NeoCocoa - Milk Tea Toffee Brittle - Apr. 4, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

NeoCocoa
Milk Tea Toffee Brittle 
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 3.0 oz. (85 g.) in total package
Calories: N/A - not listed on packaging 
Cost: $11.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Toque Blanche, Santa Cruz, CA

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

Today's Milk Tea Toffee Brittle was from NeoCocoa (Belmont, CA).

NeoCocoa founder and chocolatier, Christine Doerr, has produced a line of very tasty chocolate covered toffees and treats since 2008 (and probably before then). See previous entries on Chocolate Banquet.*

Aroma notes for today's toffee brittle included: subtle dark milk chocolate; tea with milk and sugar; faint botanical (citrus, seed) and floral (bergamot orange blossom, and (imagined) very faint, sweet lavender).

Texture: generously-sized, shards of (crunchy then chewy) toffee brittle were covered in smooth milk chocolate.

Flavor notes: smooth, creamy milk chocolate, authentic buttery toffee (browned sugar, butter, vanilla), and very faint seed and botanical (tea with bergamot). The Earl Grey (bergamot orange) tea flavor became more prominent toward the finish, and continued (in a most pleasing way) into an extended finish. I loved the progression of the tea flavor. 

As with all NeoCocoa toffee brittles, this Milk Tea flavor was addicting. Be forewarned. If you're overly hungry, this toffee in this package will disappear almost immediately.

Ingredients: Dark-milk chocolate (cane sugar, milk, cocoa butter, cacao beans, sunflower lecithin, vanilla beans), brown sugar, butter, black tea, bergamot. 

Allergen-related information: Contains Dairy.

*Other toffee brittle flavors include: black sesame seed; warm ginger root; and toffee (cacao) nib.

Maui Ku'ia Estate Chocolate - Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao "Grown in Maui" (bar) - Apr. 3, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Maui Ku'ia Estate Chocolate
Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao "Grown in Maui" (bar) 
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) in total bar
Calories: 140 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Maui Ku'ia Estate Chocolate, online order

Welcome to Day #13 of Chocolate and Hawaii Theme Week.

Today's Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao "Grown in Maui" (bar) was manufactured by Maui Ku'ia Estate Chocolate Inc. (Lahaina, Maui, HI).

This dark bar was made using locally grown cacao. from Maui. It's also a rare example of a "made in country" (from tree to bar in the U.S.) chocolate. Hawaii is a special place in many respects; it's also one of the only U.S. states with the optimal climate and soils to support cacao trees.

Aroma notes included: dark chocolate with sweet green botanical; subtle diffuse tropical fruit (mango) and date), faint floral and barely detectable ripe white wine grapes/cacao pulp.

This 70% chocolate had a rich, balanced and authentic dark chocolate flavor with bright, diffuse tropical fruit (mango, cacao pulp, sweet white wine grapes) notes; and faint, fleeting floral oolong tea and then more fruit in the relatively long finish.

Goldilocks zone achieved. (It was not too strong, bitter or sweet. It was just right.) The chocolate was full of sophisticated, subtle flavors; and it had a pleasing natural fruit sweetness* rather than a sugar-y sweetness (thank you!). 

I really enjoyed the balanced complexity and natural bright fruit sweetness in this Hawaiian dark chocolate--thoughtfully made with just three ingredients.

Maker's tasting notes: "Tropical fruits, delicate cocoa, lingering fruit & wine notes."

Ingredients: Cacao Beans, Sugar, Cocoa Butter

Allergen-related information: (None listed on packaging.) 

*These flavor notes were consistent with the cacao varieties listed. "Cacao varieties: Classic Trinitario, Upper Amazon mix, ancient Criollo, novel hybrids."