How do I taste chocolate for a review?

If you wonder how I taste chocolate for a review here is a rundown of the process. First, I evaluate the appearance and presentation. Is the wrapping attractive? How is the shine and colour? Next up is the aroma. For example, is it sweet smelling and does it smell of cocoa? Then I break a piece of to evaluate the “snap” of the chocolate. If it is crisp and clean it is usually a good sign. The snap is of less importance in milk, white and filled chocolate as these do not have the same kind of crisp snap.

Next I evaluate texture and flavour including the snap when actually biting into the bar, the thickness and the melt or mouth feel. Flavour wise I look for complexity and nuances such as bitterness, sweetness acidity and for notes such as fruits and earth. Finally I look at the development from initial to final taste.

With some bars where I expect it to be very sweet or rich I may sometimes taste it not only at room temperature but also chilled (from the fridge) in order to see if the sweetness is balanced this way. However, in my experience only few bar gain from being chilled.

Review: Marabou Premium 86%

The Marabou premium series is described on the website as a “richer dark chocolate”. Both visually – and by name – it stands out from the ordinary “Marabou”, suggesting a more elegant and sophisticated product.

Package (100g contents) appears nice, though the large golden fonts detract somewhat from the otherwise elegant look one would expect from an 86% chocolate. A nice detail is the cocoa beans printed on the foil wrapping. Also, individual pieces (10 in all) are shiny and patterned elegantly. Presentation/appearance: 7 out of 10.

Aroma is nice. Nice smell of dark sweet chocolate. From the sweetness of the aroma I would probably not have guessed that this was an 86% chocolate. Aroma: 8/10

The snap of the chocolate is quite good. Not only when you break off a piece, but also - and more importantly - when you bite into it. However, the melt is less good. The chocolate disintegrates to smaller pieces in the mouth taking quite a while before melting. Even when it melts it does so unevenly. If this chocolate is intended for eating as is, rather than for cooking, perhaps improvement in this area would result from a thinner bar. Texture: 7 out of 10.

The initial flavour is surprisingly sweet and not too bitter. After a few moments the bitterness blends in with the sweetness. The flavour is not overpowering which is an achievement in such a dark chocolate. The bitterness lingers in the mouth long afterwards. Unfortunately there is little fruit and complexity in the flavour, making the aftertaste too one sided. Perhaps this is a perennial issue with very dark chocolates such as this one. Flavour: 7 out of 10.

7,25 out of 10.

Review: Marabou hjerter (hearts)

This box of “Heart shaped Milk chocolates with hazelnut cream filling” contains 20 chocolates (125g). This means that each chocolate weighs about six grams.

The chocolates come in an elegant red box and presentation is enhanced by the inlay paper covering the “hearts”, adding a somewhat sophisticated feel to it. The hearts themselves have a nice shine and very light brown/caramel in colour. Presentation/appearance 8 out of 10.

Aroma is strong hazelnut/nougat, very sweet and fatty. Very little discernible aroma in terms of cocoa. 6.5 out of 10.

The chocolate has a nice bite though there is no snap as such. This is quite well done. However, the texture after a little while becomes quite fatty which I find less pleasant. The melt is nice. Texture: 7 out of 10.

Flavour wise this is a very sweet chocolate and personally I find it too sweet. The good thing, though, is that the sweetness does not leave a burn in your neck, which is sometimes a problem. The hazelnut flavour clearly comes through, though it is not very intense which is somewhat disappointing. Equally disappointing is the lack of clear chocolate taste. With each piece being only about six gram I think the manufacturers should have gone for a more intense flavour. It is hard not to think that the sweetness is to compensate for the lack of flavour in these quite small pieces. Flavour: 6 out of 10.

Average 6.9

Review: Marabou Digestive

I’ll kick of this blog by reviewing a Marabou Digestive (200g bar) that has been sitting in my cupboard for a little while. It is a Swedish brand which, I think, was taken over by Kraft Foods. The brand appears to be quite popular in Scandinavia, with several varieties.

The appearance of the bar itself is OK without being anything fancy. Not too many digestives are visible in a cross section view. A look at the underside of the bar, however, reveals that quite a generous amount of digestives (20% called “Biscuit balls”) go into making a Marabou Digestive. The packaging appears quite balanced and nice. 7 out of 10

The aroma is milky chocolate, not too sweet with a recognizable buttery/fatty and cocoa element and something more indefinable, perhaps coming from “biscuit balls” and/or added aromas. I have no doubt the aroma will appeal to many. 7 out of 10.

The flavour is quite sweet and caramely and leaves a “burn” in the neck. It does lack any real chocolate flavour. Also, there is a hint of foreign fats, which gives it a slightly “wrong” taste. Here I think is where the potential for improvement is largest. 6/10.

The biscuit balls inside the chocolate provide excellent crunch in every bite and this part is really well executed. The melt of the chocolate is also good. However, there is no discernable snap to the chocolate covering. Texture: 8 out of 10.

Despite these issues I think many will enjoy this particular chocolate as the chocolate is not very intense and because of the well executed crunch added by the biscuit balls.

Test notes: I tested this bar in two different conditions. One at room temperature and the other sample was placed in the fridge for a few hours. In my opinion the room temperature sample was best by far. The cooled one was not only too tough but the biscuit balls were noticeably less crunchy. Also the cooled sample did not appear to improve its snap. Perhaps milk chocolate is not supposed to have any particular snap to it?

Average 7 out of 10.