Chocolates Simon Coll, S.A. - 70% Cocoa Dark Chocolate (bar) - Feb. 26, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Chocolates Simon Coll, S.A.
70% Cocoa Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2.99 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 159 calories in 1 oz. (28.3 g.) of bar
Cost: $6.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #8 of Plain Dark Chocolate Theme Week.


Not all "plain" dark chocolate blend bars are the same. However, the bulk of cacao harvested is used to make "bulk" chocolate, which does have a sweet, and sometimes relatively bland, over-roasted, very uniform chocolate flavor (occasionally brightened with some vanilla).

For large, high-volume makers flavor consistency is key--a requirement in fact--which means it's more difficult to find flavor depth and interesting variations that occur in a single year (or origin). This same volume vs. value situation holds true for wine and many other foods and beverages as well. However, this doesn't mean that all dark chocolate blends made with consistency in mind are alike.

Today, we sampled a dark bar from Spain, with some history dating back to the 1700s.

The 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate bar from Chocolates Simon Coll, S.A. (Barcelona, Spain) proved to be one of the better plain dark chocolate bars. (European flavor profiles can sometimes vary from U.S.-made dark chocolate.)

The packaging was adorned with an illustration/poster painted by Alphonse Mucha* circa 1900 for Chocolate Amatller*, a chocolate company founded in Barcelona in 1797.

And inside the attractive wrapper, the dark chocolate had a slightly malty, slightly fruity, sweet, chocolatey dark bar with a pleasant flavor and finish with a hint of vanilla.

Ingredients: "Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, fat reduced cocoa powder, emulsifier (soya lecithin) and flavouring (vanilla)."

*Alphonse Mucha was a Czech painter, illustrator and graphic artist known for his Art Nouveau style paintings and stylized theatrical posters. The founders of Chocolate Amatller were patrons of the arts. The Chocolate Amatller brand was, more recently, incorporated into Chocolates Simon Coll, S.A., a company that continues to feature the brand's historical look.