Having given up chocolate for Lent the first thing I wanted to do on Easter Sunday was to eat a Crème Egg and enjoy it. So when I got an email a week before Easter offering to review chocolate by the Choclate and Love Company I was there replying straight away with no questions (other than when I needed to review it by as it was still Lent at that point!)
My chocolate arrived and I pondered for a bit – I wanted to do a good job of it so I couldn’t just scoff the chocolate in one go, also because most of the bars were dark chocolate (which I normally steer clear of, I decided to ask my Mum to test the chocolate with me – after all we both LOVE chocolate!
I broke my bars in half and delivered the halves for my Mum and Dad to trial to their house. I popped round last week and the majority of the chocolate is still on their coffee table but they are working their way through it. My Mum said that the white chocolate with the summer berries on it was the only one that she hadn’t tried so far because of the look of it. It kinda put her off having all that fruit on one side rather than scattered through it (like Fruit and Nut is the example she gave lol)
The bars I received were
Filthy Rich
This dark chocolate is 71% cocoa and is *very* rich as the name implies! It did remind me very much of cooking chocolate that my Mum keeps in her pantry.
Crushed Diamonds
This chocolate is a “dark truffle chocolate” and has cocoa nibs within – it was very nice but I then spend the next little while picking bits of cocoa out of my teeth (yeah TMI!).
Orange Mantra
Both me and Mum kinda thought this might be like a Terry’s Dark Chocolate orange, but actually we were both kinda disappointed. We both found that in comparison to “The Coffee Affair” which had a very strong flavour the orange within this chocolate was very subtle and kinda sneaked up on you, just as you thought that the orange wasn’t going to show up for the party.
The Black Forest
So as you can see from the picture it doesn’t look that appetising – it was definitely one that you just have to taste and see what happens. I would suggest eating fruit side down that way you get through the fruit first and then get to the chocolate – it’s not one I would have personally picked on looks but it was chocolate (and it was white chocolate so therefore my favourite lol).
The Coffee Affair
On the opposite side to the Orange Mantra chocolate, as soon as I opened the packet I could smell the coffee – actually when I got the bars out of the padded envelope I could smell the coffee lol.
I didn’t really like the flavour of it – then again I did only start drinking coffee a few weeks ago. My Mum on the other hand said that she did like the flavour and would have like it to have been stronger (ok…..).
Overall Opinion
The packaging on the chocolate (except The Black Forest) is made of paper so can be thrown in to the recycling bin rather than the normal bin. At £2.90 for 100g they are a little on the expensive side for a normal chocolate ‘dose’, however they are organic and fair-trade based products so I would be more open to spending that kind of money. If I purchase Fairtrade chocolate from the supermarket it tends to be Divine Chocolate which is about £1.09 for 100g. (If I’m buying chocolate for a present I might purchase Green and Blacks which is around £1.90 for 100g. Therefore Chocolate and Love is a little bit more expensive that I would normally spend out for an everyday nibble of chocolate but if it was for a present or I was willing to spend a little more then it would be an okay price.
If you would like more of an opinion – let me know, or you can read one of these links below. There were various other reviews which can be read at the links below:
http://www.daddypapersurfer.com/chocolate-love/
http://glowstars.net/?p=1646
http://growlingbelly.com/2010/04/chocolate-and-love-the-decadent-tasting/
http://familypanelreviews.blogspot.com/2010/04/chocolate-love-confectionary.html
http://www.thecattylife.com/2010/04/chocolate-whats-love-got-to-do-with-it/
http://suburbanmummyuk.com/2010/04/13/love-chocolate/
This is a Sponsored Post, the product was supplied by Chocolate and Love via FuelMyBlog and the opinion is all mine (or my Mums!)
