More about chocolate � this time, I ate

Being in a chocolate mood, and not really able to stop thinking about various beans, flavours et cetera, I was out shopping and came across a large chocolate display at a nearby tea- and coffee store. They carried Lindt, Caf� Tasse, Vahlrona, Poulain and Dolfin. I�ve had Dolfin before and I really like their interesting combinations, so I picked up three bars � all three are dark, 70% cocoa solids. The first is with Nougatine, tiny pieces of caramelized almonds. It says on their homepage that each almond is broken by hand with a hammer for getting the optimum size. Well. I don�t know. But it tasted divine. The chocolate itself is very deep, dark and almost on the edge of being bitter, as 70% chocolate generally is. It melts slowly but surely, leaving a satiny coating in your mouth � and the small lovely almond pieces. These are very sweet, and would certainly have been way too much for a lighter chocolate. This is however a pairing made in heaven.



The second Dolfin bar is made with fresh ginger. Not crystallized or caramelized ginger � fresh. Very, very interesting � ginger is pretty sharp. (And hey � this should be the ultimate diet food since ginger is also good for speeding up your metabolism!) You can smell it right away when you open it � it�s a very special scent. And this chocolate really tastes like nothing else. For chocolate, it�s not very dessert-y or sweet � the ginger makes it a lot more food-y. It�s fairly spicy, too. I like it a lot, but this is probably one that a lot of people would pass up.

The third Dolfin is really quite traditional � it�s made with mint. And just what chocolate manufacturer doesn�t carry something chocolate and mint? But this, this is different! This is real, actual mint leaves, like the ones I grow on my balcony! Real ones! Just dried out a bit. As with the ginger, you can really taste the freshness, and it�s just amazing. It�s truly different from all other mint chocolate � a very special creation. As with the two other bars I tried, the pieces of flavouring are very tiny � no big huge chunks of stuff at all, this is really focusing on the chocolate and the flavouring is just there to enhance the overall experience.

Something I love about Dolfin is their packaging. The bars are so pretty, and they�re all in a self-sealing packet just like loose tobacco. Very smart, because chocolate can lose its aroma pretty fast, and we certainly don�t want that to happen, do we now? Because I�d have felt silly to buy the whole assortment (he had pretty much the full line) I also bought a basic Lindt bar, the Madagascar. It has vanilla in it, but is also 70% cacao solids and thus; very dark. Lindt may not have great packaging � foil � but it keeps the chocolate nice and pretty since it never rubs or bruises on something else. No scratches � which Dolfin does have.

Anyway. The vanilla is really, really noticeable. It tastes almost like milk chocolate, because of it. The chocolate itself is a lot fruitier, and I�d wager it�s made with the fruity Criollo bean. Not too far of a stretch since the origin *is* marked as Madagascar, where I do remember that Criollo is often grown. Oh well. This is a really good chocolate for when you want something a little more candy-ish than just very very dark.

I drank mineral water while tasting these four � it�s good to have something to rinse your palate with. Now I�ll have my bars in my desk drawer, all ready for when I�m just desperate for chocolate. (Tomorrow.)