Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate With Whole Hazelnuts

There is no doubt that some of the best chocolate comes from Europe, more specifically, Germany.  A German chocolate bar that is well worth the time is Ritter Sport.  Recently, I went on a chocolate shopping spree at the new Trader Joe's that has popped up here, and a dark chocolate with whole hazelnuts Ritter Sport was among my loot.  Now, I have had another variety before.  I have had the Butter Biscuit kind before, and that was so good, I just couldn't wait to give the hazelnut a try.  I must say that I was not disappointed!  This was sure a chocolate craving satisfier; it was smooth, dark, sweet, and very crunchy. Also, the dark chocolate was not overpowering and complimented the hazelnuts perfectly! Not only would I get this particular bar again, but I would love to try the other varieties available!

On a more personal side note, when I took a bite out of this chocolate bar for the first time, childhood came flooding back. I'm not kidding. Its been over two decades since I used sell a hazelnut chocolate bars door to door to raise money for school fundraisers. I would get my parents to buy from my own stash just so I could savor the hazelnut mixed with the smooth chocolate because it was a real treat. I had not had this memory ever in my life as I forgot all about it until I taste tested the Ritter Sport for this review. It's amazing how something such as a taste of a particular chocolate bar that you have not had since childhood can trigger memories of long ago. 

Trader Joe's The Dark Chocolate Lover's Chocolate Bar

It was nice taking short break from all that very powerful dark chocolate for awhile. In my previous post the break from all this dark chocolate craziness came in the form of Trader Joe's Almond Clusters made out of the always sweet milk chocolate. As you can see, those almond clusters weren't the only thing I got my hands on at Joe's. Yes, I couldn't help myself, this is one out of three chocolate goodies I picked up during my brief Trader Joe's snack shopping spree. Which by the way, I suggest you try sometime especially if you have a little extra money to spend. I have to be honest with you, it makes for a very fun time loading a basket up with goodies and then tearing into them on the way home.

How fitting for this particular chocolate bar: The orange pear shaped art found on the wrapper represents the Cocoa pod from which the cocoa beans come from!

This particular chocolate bar from Trader Joe's was appropriately named the Dark Chocolate Lover's Chocolate Bar. Appropriate because you have to be a real dark chocolate lover to enjoy this very powerful tasting piece of chocolate. To relate just how powerful tasting it was, I drink my coffee black as night in the morning with no sugar or cream and on top of that, it's dark roast that I make very strong. However, the taste in my mouth from taking a bite from this dark chocolate bar was 20x more bitter to my taste buds than my morning coffee routine. I could barely handle it! That's not to suggest that this dark chocolate is not bad in any way, shape, or form, just not my cup of tea. Someone out there, who is a fan of dark chocolate might get a lot of enjoyment out of it and find the taste extremely enlightening to their sweet tooth.

Even if you don't consider yourself a fan of dark chocolate, if you really want to give the Dark Chocolate Lover's Chocolate Bar a shot, I highly suggest consuming it after a very spicy meal because I can see it complimenting that spicy after taste to the 9th degree. Just be warned though, the dark chocolate found in this bar is some of the darkest you can get being at 85% Cacao and is not your typical run of the mill dark chocolate as it is much more bitter tasting.

Just to explain what cacao is, it's a seed or cocoa bean from the Theobroma cacao also known as the cocoa tree native to South America. From these cocoa beans they produce chocolate and use more or less depending on what they want the cocoa content to be. Hence this particular bar contains 85% Cacao which is obviously extremely potent on the scale for which they measure the cocoa bean content of what goes into chocolate.

I may of not enjoyed this bar but I did appreciate the intricate design of the chocolate bar which had little flower like creations on them and was cut very fine. There is a lot of beauty to behold in chocolate especially chocolate bars where we can appreciate the work of art and originality of every piece of chocolate even if the taste is not to our liking. 

Trader Joe's Almond Clusters

After consuming so much dark chocolate over the last couple of posts, I've decided to bring balance back to the force. How? Simply by indulging in some good ol' milk chocolate almond clusters. Not just any almond clusters mind you, only the best from Trader Joe's did the job.

Fortunately this came to be by the fact that they just opened one of these ever popular Trader Joe's in Ft Worth Texas. This Trader Joe phenomenon has gained traction over the past couple of years and for a good reason. They are not any grocery store down the street and they shouldn't even be considered grocery stores but called little pieces of foodie heaven. I digress, but I will point out that if you're lucky to be within 50 to 100 miles and you think of yourself as even part foodie, then go by all means and check out the Joe's. It's well worth the trip!

Getting back to the clusters, as one of the first products I brought from my first Trader Joe's experience (along with kettle korn, more chocolate, cookies, wine, soda, wasabi almonds and more chocolate) I couldn't of been happier with them. The milk chocolate was great quality as it was very smooth and creamy. When I bit into these I was met with perfect chewiness texture along with the crunch of the almonds. Wow! Amazing! I was already fan of almond clusters before but I fell in love with them just a little more with having traded up from them at Trader Joe's.

 If you're going to Trader Joe's for the first time or have been and passed these chocolate gems up, then on your next trip, I highly recommend you put them into your basket. On one last note, if you read the label on the package that these are natural which is always a good thing. No wonder they were so fresh and sweet to the last crunch! 

Green & Black's Organic Chocolate

A while ago I went to one of my favorite stores, Sprouts, and I decided to indulge in a chocolate bar.  Not just any ol' chocolate bar, but a Green & Black's Organic 60% Dark Chocolate Mint Bar.  I do enjoy my chocolate, really enjoy it, but there are those pieces of chocolate that are just way to good to scarf down, it needs to be savored and appreciated.  I have successfully perfected the art of savoring chocolate, and a good sized chocolate bar, like Green and Black's bar, can last me a month.  I thoroughly enjoyed this bar.  The dark chocolate was rich and inviting, and the mint was subtle and refreshing.  I will definitely give the other intriguing varieties of Green and Black's a try, and I would definitely recommend this chocolate to any one who loves chocolate.