall though has a wonderful taste, but is considerably sweet compared to other chocolates. I would give it a 7 out of 10.

This chocolate is sold for $0.89 for 1.44 ounces, which is $0.61 / oz 

Blind tasting #1

While at Grand Valley my professor set up a blind chocolate taste testing between a few of my colleagues and myself. The next few blog posts will review the eight chocolates we tasted and our opinion of each. We looked at the appearance, touch, sound, aroma, mouthfeel, flavor and aftertaste of the chocolate. 

Chocolate #1

Appearance:

This chocolate's appearance was consistently described as dark, dull and appeared to have a matte finish. A few tasters also noted crystals in the chocolate.

Touch:

 The chocolate had a hard and dry touch, and it seemed rough when rubbed between your fingers. 

Sound:

All of the tasters thought this chocolate created a crisp breaking noise when it was snapped into pieces.

Aroma:

The smell was described as intense with earthy undertones. Some noted nutty smells as well.

Mouthfeel:

This chocolate was noted to be smooth, silky, and easily melted in your mouth.

Flavor:

The flavor was described as bitter and very salty. Most people also described it as having a noticeable dark chocolate taste. 

Aftertaste:

This chocolate only allowed for a brief aftertaste that contained salty undertones.

Overall comments: 

This chocolate had exactly a 50/50 split, where half of the judges enjoyed the chocolate and half of them thought that it was not good at all. Those that enjoyed it thought that the balance between salty and sweet was perfect, and complimented each other well.

This chocolate tasted was Organic Dark Chocolate with Natural Sea Salt from Salazon Chocolate Co.

Overall thoughts:

I personally did not enjoy this chocolate but I do know that a few of the tasters considered this their number one out of all eight chocolates.  The pleasure of this chocolate seems to depend on your own tasting pallet. If you prefer salty foods you may enjoy this chocolate. This raises the question though about how fair is the ratting of the chocolate just based upon opinion alone. If I just tasted this I would have given it a 2 out of 10 but other tasters gave it a 9 out of 10. When trying to truly evaluate things, such as chocolate, it sometimes is more than just personal preference of taste that comes into play. This concept many people forget, especially because you only want to spend money on things you like, but it is something I hope to expand on in the future.

This chocolate is sold for $3.29 for 2.75 ounces, which is $1.20 / oz