December 30th: Terry's Chocolate Orange Dark

Kcal 134 Fat 7.7g Fat(sats) 4.5g Carbs 15.0g (per 3 pieces)

This Dark variant wraps up my reviews of the entire Terry’s Chocolate Orange range. The Terry’s range has frequently surprised me, the brand certainly wasn't a favourite of mine in my younger years, but it seems as I have grown to appreciate its very sweet, but rather tasty chocolate orange taste. There were no hidden surprises with this variant, it comprised of a 40% minimum dark chocolate with 'real orange'.

As with many of the variants I have reviewed recently, I bought this product in the 175.0g full orange form. I actually purchased this variant as part of a BOGOF in Woolworths along with the 'Snowball' – thats 350g worth of chocolate for £2 … not half bad eh!? Just as with the rest of the range, this variant came beautifully presented. I wasn't too sure about the choice of red as a colour to signify dark chocolate, though it still largely looked attractive anyway. The chocolate looked no different from the dark chocolate in the 'Minty' variant; as you can see from the picture above it had a very smooth complexion, and had the Terry's logo crafted cleanly into the surface of each segment. In regards to aroma, this product didn't quite have as forthcoming smell as the original milk chocolate variant. The orange wasn't quite as pungent, and the cocoa scents were noticeably quite reserved.

A week or so ago when I reviewed the 'Minty' variant I remarked on how the same recipe 40% dark chocolate was relatively unspectacular. This was rather the same story here, however its more subtle flavours worked better with the orange than it did with the mint. In my book this wasn't dark chocolate as such - it was more like unsweetened milk chocolate ... this had both its good and bad points. On the plus side it meant that I could actually eat more of this in one sitting, which made it slightly the more fulfilling product in comparison to the milk chocolate variant. Another aspect I did really enjoy about the chocolate was the texture, it had a really smooth and thick melt. Unfortunately though it just didn't offer the same tastewise. The taste seemed far too dominated by the orange - don't get me wrong the juicy, fresh flavours of the orange were enjoyable ... it was just I would rather of had more flavour from the chocolate.  The dominance of the orange did mean that after a few segments the taste did become ever so slightly monotomous. 

Overall this wasn't the best of the Terry's Chocolate Orange range, but it was still a pretty satisfying product nonetheless. It was by no means dark chocolate at its finest - I would have loved to have seen the intensity of the cocoa taken up a few notches. I really think that the combination of the divine fruity orange flavours and a really full flavoured dark chocolate would be really something. For those that simply can't take the sweetness of the original milk chocolate, this dark variant is a pretty good alternative, if your expecting a really full flavoured chocolate though you might be left feeling a bit letdown.

8.1 out of 10