Green & Black's Organic Dark Chocolate with 70% Cocoa Content

Out of the bunch that I picked up at Dean and Deluca yesterday, this bar was the first that I ate. I have to admit that I didn't take care to enjoy opening the packaging as I often do like Charlie in the Willy Wonka movie, but it was during a break in orchestra rehearsal and I was dying for some chocolate action.

It comes in what I consider to be perfect packaging. The chocolate is wrapped in foil lined paper, which is superior to straight foil, which can make the chocolate taste metallic. Straight paper doesn't protect the chocolate from spoiling. The chocolate was well wrapped in the foil lined paper without any air leaks and the already wrapped chocolate was then doubled wrapped in the outside packaging. Most bars are wrapped only once, with a sleeve over the foil, so this bar had extra protection from getting spoiled.

The chocolate itself was molded in approximately .5"x1x3/8" rectangles, which I consider possibly the best bite size proportions.

I wanted to test the sound of the break accurately, but it was hard to do so sitting in a large room with people talking and playing their instruments. I should have waited until after rehearsal to really allow myself to indulge in the tasting experience, but like I said, I was craving chocolate madly and I just broke it off in kind of a hurry. It sounded crisp enough, and the break was very even and clean.

The color closely matched the color of the outside packaging. It was a rich dark brown and far from black. The finish on it was shiny enough to catch th light, but not glossy by any means. It looked like it might taste a little grainy.

The smell was a little bitter- typical for 70% chocolate- but pleasant enough for me to move right into the tasting. Breaking it with my teeth was no problem. After a 5 or 6 chews it started to melt in my mouth right away. My initial thought was that it had just the right amount of sweetness. It was sweet enough to counteract the bitterness without being noticeably sweet. It had just the right amount of bitterness that I so love in dark chocolate. The texture was not at all grainy, and therefore deserving of being called smooth, but somehow it lacked the utter melt in your mouth richness that I've experienced in other chocolates. Flavor wise, I'd say that it was dark enough to curb my chocolate craving, but not interesting enough to call exceptional. What I got was your typical dark chocolate- very chocolatey and plain bitter. There wasn't a surprising element in the aroma or the taste.

By the end of break I had eaten about half the bar, which reved me up to play more Strauss. The bitter aftertaste lingered in my mouth and stayed in my mouth well into rehearsal with me blowing into my flute and all.

All in all, this chocolate was satisfying but not exceptional. There was nothing to hate, but nothing to love either. After class I went back to Dean and Deluca to buy more bars and noticed that their other varieties aren't labeled with the cacao content. It seemed that they focused more on mixing with other flavors, including common ones like almond and mint.

I visited their website www.greenandblacks.com and found that their company is marketed more towards organic food connoisseurs than chocolate connoisseurs. It is a nice element for them to practice organic and fair trade standards. However, I was skeptical that the bar reviewed here is the only one with a percentage labeled large and bold in the front. Also, it's not clearly stated where their company is based. It appears that they are based in the UK, but my bar says "made in Italy" and the packaging looks to be made in the US. This is the least of the importance in good chocolate, but I was curious and wished that they tell you clearly in their website.

Would I buy this chocolate again? Probably not. It wasn't very inventive and I can't imagine craving this variety specifically. Basically, it's your everyday 70% chocolate bar and it will satisfy your cravings but won't make you think about it next time yor craving hits.