Forum Activity for @sabrina hicks

Pralus le 100% ... different flavor?

Posted in: Tasting Notes

At the lovely shop I work at, we just got a couple of boxes of Pralus le 100%. The packaging is new to us, with mostly beige and only a couple stripes of grey (although the glue still doesn't keep the wrappers sealed!)...I think the flavor is new also! (maybe this is already a known fact??) (Sarah..fyi to you on vacation!)The 100 bar that was in the full grey wrapper was amazing--no sugar, and yet one could SWEAR it had sugar. It was hard for me to believe there was no sugar. I was not fully convinced it had no sugar...Maybe my tongue was off yesterday, and I only had a quick bite of each, but the newly packaged 100 tastes very different to me. As though there really is no sugar or sweetener in it, as the label suggests. It tasted more like Cluizel's 99%, the more bitter chocolate that one would expect from the le 100%.SO..thoughts? Are the bars different? Was there really a sweetener in the grey wrapped Pralus le 100% bar? Should I not delve into this?
updated by @sabrina hicks: 04/15/15 06:52:39

Weird Flavors and Inclusions in Chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

hmm, well i didn't think the last bar i had was that strange--lemon, pepper in white. but i think they forgot to label it correctly as puke-flavored. that's a pretty weird flavor.

Describing chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

couldn't the spider graphs be standardized somewhat easily? maybe a few more simple characteristics added on. even milk and dark chocolate could have the same words, potentially. i.e. caramel a 9 for milk, a 4 for a dark, etc...

i like the visual idea of the spider graph. alcohol, bitter, fruity, nutty, coffee, 'chocolatey', caramel, intensity...maybe that's enough? maybe a partnered x/y graph of the when the intensity exists..or what about where the flavor hits on the tongue? a sweet picture of a tongue with different colors might work..or be weird. i know i like the flavor to hit everywhere. some like it better on the tip of the tongue. but maybe the same bar hits different tongues in different places for everyone..

i'm not so sure about the music qualifications--i don't think they work well with me, at least. maybe if it were like "john phillips sousa"--bam! and then soften and go on and on...or "trent reznor"--quiet quiet louder louder LOUDEST EVER quiet quiet....just brainstorming.

American, Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Makers: A Complete List

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Clay, the link for your database didn't work (you mentioned on page 4 of this discussion)--am I right in that it's now defunct?Updated List:Amano Artisan ChocolateAmbrosia (ADM-owned, bean-to-couverture)Askinosie ChocolateBittersweet Chocolate Cafe (Seneca is doing some micro-batch bars)Black MountainBlommer Chocolate CompanyCioccolato (located in Wyoming and Mexico--bean-to-bonbon)De Vries ChocolateDe Zaan (ADM-owned, bean-to-couverture)Escazu Chocolates (just starting to release a bean-to-bar line)Fearless Chocolate Company (raw)FrescoGhirardelli (Owned by Lindt in Switzerland)GuittardJacques TorresKraft (German-owned)Lulu's ChocolateMarsMast BrothersMerkens (ADM-owned, bean-to-couverture)Nestle (Swiss-owned)Olive and SinclairOriginal Hawaiian Chocolate Factory (also grows their beans on American soil)Patric ChocolatePeters (Cargill-owned, bean-to-couverture)Rogue ChocolatierSacred Chocolate (raw)Scharffen BergerSoma Chocolatemaker (actually in Canada)TazaTchoTheoVan Leer (Belgian-owned)Wilbur (Cargill-owned, bean-to-bar)World's Finest Chocolate

American, Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Makers: A Complete List

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hi!Lulu's Chocolate (also Lulu's Raw Chocolate Alchemy) is doing a line of bean-to-bar stone ground bars. www.luluschocolate.com The bars aren't on her website, but we carry one variety where I work (Alma Chocolate, Portland, Or.) and I've seen them at co-ops around town. Last I heard she was keeping production small, but that could be different now/future.They're delicious and made with coconut sugar! There were four or five flavors, I believe.

Pralus packaging

Posted in: Opinion

What I don't like about Pralus wrapping is that every time we get a box in, at least a few are no longer sealed! With all the layers they use, you'd think they would use a glue that kept those layers together.