Fruition Chocolate - Harney & Sons Tea Bar - Hot Cinnamon Spice (bar) - Sept. 3, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Fruition Chocolate
Harney and Sons Tea Bar - Hot Cinnamon Spice 46% Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 325 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $9.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Rainbow Grocery, San Francisco, CA 

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Tea Theme Week.

Today's Hot Cinnamon Spice 46% Milk Chocolate bar was a collaboration between Harney and Sons Master Tea Blenders (Millerton, NY) and Fruition Chocolate (Shokan, NY). 

This chocolate possessed a warm cinnamon tea aroma and flavor. (The spiciness implied in the "hot" cinnamon name may have been mellowed a bit by milk powder, cocoa butter and sugar.)

The bar had a satisfying, very creamy milk chocolate melt and texture, and a light lingering sweet cinnamon spice finish. 

The cacao (beans) used to make this bean-to-bar milk chocolate were from Chuno, Nicaragua.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice (tm) tea (black tea, orange peel, natural cinnamon flavor, cinnamon, clove), orange oil, cinnamon.

Rococo Chocolates - "Big Smoke" with Lapsang Souchong Tea - 65% Cocoa Dark Chocolate (bar) - Sept. 2, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Rococo Chocolates
Big Smoke with Lapsang Souchong Tea - 65% Cocoa Dark Chocolate (bar)

Good ++ - Good +++

Weight: 1.235 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar

Calories: 187 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $7.99 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Rainbow Grocery, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Tea Theme Week. Most teas are light and refreshing and impart subtle flavors to chocolate. We've had several wild fires in Northern California this past month and the hazy air lingers. So, the "Big Smoke" seemed like a perfect bar to kick off this tea theme week.

Today's Big Smoke - with Lapsang Souchong Tea - 65% Cocoa Dark Chocolate (bar) was from Rococo Chocolates (London, UK). 

This bar had smooth, creamy texture with occasional crunchy (powdered tea leaf) bits and a pleasing, subtle smoked tea and salt aroma, with a dark chocolate flavor with faint hints of dark fermented fruit (plum) and smokey Lapsang Souchong and sweet licorice teas. Who said smokey flavor was a flaw? Not I. For those who enjoy a subtly crafted flavor ride, and who like a deft touch of umami with their chocolate, try this bar.

Tasting notes from Rococo founder Chantal Cody read as follows: "Something for the more sophisticated palate, this is made with a fine Lapsang tea and has hints of resin, paprika and peaty Islay whiskies accompanying the wood smoke."

Ingredients: Organic cocoa mass, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, cocoa powder, Lapsang Souchong smoked tea, emulsifier (soya lecithin).