DAR Chocolate - Hibiscus Art Bar - Hibiscus Dark Chocolate 72% cacao (bar) - Apr. 15, 2026

Chocolate of the Day

DAR Chocolate 
Hibiscus Art Bar - Hibiscus Dark Chocolate 72% cacao (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.75 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 132 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ N/A - missing information
Purchased from: Xocolatl Garden, Carmel, CA 

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate & Flowers Theme Week.

Today's DAR Chocolate Hibiscus Art Bar - Hibiscus Dark Chocolate 72% cacao (bar) was manufactured by DAR Chocolate LLC (Thornton, CO). The team at DAR honors artists in their packaging; and this Hibiscus bar was a collaboration with The Morgan Adams Foundation ("Funding Kids Cancer Research") that featured the art of Gifford Ewing. 

Hibiscus has become a more popular floral flavor inclusion over the last few decades. This tart-sweet flower adds an uplifting, citrus + red berry-like flavor to chocolate. (Originally from Africa, Spanish galleons (ships) brought hibiscus flowers to the Caribbean and Mexico in the 1500s.)* 

Aroma and flavor notes this this Hibiscus bar included: smooth dark chocolate, blueberry and faint floral (hibiscus).

I enjoyed the refreshing dark berry flavor that was part of this smooth dark chocolate, and appreciated the relatively short list of organic ingredients.

Ingredients: cacao liquor*, cane sugar*, cacao butter*, Hibiscus essence. (*organic)

Allergen-related information: Made in a facility that processes milk, peanuts and tree nuts. 

*Hibiscus is related to cacao. Both are in the Malvaceae or mallow family--along with plants as varied as cotton, okra, durian and balsa.

Utopick Chocolate Makers - Saffron - 56% Cocoa Milk Chocolate with Saffron (bar) - Apr. 14, 2026

Chocolate of the Day

Utopick Chocolate Makers
Saffron (Azafran) - 56% Cocoa Milk Chocolate with Saffron (bar)
Good ++ 
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 242 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $16.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Oceana Market, Pacifica, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate & Flowers Theme Week.

Cacao and saffron are both versatile edible plants that can go sweet or savory. Love them both. Which is why I was excited about today's bar.

Today's "Saffron 56% Cocoa Milk Chocolate with Saffron" bar was from Utopick Chocolate s.l. (Valencia, Spain).

Aroma and flavor notes included: buttery, warm milk chocolate with clean spice (saffron floral) and light caramel.

Texture: uniformly creamy smooth with a slight caramel "chew" in the early melt (in a cool room), and a very faint astringency toward the finish.

I really enjoyed and appreciated the authentic saffron (saffron crocus stamens were visible on the back of the bar). The subtle, undulating saffron complexity was wonderful. And the fleeting, aromatic buttery saffron notes (that I recognized from eating saffron rice as a child) reinforced the buttery taste in the milk chocolate, enhancing buttery caramel flavor notes.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, pure cocoa butter, whole milk powder, saffron threads from Spain (0.5%).

Allergen-related information: Contains Milk. May contain traces of nuts, gluten, egg, sesame, soya.