Intrigue Chocolate
Smoked Tea + Allspice 60% Cacao (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1 oz. (28) in total bar
Calories: 155 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $6.00 for 1 bar + shipping
Purchased from: Intrigue Chocolate, online order
Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate, Tea, Herbs and Spices Theme Week.
Today's Smoked Tea + Allspice 60% Cacao (bar) was made and distributed by Intrigue Chocolate Co. (Seattle, WA), in collaboration with The Pathfinder - Hemp & Root, a patented distilled non-alcoholic spirit.
Origin story: The cacao used to make this chocolate was from Ecuador (Region: Costa Esmeraldas, Muisne Canton (Type: Ecuadorian Nacional hybrids). (Batch No.: 000000111524). The smoked black tea used to flavor this chocolate was Lapsang Souchong.
Aroma and flavor notes included: rich dark chocolate (roast-y, dark ganache with dark ripe berry/almost dark cherry); slight roast-y/smoke-y black tea and warm spice (allspice, cinnamon). (Note: there was no cinnamon, just high-quality allspice in this bar; but that allspice tasted like a whole spice blend in and of itself--thus the name, all-spice.)*
Texture: relatively smooth--with a subtle tea astringency.
The blend of all the flavors full-bodied, wonderful and especially satisfying on a winter morning. I liked many things about this bar. First, this blend was thoughtfully conceived and well executed. And the very slightly smoke-y, sweet flavors all harmonized very nicely.
If you think you've tasted allspice before (hidden in some tame, grocery store apple pie spice blend maybe?), think again. The Jamaican allspice* in today's bar took things to another level, and added a layer of natural sweetness.
Sweetness level: 60% cacao is normally a bit sweet for me, but the rich, authentic tea and spice flavors balanced the sweetness. The chocolate was sweet, but not too sweet for dark fans.
Like other chocolates from Intrigue, I appreciated the short list of high-quality ingredients, the lack of emulsifiers or other additives, and the use of raw cane sugar.
Makers tasting notes/description: "..."We used the deep aromas of Lapsang Souchong (smoked black tea), balanced by the sweet spice complexity of Jamaican allspice, and the cherry/bourbon notes of this cacao to create the perfect pairing..."
Ingredients: "Roasted cacao nibs, raw cane sugar, cocoa butter, smoked black tea, allspice."
Allergen-related information: None listed on packaging.
*Allspice (dried, unripe berries that grow on trees) is native to the Americas (West Indies [Caribbean island nations], Central America and Mexico). The earliest drinking chocolates and confections in the Americas included ground cacao beans, flowers, spices (such as allspice), peppers, honey and/or other local flavor inclusions--but not cinnamon, nutmeg or ginger--spices brought by spice traders much later.
No comments:
Post a Comment