Thursday, May 20, 2021

Socola Chocolatier - Toasted Coconut and Black Sesame Milk Chocolate (bar) - May 20, 2021

Chocolate(s) of the Day

Socola Chocolatier 

Toasted Coconut and Black Sesame Milk Chocolate (bar) 
Good ++
Weight: 2 oz. (56.6 g.) / 4 oz. (113 g.) (estimate) in total bar
Calories: 310 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.95 + shipping for 1 bar
Purchased from: Socola Chocolatier, online order

Strawberry Matcha White Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 4 oz. (113 g.) (estimate) in total bar
Calories: 157 calories (estimate) in 1/4 bar
Cost: $9.95 + shipping for 1 bar
Purchased from: Socola Chocolatier, online order

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate and Vietnam Theme Week, and Day #2 of Chocolate and VWXYZ Theme Week, featuring chocolate items with origins and flavor inclusions that begin with the letters V, W, X, Y and/or Z, such as Vietnam and Vanilla.

Today's two bars: 1.) Toasted Coconut and Black Sesame Milk Chocolate (bar), and the beautiful 2.) Strawberry Matcha White Chocolate bar were made by Wendy Lieu at Socola Chocolatier (San Francisco, CA). 

Socola (the Vietnamese word for chocolate) was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area by two sisters in 2001.* Their confections and bars often include Vietnam-inspired ingredients.

Opening the shipment containing these two bars was like unboxing happiness. Creativity, beauty, fun and great, fresh chocolate all in one package. 

It was good to see "Harriet," the winged alpaca, a Socola spirit animal of sorts again. (Covid-19 cut down on seeing local chocolatiers in the past few years.) Harriet appeared on the company's logo/packaging, on the chocolate bars, and in the Socola postcards that were generously included in the shipment.

Toasted Coconut and Black Sesame Milk Chocolate (bar)

This visual feast of a milk chocolate bar was adorned with toasted, shaved coconut pieces and a light sprinkle of black sesame seeds. It had a lovely, subtle aroma with notes of milk chocolate, roasted coconut and nutty sesame. The flavor was a fully realized version of the aroma notes with rich and creamy milk chocolate, a bit of soft crunch from coconut and seeds, rounded out with a touch of warm vanilla that tied together all these elements very nicely.

Warning: this bar could be slightly addictive. Yes this bar was sweet, but it was also very easy to enjoy.

Ingredients: Milk chocolate (cacao beans, pure cane sugar, sunflower lecithin, vanilla beans, cocoa butter, full cream milk); coconut; black sesame seeds. 

Allergen-related information: contains milk, sesame

Strawberry Matcha Tea (bar)

Today's second bar was a colorful confection: a field of green (white chocolate infused with green matcha tea) with freeze-dried, rosy red strawberries (embedded in and atop the bar).

White chocolate usually contains vanilla. (This bar did.) Vanilla adds an uplifting green, floral flavor and evokes the smell of warm, aromatic baked goods and hot chocolate. This "happy" spice accented the mellow, light spring green flavor of the sweet and creamy matcha green tea, and elevated the tart-sweet, softly crunchy, strawberry pieces. The result: harmonious and bright confection perfection.

Ingredients: White chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, full milk powder, sunflower lecithin, vanilla); strawberries; matcha green tea

Allergen-related information: Contains milk

*Socola Chocolatier was founded by two Vietnamese American sisters, Wendy and Susan Lieu. Socola also has a chocolate and coffee shop location in San Francisco.

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