I tried my last Brasstown bar.
This bar was quite good, and it had nice tangy aftertaste, more fruity than metallic. It was 70% cacao like their Peruvian bar, but its singular note was more like their Ecuadorian bar. Overall, I ranked this bar as their second best, with Ecuador the clear winner.
I tried another Brasstown bar.
Hmm.
This bar was a good bar, but after Brasstown Ecuador, I found this bar to be too sweet. Plus, its notes were just “fruity”, with none of the nuances of the Ecuadorian bar. Like I said, this was a good bar, but I think trying Ecuador first may have spoiled me.
One more Brasstown bar to go!
I found this new (to me, at least) brand of chocolate inside the Intrigue Chocolate shop in Seattle.
This bar was delicious! It was very chocolatety (expected for 75% cacao) and the singular notes were strong! I thought it tasted citrus-like, but my co-workers also noted honey, fruity and metallic notes. Everyone liked it.
I especially loved the INSIDE of the label.
I love old maps, and I also love the sepia style of the artwork. It reminds me of my old game, Arcanum. We used lots of similar art in the manual and the game itself.
I bought two more of these bars, both from different countries, so expect more Brasstown reviews!
I ate my last Intrigue chocolate bar today.
Like the previous Intrigue bars, this bar had an interesting set of flavors in it. The rosemary stood out the most, adding a savory quality, but its flavor was quite subdued. The salt was similar; it was there but just in a tiny, smoky amount. I could not taste the blackberry honey at all, but I am happy to say that I could still taste the chocolate! I really liked this bar, and my co-workers did too.
This may be the last Intrigue bar in my bag, but I plan to return to Seattle for more!
I tried another Intrigue chocolate at work.
While I will admit that this is an intriguing combination of flavors (see what I did there?), they again overwhelmed the chocolate flavor. Like the Chili-Hibiscus-Cinnamon-Vanilla bar or the Juniper-Lime bar, there was just too much going on. When I bit into the bar, the lavender jumped out immediately, followed by the roasted coffee flavor. Then as I swallowed, there was a bit of heat and that was it. No real chocolate taste appeared at all. I suspect that the coffee masked most of it, and the lavender masked the rest.
That said, I liked this bar’s flavors a lot. I just wish I could taste the chocolate too. Maybe a bar with a higher cacao percentage would do the trick.
I found this bar at Intrigue Chocolate in Seattle on Capitol Hill.
This was (of course) a 100% cacao bar, made exclusively from cacao grown in the Dominican Republic and in Peru. I opened it at the office for a chocolate eating meeting, and a half dozen co-workers agreed that it was very smooth and creamy for a 100% bar. The back label said it should taste like “red berry flavors”, but we were not sure we could taste those. It just tasted like exceptionally dark roasted chocolate. I really liked it.
I tried another Intrigue chocolate with my co-workers.
Wow, that is a lot of ingredients! I was worried the chili would be too hot, but it was fairly mild, and I couldn’t taste the hibiscus at all. But the cinnamon and vanilla were pretty strong, and like the Intrigue juniper and lime bar, I couldn’t really taste the chocolate. Don’t get me wrong, I liked this bar, and so did my co-workers. In fact, several of us had seconds. But I am always a little sad when the added flavors to a chocolate bar mask the taste of the chocolate. I would have toned them down a little.
