August 1st: Lily O'Briens Organic Dark Chocolate

Kcal 507 Fat 42.1g Fat(sats) 25.1g Carbs 48.6g (per 100.0g)

As you all know for the past month I have been working my way through a load of samples that Lily O'Briens sent me. Up until today all of the bars I had reviewed had been comprised of milk chocolate - well today saw me sampling their 'Organic Dark Chocolate'.

Like all the other bars in the range this came in a 80g serving, packaged using the same dull styled matted wrapping. Once again I would like to stress the poorness at the design of this bar, it was again particularly plain looking and didn't have half the appeal or the attractivness of say the Kshocolat dark bar...the design work (or lack of) just seemed plain lazy. Despite it's poor appearance the bar had a relatively nice smell...it had a dark fresh coffee like aroma that certainly gave me hope that this bar was going to be full of flavour.

The taste didnt let me down, and as the smell suggested this was certainly a rich tasting bar. The bar contained a relatively high 70% cocoa solids and this translated into the taste which was a full on intense dark experience. Each block had an initial burnt harshness to its flavour that really awoke the tastebuds. As the chocolate melted the flavour developed into a more mellow well rounded cocoa taste...never getting to the point I would describe as sweet tasting but just full of flavour like a rich tasting dark coffee. Each block had a slow almost lazy melt on the tongue that eventually formed into a viscous but wonderfully smooth fluid chocolate - it slipped down the throat ever so easily. This made for a long taste that was a truly satisfying richly flavoured experience.

Overall if it not for the lacklusture design work this would be a really well rounded dark chocolate bar. It tasted wonderful and provided a luxurious mature tasting chocolate that had a delightfully smooth texture. 40g of this (half a bar) was more than enough for a fulfilling and enjoyable portion. A mention must also be made to the source of the ingredients...all five of which are free of artifical flavours and colours and which were all organically sourced...im not really into all that spiel but they tasted fresh and of high quality nonetheless. If Lily O'Briens could sort out their sloppy design work they could really have a bar of chocolate here to be proud of. This is not the full well rounded product of the Lindt and Hotel Chocolat equivalent bars but its taste comes relatively close - well worth checking out if your after a good quality dark chocolate.

8.2 out of 10