Chocolate of the Day
Taza Chocolate
Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans
Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 3.5 oz. (99 g.) in total package
Calories: 130 calories in 1 oz. (28 g.) serving (about 36 pieces)
Cost: $3.99 for 1 serving
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA
Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate and Coffee Theme Week.
Today's Organic and Vegan* Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans were from Taza Chocolate (Somerville, MA).
My favorite part of this tasting experience may have been when I first opened the package and inhaled deeply. Many of this past week's featured items have been more chocolate forward. Today it was coffee's turn. These espresso beans had a wonderful, bold coffee aroma.
The texture was a study in contrasts: smooth, creamy dark (direct trade, Ghana) chocolate covered crunchy, almost fibrous, coffee beans. Taza Chocolate is known for chocolate that is stone-ground cho--a process that can result in bolder/less processed flavor and a thicker/almost gritty texture. (I noticed no grit in today's chocolate. It seemed very thick and creamy in contrast with the roasted coffee beans.)
The flavor notes included the aforementioned bold espresso-roast coffee beans and true chocolate. However, the more fully intact (less processed) flavors also had vibrant, authentic complexity with flickers of fruit (diffuse red berry, faint red apple and nectarine, olive), balanced earth, roasted (wood, seed, nut) and sweetness (light brown sugar, faint vanilla).
A full serving (approximately 36 pieces, or 1 oz. (28 g.)) of these flavorful Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans (and the caffeine and theobromine they contain) will engage all your tasting senses and leave you wide awake and ready to start your walk, hike, run, ride or other project.
Ingredients: Organic cane sugar, organic cacao beans, organic espresso beans, organic cocoa butter, organic vanilla beans.
Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of tree nuts and sesame seeds." "Dairy Free, Soy Free, Vegan,* Gluten Free"
*Many chocolate covered items use shellacs, glazes or "varnishes" made from insect-derived resinous lac/shellac to give them a shiny, glossy appearance--making them ineligible for Vegan status. Today's Vegan Taza chocolate-covered offering did not contain these insect-derived ingredients.