Vosges - Black Raspberry with Fermented Black Tea 93% (bar) - Feb. 1, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Vosges
Black Raspberry with Fermented Black Tea 93% Cacao (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Vosges, online order

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Tea Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Honey Theme Week.

Today's Black Raspberry with Fermented Black Tea, Raw Honey and Whole Cacao 93% Cacao (bar) was from Vosges IP, LLC (Chicago, IL). 

Vosges offers a range of attractively designed chocolates (bars and confections). This bar was part of the company's "LAB collection" made with no refined sugars and using the "entire cacao pod."

Aroma notes for this bar included: ultra-dark chocolate (deep, dense forest, earth) and very faint fruit (berries).

I enjoyed the texture--a blend of fine-grained crunchy and creamy cocoa elements (including "cacao berry fiber and flour" and cacao fruit puree. 

Flavor notes included: chocolate (deep cacao flavors -- de-fanged Forastero*), faint flickers of bright fruit (raspberry, very faint mango), and very faint, fruity black tea. During a relatively long finish, there were dark chocolate and berry cereal notes.

For a 93% cacao dark chocolate, this was well balanced, and a bit sweeter than expected. Use of raw honey and cacao "fruit, fiber and seed" added sweetness and enjoyable flavor complexity.

Ingredients: Unsweetened chocolate processed with alkali, cocoa butter, raw honey, cacao berry (cacao berry fiber, cacao berry flour), cacao berry flour, blueberry, black raspberry, ceylon black tea, cacao fruit puree. 

Allergen-related information: "Processed on equipment that also processes milk, soy, wheat, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts."

*The unsweetened chocolate used to make this bar was treated with alkali, a process that smooths out the rough edges and makes the chocolate/cocoa taste less acidic/bitter. The very deep, dense cacao flavor reminded me of Forastero variety cacao beans. The addition of black raspberries and blueberries (dark berries) as well as cacao pulp and black tea, added a friendly amount of balanced fruit and tannic acidity.