Thursday, December 22, 2005

Dolfin Chocolate Bars

Name: Dolfin Chocolat: Noir au Gingembre Frais, Au Lait au The Vert Sencha du Japon, Noir aux Fuelles de Menthe
Brand: Dolfin
Place Purchased: Liquor Store (Silverlake Blvd. near Effie in Los Angeles)
Price: $3.00 (I think)
Size: 2.47 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Type: Chocolate

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I thought on the eve of the start of Whalewatch Season here in Southern California it was appropriate to review something under the brand name Dolfin (we see more dolphins on whale watching trips than whales anyway). The Man bought these bars for me recently at a wine & spirits store in our neighborhood. The gentrification of our little ‘hood means that the former liquor store now carries a wider selection of wines, beers and of course Belgian chocolate.

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What drew him to the bars wasn’t the reviews but the fact that the bars are packaged in these plastic cloaked paper envelopes that reminded him of tobacco pouches. It’s actually a pretty simple and successful idea, a long bag that you fold over several times to keep a good seal. The bars inside are additionally sealed in little plastic sleeves but at 2.47 ounces, I wasn’t going to eat them all in one sitting and I appreciated having a clean and crisp way of carrying them around until I do.

Noir aux Fuelles de Menthe (Dark with Mint Leaves): Instead of being your common dark chocolate bar with mint oils in it, this bar contains real spearmint leaves. This was the least successful bar for me. The mint was nice and it being spearmint was a nice change from the more common peppermint, but the bar seemed a bit more chalky than the others. At first I thought it had bloomed, but the sheen was right and the snap looked good. I can only assume that it’s the interaction of the real mint leaves in there. They also make the bar kind of grainy. The sugar balance is good though and the mint is smooth and has some good tannins in it that mix well with the rich dark chocolate.

Noir au Gingembre Frais (Dark with Fresh Ginger): I’m a ginger nut and many of the ginger/chocolate combinations that I find are with milk chocolate, so finding one that was in dark chocolate is exciting. The bar had a good woodsy mix of scents - the spicy ginger and smoky chocolate. The dark chocolate is only 52% cacao (as is the mint one) but it just felt really rich and dense. It was a little grainy but had a lot of flavors in the mix with a good buttery base to help the ginger and chocolate mingle.

Au Lait au The Vert Sencha du Japon (Milk with Sencha Green Tea from Japan): Wow, this bar smells like green tea ice cream. The wonderful lightly floral and woodsy tea blends wonderfully with the delicately dairy tasting milk chocolate. The bar is smooth and very sweet except for the green tea bits. It makes the bar better for doing a bit of chewing before letting it melt on the tongue instead of leaving a tab of it on the tongue first. This is definitely a bar that I could eat a lot of and I’m hoping that even though it only has 32% cacao, the benefits of both the green tea and chocolate will bring me good health in the new year.

Dolfin has a huge line of these “creation” bars, including Masala (hot spices), aniseed, pink peppercorn and Earl Grey tea. They have boxes with tasting squares that look like they would make for a fun evening.

Rating - 7 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:01 am Tracker Pixel for Entry     CandyReviewDolfinChocolateGingerMints7-Worth ItBelgium

Comments
  1. Oh Cybele, would you consider sharing the location of your local store that carries these wonders? I have been going all the way to Venice for my pink peppercorn fix! That spicy bar is especially delightful because a tiny piece is very satisfying, so you can really make it last.

    Comment by Kim Cooper on 12/22/05 at 8:50 pm #
  2. Cybele's avatar

    I think the place is just called Silver Lake Liquors on SL Blvd between Effie and Berkeley. But my husband says he didn’t see the pink peppercorn there (but that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t request that they carry it).

    Comment by Cybele on 12/22/05 at 10:37 pm #
  3. If that green tea bar used dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate, it would’ve been a super antioxidant bar.  Good to eat and good for you.

    Comment by Marvo on 12/22/05 at 11:08 pm #
  4. Thanks!

    Comment by Kim Cooper on 12/23/05 at 10:08 am #
  5. Their 70% Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Bean Pieces is excellent.  I have the Fresh Ginger one but haven’t tried it yet.  I absolutely love the packaging too.  I plan on slowly but surely working my way through all of their different bars.

    And if anybody in the vicinity of SW Ohio is looking for Dolfin they have it at Jungle Jims.

    Comment by normyk on 12/23/05 at 6:46 pm #
  6. I LOVE the Green Tea Milk Chocolate bar (purchased in Brooklyn at Stinky Cheese on Smith Street.) I have a feeling that they used milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate because dark chocolate taste would overpower the subtle tones of green tea. I see that they have an earl grey dark chocolate bar, though…

    Comment by Jean Lee on 7/23/07 at 6:02 am #
  7. My favorite is the dark chocolate and pink peppercorn, AMAZING!

    Comment by Julie Hearn on 12/03/08 at 4:38 pm #
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