Sunday 27 January 2013

Taste Trials: Dark Chocolate 1

So, a brilliant new idea I've had which happens to include tasting lots of chocolate (what a shame!) is to compare the different brands of dark chocolate. I plan to do this in several rounds, partly because I had the idea and wanted to start straight away so had to use what was to hand, and partly because there are lots of different types and subgroups to try. 

For this first round of taste trials, I decided to compare the 3 plain dark chocolate (so no additional fruit or other flavours) we had at home - Hotel Chocolate 85% dark Ghana chocolate, Montezuma's 54% giant dark chocolate buttons, and Tesco everyday value plain chocolate (which we tend to use a lot for baking etc). 

Obviously in terms of price there is a huge difference as well, so I have split my research into overall impressions, value for money, and then a summary comparison

Overall Impressions:
The Tesco Everyday Value Plain Chocolate is ok in its own merit - but not when compared to higher quality chocolate. It has a fairly sweet taste, unusual for dark chocolate, but which makes it more-ish in the way milk chocolate is. It does melt in the mouth very well, a key aspect of a good chocolate experience (think Galaxy or Dairy Milk!). 
Montezuma's Giant Chocolate Buttons have a much richer flavour than the Tesco chocolate, but with this comes a slight bitterness as well. There is a deep flavour with a good aftertaste, which the tesco chocolate lacked. It didn't have quite the melting properties of the Tesco chocolate.
Hotel Chocolate was a very strong dark taste that was very bitter. It also didn't really melt-in-the-mouth, but both of these could be because of the very high cocoa content (85%). I actually found it a bit too bitter for my liking, especially when compared to the other 2 chocolates. 

Value:
Obviously, at 35p for 100g, the Tesco Everyday Value Plain Chocolate is the best value for money! 
Montezuma's Giant Dark Chocolate Buttons 54% cocoa cost £2.79 for 180g.
Hotel Chocolate 85% Dark Chocolate from Ghana is the most expensive at £3.50 for only 100g. It's worth also noting that this isn't because of the high cocoa levels as all the 100g selector bars are this set price. 

Summary:
In terms of overall taste, I would rate the Montezuma's top, with Tesco second and Hotel Chocolat third - but with a proviso that this may be down to the particular Hotel Chocolat tested as I am not a fan of very bitter high cocoa chocolate. I will re-run the test at a later date with more similar cocoa percentages.
In terms of texture, the Tesco brand had the best texture, with Montezumas second and HC third.
Finally, when considering how well the chocolate melts in your mouth, again the tesco came first, with Montezumas 2nd and HC third (again).

So, for me at least, higher price has not equated to better taste! 

I plan to run further trials with green and blacks chocolate, lindt dark chocolate, and other varieties of HC and Montezuma's. If there's anything you think I should be trying, feel free to comment and let me know.. I'm always up for trying more chocolate! 

And last of all, if you want to try some for yourself (or buy some for me!)...
Tesco Everyday Value Plain Chocolate: http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=254381907 
Montezuma's 54% Cocoa Giant Dark Chocolate Buttons: http://www.montezumas.co.uk/chocolate-gifts/dark-chocolate-buttons.html
Hotel Chocolate 85% Dark Chocolate fomr Ghana: http://www.hotelchocolat.co.uk/cid/8YMK3ZAT1Q0HAYD6SMLLYHNAZXJRXP53/chocolate-for-diabetics-P210318/

Enjoy!
LFL


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