Chocolate of the Day
Intrigue Chocolate Co.
Hops and Clover Honey 59% Dark (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 2.5 oz. (71 g.) in total bar
Calories: 388 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $13.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Intrigue Chocolate, online order
Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate, Tea, Herbs and Spices Theme Week.
Today's Hops and Clover Honey 59% Dark (bar) was created by Intrigue Chocolate, a small batch maker and specialty chocolatier (in Seattle, WA). Their chocolate maker also is a chef, and the 100s of bars and truffles (different flavor-infused chocolates) he's created have been inspiring and enjoyable to taste.
The word "tea" includes many infusions of leaves, herbs and spices--even plants like hops (or hop flowers), that are known for their distinctive bitter flavors they add to modern beers. (Their use in Germany can be traced back almost 1,300 years ago. And the Vikings used hops as well.)
Closer to home in the U.S....Wild hops growing in the Americas were used by indigenous peoples "to flavor drinks, and as a remedy for nausea, indigestion and inflammation"* -- before the arrival of Europeans.
Does that qualify hops as an ingredient in an herbal or medicinal "tea"? Close enough for me.
(Disclosure: I'm a regular consumer of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's Hop Splash (water), Hoplark's HopTea and other hop waters (that use hops and carbonated water--that's it, no alcohol). And I enjoy different varieties of hops; so I was pre-disposed to like this bar already.)
Today's Hops and Clover Honey (bar) from Intrigue Chocolate was also the first chocolate I recall tasting with authentic and prominent hops flavor. Great way to start the New Year with something new.
Aroma notes included: chocolate (cocoa, ganache, very faint vanilla and warm spice); hops (faint citrus (citra hops), faint bitter and menthol (evergreen/pine/Doug fir tips); and faint honey (warm, floral, sweet).
Texture: smooth, dark chocolate (hops and honey flavors were fully incorporated into the chocolate).
Flavor notes included: sweet, dark chocolate with a quick uptick in bitter hops that gradually receded back into honey-ed chocolate. For some who are most sensitive to bitter flavors, one bite may be enough to satisfy one's curiosity.
Others (like me) who enjoy hops--and well-orchestrated ebbs and flows of nuanced and unabashed bitter and sweet--in a well-executed chocolate like this will appreciate the flavor teeter-totter ride to the end and will happily wait between bites as the hops finish gradually fades away.
I loved the opportunity to try hops, honey (and a tiny bit of vanilla) + chocolate together in one bar, and the bold, yet balanced and authentic hop flavors.
As with any well-made chocolate, eat this slowly so you can really appreciate it.
Intrigue Tasting Notes: "The lingering citrus and pine notes of the hops are softened by a familiar dark sweetness."
Ingredients: Chocolate (cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin [emulsifier], natural vanilla flavoring), honey, hops
Allergen-related information: "Processed in a facility with milk, soy and nuts"
*Source: Philadelphia Orchard Project
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