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

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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. 

Green & Black's Organic Chocolate

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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.

Choceur Chocolate Crisp Bars: Quality Made German Chocolate Part 2

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Germany we have a problem because I'm going eat all your awesome chocolate. I just can't break myself away from quality chocolate made in Germany. This time I've gone too far and bought more of it because it's always guaranteed to satisfy a chocolate craving like no other. Choceur Fine Chocolate Crisp Bars are no exception.

What I experienced in this particular chocolate crisp bar was delicious crispy milk chocolate rounded out by smooth hazelnut creme. The crisp part was brought to me courtesy of Kit Kat like wafer. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm biased towards wafer chocolate because I've been known to consume massive amounts of Kit Kats. Kit Kats just so happens to be one of my favorite candy bars next to Snickers but this opinion of mine is probably shared by many others.

I bet you can't eat just three.

Ok, I'm sure you're going to seek these out now so I gotta tell you what you're getting yourself into. I was amazed when I opened the box and found not 1 not 5 not 7 but 10 modest sized bars waiting for my sweet tooth. You just can't beat that value for German made chocolate especially coming in at a little bit over a $1.50. That's of course if you're lucky enough to have a Aldi store nearby. Hopefully you do because if your into saving money on groceries like me then Aldi is the place. What is Aldi? Aldi is a German grocery store and they've opened a ton of stores in the last 2 years so you might be in luck.

Last but not least, how do I rank these fine chocolate wafers? They definitely deserve a 8 out 10 which equals these are more than addiction, they're a permanent part of your sweet tooth.

The Baumstamm: Quality German Made Chocolate

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There's just something about authentic chocolate from Germany. It tastes sweeter than the chocolate made in the U.S. Kind of brings to mind their cars, talking about the Audi, it's just quality stuff. Who really knows what they do to make things so good?

Take for example this Karina brand chocolate bar from Germany. I don't know how many of you have actually had this particular chocolate bar called the Baumstamm which appropriately translates into the tree trunk or the log, but I'm assuming not a whole lot. You're not alone, this was my first time sampling it too. Got to say, it looks like a log but it doesn't taste that way! Not that I've ever tasted a log but you know what I mean.

Extraordinary would be a good way to describe how the Baumstamm tastes. It combines a milk chocolate shell with nougat and rich creamy marzipan. For those of you that might not know what nougat is, it's a type of sweet made with sugar and almonds although it tastes more like coconut for some odd reason. Marzipan on the other hand is made very out the same ingredients but it tastes a lot different because it's pasty, kind of like a filling that's creamy.

Technicalities aside, the Baumstamm is very rich, creamy, and sweet. It's a perfect after dinner dessert kind of like the chocolate mint Olive Garden gives you but satisfies 1000x better. For that, it rightfully earns a 7 out 10 ranking in my book which means warning, these are habit forming and your chocolate addiction just got worse.


Where to get: try a German grocery store, if all else fails you can always probably get them online.

Chocolate Toffee Bars

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Toffee comes in many forms and it's always a satisfying fix for a sweet tooth in whatever form that might be. I don't know about you but one of the ways I like it is at a self serve yogurt place because I always go crazy with the toppings. Seriously, you should see my yogurt after I get done fixing it up. There's almost as much toffee on it as there is yogurt in the container. I just love the way it tastes all crunched up with the softness of the yogurt, such a treat.

At Central Market, (there's been a lot of that going on lately but I had to get my debut chocolate stash from somewhere to start this blog to share with all my fellow chocolate addicts) I spotted these toffee bars. I just knew I had to get them to remind myself why I like toffee so much. Yes, it's a convenient excuse that all us sugar addicts share.

Did they do the trick for my sweet tooth? Out of all the chocolates that I got at Central Market to start this endeavor, I'd say they tied with the gummy bears at a 5 out of 10 on the rankings which of course means not quite chocolate heaven but worth a try.  Just so you know, that is all my stash from Central Market so Central Market week is over and we will branch out to other shops and see what they offer so stayed turned for more chocolate goodness.