Bubble Chocolate Dark Chocolate Bar

Posted by Edmund in Chocolate, Featured Articles, Gourmet Chocolate Bars, USA | 0 comments

Composition: 60% Dark Chocolate.
Region of Production: USA.
Price: $2.50 for 80g.

When I found out about Bubble Chocolate, I was more than a little intrigued. The founder created a new technique to introduce air into chocolate, giving it a bubbly texture on the inside. The upside is supposed to be a uniquely creamy experience, with little loss in chocolate flavor. I was, of course, skeptical, and I had to test out the claims for myself.

Surprisingly, for a candy bar this chocolate is presented rather nicely. It comes in a large paper box that features an overabundance of “bubbly” imagery, driving in the point that this chocolate is actually aerated. The chocolate itself, though, did have a couple problems. Its golden wrapper had unwrapped in the box, exposing the chocolate to air and leading to a fair bit of chocolate bloom (i.e. the chocolate looked smeared). Moreover, the bottom was a bit bulgy from all the aeration. Still, once I cracked through the chunks, I was extremely impressed, both for the easy, near perfect snap (though there are ragged edges because of the air bubbles), but also for the very nice, almost wafer-like inside that results from the aeration process. It’s like looking at a croquante.

The aroma only heightened my anticipation. As I opened up the box, I could already smell a fresh whiff of pure dark chocolate, with no tricks or frills. It was just straight, pure chocolate that left me wanting a bite.

I honestly thought the whole “bubbles wrapped in chocolate” concept was a gimmick, but surprisingly, this bar actually tastes and especially feels good. Since there’s so much air in the chocolate, it has an almost cookie-like texture to it, as it snaps apart easily and practically crumbles in your mouth as you munch it down. That’s not to say the texture is the greatest, but the bar does feel almost like a very light chocolate cookie, making it incredibly easy to eat. Also, since the air takes up so much room, the bar is much larger than expected. You can eat several pieces without feeling bogged down, since each piece weighs less (and has fewer calories, for you health-conscious chocolovers). The bar can, however, feel a bit clumpy as the bubbles go across the palate, without blending in with the heavier chocolate smoothly.

Moreover, while the chocolate itself isn’t all that complex and can come off as even a bit weak for a 60% bar, it’s extremely balanced. Being a candy bar, it has a lot of extra sugar added in, but that sugar is just enough to leave your mouth watering rather than to overpower the cocoa. The cocoa, too, is flavorful. While the bar is extremely simple, with almost no overtones, it has a very refreshing, almost coffee-like kick to it. Best of all, though, there’s a very subtle hint of what tastes like coconut, which comes in near the end to pull everything together. This bar can be just a tad sweet for dark chocolate, especially in the finish, but it’s still impressive for the price.

On the other hand, with all that air, the chocolate nearly doesn’t melt at all, robbing you of one of the primary sensations of chocolate. Moreover, the air gets in the way of the cocoa’s natural intensity, watering it down and giving the bar extraordinarily short length for a dark chocolate. The taste, in fact, dissipates within half a minute. In that sense, the aeration technique somewhat undermines the very point of dark chocolate.

Still, categories like melt and length don’t really do bubble chocolate justice, because it’s not trying to be a “traditional” chocolate, instead coming off more as a chocolate and cookie hybrid. I still probably wouldn’t go far enough to recommend it, but it is an extremely good and extremely accessible candy bar. It unfortunately can’t give an intense or complex enough dark chocolate rush, largely because of the very method that makes it so unique.

Scores

Presentation: 2.5/5.0
Taste: 3.0/5.0
Melt: 0.5/5.0 (but not fully applicable)
Length: 0.2/5.0 (but not fully applicable)
Value: 4.0/5.0
Overall Score: 2.5/5.0. More like 3.5 for an ordinary, $2.50 candy bar.