Obolo Chocolate - 64% Cacao Lapsang Souchong bar - Dec. 28, 2019

Chocolate of the Day:

Obolo Chocolate
64% Cacao Lapsang Souchong (bar)
Good +
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 140 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Holiday Tea and Spirits Theme Week.

Today's 64% Cacao Lapsang Souchong (tea) bar was made by Obolo Chocolate, a bean-to-bar chocolate maker based in Santiago, Chile.

This complex, relatively sweet dark chocolate broke with a hard snap and was full of smoked tea, savory, fruit, floral aroma and flavor notes. It was an enjoyable and satisfying dark chocolate ride.

I love umami flavors, so I'll never say no to a well-executed, well-balanced bar like this with hints of clean smoked tea.

*Lapsang Souchang tea is a black tea originally from the Wuyi region (Fujian Province) in China. Tea leaves are dried over a smoking pine fire, giving the tea its characteristic smoky flavor and aroma.

Ghirardelli - Peppermint Bark Snowmen - December 27, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
Peppermint Bark Snowmen
Good +
Weight: 1.02 oz. (29 g.) / 4 oz. (115.2 g.) in total package
Calories: 160 calories in 1 serving (3 pieces)
Cost: $3.00 (estimate) for 1 package
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA


Welcome to Day #6 of Holiday Tea and Spirits Theme Week.

Today's festive little peppermint bark snowmen were from Ghirardelli Chocolate Company (San Leandro, CA).

The company has been offering individually-wrapped peppermint bark squares for many years, and these snowmen were a fun variation on a Christmas and winter holidays theme.

Crunchy, sweet and pepperminty, this snowman-shaped piece had a thin dark chocolate layer on the bottom and a white chocolate and peppermint candy snowman top layer.

Pair this with an eggnog—or a non-alcoholic and/or non-dairy eggnot—and you've got yourself a very American-looking Christmas holiday chocolate snack. 

Cultura Craft Chocolate - 70% Whiskey + Nibs bar - Dec. 26, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Cultura Craft Chocolate
70% Whiskey + Nibs bar
Good ++
Weight: .6 oz. (17.16 g.) /.9 oz. (26 g.) in total bar
Calories: 101 calories (estimate) in 2/3 bar
Cost: $5.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Shop in Albuquerque, NM

Welcome to Day #5 of Holiday Tea and Spirits Theme Week.

Today's 70% Whiskey + Nibs bar was from Cultura Craft Chocolate (Denver, CO).

On her website, Cultura head, Damaris Ronkanen, recalls visiting her grandparents in Mexico and her early exposure to chocolate traditions, such as her grandmother's delicious champurrado (chocolate atole) and mole. Ronkanen seeks to honor her chocolate origins in her bars.

The four-ingredient* 70% Whisky + Nibs** bar had dried fruit notes, mellowed by a very faint hint of (Deerhammer's single malt) whiskey. Satisfying true chocolate flavor was enhanced by a smattering of cacao nibs. The chocolate had high-quality, complex flavor that was not overpowered by sugar (thank you!).

*Organic cacao, organic cane sugar, whiskey, organic cocoa butter

**Nibs (pieces of cocoa beans) add a soft crunch and can magnify the essence of true chocolate flavor, taking it to the next level. Marinate nibs in whiskey and you can use them in cooking (in brownies, cookies, over vanilla ice cream, in savory dishes/rubs...or to sprinkle on chocolate.).

Ocho Caramel and Reese's milk chocolate peanut butter filled trees - Dec. 25, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Ocho
Organic Caramel Trees - Milk Chocolate
Good +
Weight: 1.16 oz. (33 g.) / 3.88 oz. (110 g.) in total package
Calories: 150 calories in 3 pieces
Cost: $1.99 (estimate) for 1 package
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Reese's
(The Hershey Company)
Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter - Tree stuffed with Reese's pieces
Good
Weight: 1.1 oz. (31 g.) in 1 small package
Calories: 160 calories in 1 package
Cost: $0.79 for 1 package
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Holiday Tea and Spirits Theme Week.

Decorating holiday trees this week, and hiking outdoors with friends and family inspired the choice of two filled chocolate "trees" on Christmas Day. It was also a beautiful day outdoors today, with live trees and lit up trees of all kinds, everywhere.

Hope you all enjoyed the holidays.

Ocho Caramel Trees
The individually-wrapped, diminutive Milk Chocolate Caramel Tree from Ocho was oozing with fresh, authentic-tasting caramel. And the chocolate tasted authentic and relatively high-quality as well. Did I mention these were Organic as well?

Ocho, based in Oakland, CA, was an early player in the healthier candy bar market, with offerings that not only lacked artificial colors or preservatives, but also were organic and better tasting than their packaged candy ancestors.

The Reese's* Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Tree

Reese's small novelty holiday tree was filled with colorful, candy-coated, crunchy Reese's pieces. Stuffing the "ornaments" inside the peanut butter tree, made for a sweeter, crunchier tasting experience than the standard peanut butter cup.

*The H.B. Reese Candy Company is a subsidiary of Hersheys (The Hershey Company, Hershey, PA). The two companies became one in the early 1960s.