Chocolate of The Day
Fossa Chocolate
Yuan Yang Chocolate*
Coffee Jasmine Creme (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 288 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $15.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar & Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate, Tea, Herbs and Spices Theme Week. Happy New Year's Eve to all. Today's chocolate is a great bar to kick-off a new year. It's an elaborate fusion of cultures and history distilled into a deliciously complex chocolate.
In the last decade, I've seen (and tasted) more tea and coffee beverage blends--ranging from "dirty** chais" and "dirty" Earls" (Earl Greys) to raspberry (herbal tea) flavored lattes. While this is a relatively new trend in the U.S., tea and coffee blends have a long history.*
Today's Coffee Jasmine Creme (bar) from Fossa Chocolate Pte Ltd (Singapore) has taken a Yuan Yang*-inspired coffee + tea beverage a step further--by introducing this unique blend to a wider audience outside of Asia, via chocolate. (Thank you Fossa Chocolate.)
To make this bar, the chocolate maker(s) collaborated with "Smitten Coffee Roasters' Ethiopian coffee (and) Drifting Snowflakes Jasmine Green Tea curated by Pekoe & Imp." To make the dark milk chocolate base they used Peruvian cacao from (Puerta Pulache, Piura, Peru).
Aroma notes and flavor notes for this blend were as promised: chocolate, coffee, jasmine and cream -- with notes of rich, coffee toffee candy and floral coffee (and jasmine tea) with cream. The jasmine is particularly fragrant when you first open the packaging.
Texture: very creamy and smooth. If there was any slight tea astringency, it was neutralized by the milk.
I really enjoyed this sophisticated, harmonious blend of high-quality, thoughtfully-selected flavors -- from floral, aromatic start to the creamy, satisfying finish. Note: If you like tea and chocolate, Fossa offers some wonderful bars in this area. (My favorite Fossa Chocolate bars contain nuanced and authentic oolong teas.)
Maker's Tasting Notes: "Warm nutty coffee aroma with delicate notes of jasmine and cream"
Ingredients: "Cacao butter, cane sugar, cacao, milk powder, tea leaves, coffee beans"
Allergen-related information: (Contains milk.) "Produced in a facility that processes nuts & dairy."
*Yuan Yang is the name for a popular beverage in Hong Kong and Singapore that's a blend of coffee, tea, milk and sugar. (The origin story for this coffee + milk tea blend points to it being first served in Hong Kong as far back as 1952.)
**The term "dirty" here in the U.S. refers to the addition of a shot of coffee or espresso to a tea beverage/latte.
This name "dirty" likely was inspired by the "dirty martini"-- a drink often credited to a New York bartender in 1901. In this cocktail, olive(s) and juice were/are muddled into a vodka or gin martini, giving the alcohol a slightly cloudy or "dirty" appearance.
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