Chocolate You Would Recommend?

I'm going to be at my "local" gourmet store tomorrow and hope to be picking up some new chocolate there. I'm hoping to try something new, and I know they carry some of these brands:Michel CluizelHachez (I've had the Coco'Arriba before and wasn't too impressed)GuittardSantander (I've heard iffy things about this one)Cafe TasseNirvanaVivaniThere's also a brand that showed up there recently and I can't remember the name. It comes in a very long and thin package (think 2 inches wide by 11 inches tall) and is color coded. I remember eyeing the green tea flavor. I also recall it was from Europe. Any idea what brand this might be?If anyone has any recommendations on what I should pick up, or something else to look for, please speak up! Thanks in advance,~S
updated by @sera: 04/24/15 01:42:25PM

I believe the bars you are describing are from Charlemagne in Belgium.This is a link to the product page with a picture. The green tea bar is the bottom one in the photo.For those of you who don't have a local store that carries Charlemagne, one on-line source that carries them is ChocolateSource.com . In the upper-left of the home page is a drop down selector labeled "Brand." Click on that, select Charlemagne from the list, and you'll see these bars there. I believe that Chocolate Source (which is also the company behind the Nirvana brand) is the importer.


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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

Thank you so much Clay! That's them!

I got a head of myself there, posting before I finished! Would you recommend them at all?

Michel Cluizel--the higher percentages aren't as good as his 60s and 70sHachez -- stay away! doesn't live up to anythingSantander -- all of the dark ones I've tried have been surprisingly great (for the low price I normally see them at)Cafe Tasse---is very dry, not goodNirvana---haven't triedVivani---- Excellent! all! perfect deepness and texture, love the lemon especially

I have only tasted one of them and it was at the Fancy Food Show last July after a long day of tasting other stuff. So, actually, I don't remember. Chances are the chocolate is not made by Charlemagne but sourced from Callebaut or Belcolade but it could be someone else. Charlemagne is adding the flavorings and they usually do a very good job. There is every good chance that the green tea bar is at least as good as the Dolfin green tea bar which is pretty darn good, IMO.


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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

Thanks Clay! I'll give them a shot.

Sarah, thanks so much for your reply! Looks like I'll have to give Cluizel, Santander and Vivani a try.

I also recommend the Chocolate Covered nibs by Taza & the Banana Choco Pods by Chuao. Delicious!

Chocoflyer, I love, love, LOVE the Banana ChocPods too! I'm just enamored with that company, all of Chuao Chocolatier's stuff is so good!

Everything from Chuao, especially the pods, are insanely amazing!

Ok, here's what I purchased"Vivani: Dark Chocolate with Green Tea, Dark Chocolate with LemonCharlemagne: Plain (red wrapper), with Cinnamon (blue wrapper) and Green Tea (green wrapper)Michel Cluizel: Ier Cre de Planation of Sao Tome (bright blue wrapper) and the Madagascar (orange wrapper).Don Puglisi Rustic Drinking Chocolate BarI also saw some new things there that I've never heard of. I would have written it down but I didn't have a pen on me and my camera was home with its battery getting charged. Figures! *sigh*

Sounds great! let us know how you find them I've never tried the cinnamon one, myself.

Sera, please do let us know. There is a forum category for tasting notes and I would add them there and put a link from this thread to that tasting note.


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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

Here's the link to my tasting notes: Click here!