LA Burdick Dark Chocolate

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

Composition: 69-72% Dark Chocolate.
Region of Production: USA.
Price: 100g for about $7.

The presentation is brilliant. Burdick specializes in the old-fashioned and homey, producing a bar that is clean and simple in every way possible. The bar comes packaged in very nice brown paper packaging that nevertheless never looks cheap. And the bar is beautiful, coming in perfect little rectangles that snap off easily with a large crackle. The bottom and top are both perfectly smooth, and there are only very minor marks of chocolate smearing.

The aroma is very nice, too. As you open the bar, you’re hit by a strong breeze of smoky hazelnut, mixed with earth, banana, and fresh roasted coffee.

As for taste, this dark chocolate is easily one of the most edible I’ve ever had. Even though it’s around 70%, it never gets too bitter, and it even feels relatively sweet, much more so than most bars at this range. Moreover, it has some very earthy, milky overtones, especially of mud, cream, and fresh coffee beans. The bar ends clean with a light, roasted coffee taste, in addition to some vanilla and a slight fruitiness. Honestly, though, this is a very simple bar, with only a few subtle flavors. It gives you a very elegant, full-bodied, simple dark chocolate experience that is incredibly pleasant more for its mastery of the basics than for its complexity. Moreover, the sweetness and milkiness of this bar are very surprising, in a good way. Finally, it leaves a very strong coffee aftertaste, which lasts on the palate at least for a few minutes, though it dissipates more quickly than I’d expect for something so strong (after 5 minutes I’d say). This bar will definitely be a bit too milky or simple for some.

As for the melt, the bar is rather thick, so it doesn’t melt all too quickly. Instead, there’s a very controlled, gradual, smooth melt—one which leaves you savoring the chocolate until the very end. Moreover, the melt is very clean, so that nothing ever clings to the mouth, and the bar never feels overly rich. The chocolate is rather round as well (i.e. it hits the whole palate). You do have to work for the melt, swirling the chocolate around constantly, but it’s still rather than enjoyable.

Scores

Presentation: 4.4/5.0.
Taste: 4.2+/5.0.
Melt: 4.1/5.0.
Length: 4.1/5.0.
Value: 4.0/5.0.
Verdict: 4.1+/5.0