I loooovvvvveeee Chuao Chocolatier and since I missed out on the few candy/food shows this year, I didn’t get to see what their new chocolate bar was this year. Well, my patience was rewarded when I walked into Wegmans the other day and saw this bar sitting on the shelf: the Chuao CoCo bar.
What goes into new CoCo bar isn’t exactly simple. According to the description, it’s dark chocolate with coconut, almond, cinnamon and coriander. This sounded like an intriguing mix of flavors and textures to me, so I was very excited to try this once I brought it home.
Tearing into this sweet treat as soon as I could, I was able to detect the The bar smells very strangely of the coconut with a edge of spice to it. You mainly smell the coriander, but the cinnamon gives a warmth to it. The chocolate’s color is a nice rich brown with a subtle sheen.
The flavors starts off sweet with notes of the coconut and cinnamon. Then the warmer notes of the coriander and almonds mix in. Then to top it all off, the rich notes of the dark chocolate with warm fruity notes enters and blends all the flavors on your tongue. The taste of this is awesome, but the texture is odd. It’s extremely gritty, as I get the coconut strips and bits of the almonds. It’s less like eating creamy chocolate and more like chewing a granola bar. I’m not sure I like that.
As delicious as this bar is, it’s really the texture that ruined it for me. But, if you don’t mind not having a super smooth chocolate bar, the flavor of this is excellent and unique.
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links Chuao Chocolatier Website
Chuao Chocolatier was one of my biggest discoveries back when I was beginning to expand my horizons with candy tasting. I first tasted their work at the All Candy Expo in 2007 and was immediately hooked. I believe it was the Spicy Maya ChocoPod that I tried first and had sold me completely. Since then I have eaten my way through all their offerings and was excited to learn of a new chocolate flavor that they cooked up.
The newest member to the Chuao Bar and ChocoPod family is the Firecracker: dark chocolate, chipotle, salt and popping candy. What a fascinating combination! It certainly fits the company motto of “Unusual Unexpected & Delicious”. Another point I’d like to make is that Chuao use the Venezuelan chocolate El Rey for all their confections. This is part of the reason why it stands out to me so much, since I am a big fan of the El Rey couveture.
The bar smells chocolatey and spicy. There’s a heat to the aroma and it’s hard to lay my finger on exactly what it is.
The chocolate is firm and has an excellent snap. Upon the first bite, it’s briefly sweet, then you feel the popping candy start to crackle on your tongue. The tingling sensation from the candy holds your attention until the chipotle kicks in, and I must say, this is the strongest chili presence I’ve had in chocolate to date. It’s a very smooth, smoky and powerful burn that matches the 60% bittersweet chocolate well. It leaves a burn still even once you’ve swallowed, and you can feel the heat all over your mouth and throat. It was never too much spice, but it’s certainly not for the weak and delicate.
This is an excellent example of how chocolate can be a medium of delivering interesting flavors while not directing too much attention to itself, and still be delicious.
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links
Chuao Chocolatier
