Taitau - 99% Extra Dark Chocolate (bar) - Aug. 28, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Taitau (Tai Tau)
99% Extra Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++ 
Weight: 1.75 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 120 calories in 1 serving (3 squares) of bar
Cost: $3.39 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Crossroads Specialty Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Lithuania Theme Week.

Today's 99% Extra Dark Chocolate (bar) from Taitau (Tai Tau) Exclusive Selection (Lietuva, Lithuania) was imported into the U.S. by B&I Overseas Trading Inc. (Van Nuys, CA).

The company produces single origin bars as well as other chocolate confections. This 99% cacao chocolate was made using "premium quality Ghana cocoa beans." And each square of the bar was adorned with a sea shell, sea star or sea horse.

Aroma notes for this bar included: bold, deep dark chocolate (Forastero cacao variety-like), and very faint vanilla.

The texture was thick, smooth and uniform.

Flavor notes were similar to the aroma notes: deep, dark chocolate with balanced bitterness (not as much as some 99% chocolates). It was what I would expect from an ultra-dark, almost unsweetened chocolate made with (medium-dark roast) Forastero cacao beans. It was bold, dense and smooth without any detectable lighter (fruit, floral) notes. 

If you enjoy sipping a small serving of espresso roast coffee with very little sugar, you may enjoy this chocolate. It is all about bold flavor. It is perhaps the opposite of a 32-oz. sweetened and flavored coffee drink with milk and whipped cream.

Chocolates this dark are relatively satisfying, i.e. I don't find myself wanting to eat more than a few squares. They satisfy my cacao craving, and serve as a reminder that sugar (or sugar + salt) are the ingredients behind those "more, more, more" impulses to eat more than one should.

Ingredients: "Cocoa mass (made from premium quality Ghanian and Grenada cocoa beans), cocoa butter, sugar, emulsifier - rape (canola) lecithin, flavoring vanillin."

Allergen-related information: "This product may contain traces of peanuts, hazelnuts, gluten and milk."