Theo Cherry and Almond Chocolate Bar

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

70% Cocoa Flavored Dark Chocolate Bar.
$4 for 3 oz. (84 g).
Organic Chocolate.

I’ve returned to yet another producer of organic chocolate, ironic given how much I dislike organic chocolate. While Theo doesn’t really change any of my thoughts on organic chocolate, I have to admit it’s not half bad, especially for the price–$4 for a chocolate bar is about as cheap as “gourmet” can get.

First, the presentation. Theo’s Cherry and Almond Dark Chocolate Bar has a bit more show than most bars, which I consider a big plus. On the wrapper, instead of finding the traditional boring logo, you actually have a drawing of the ingredients themselves. It’s a simple but creative design, and even more importantly, it’s inviting, so that you might actually be drawn to buy it.

Unfortunately, the wrapper is a bit misleading. Upon opening the bar, I only found a simple silver wrapper, concealing a bar that is divided lengthwise into boring rectangles with very little gloss or shine. As soon as I opened it up, then, I realized what a sucker I’d been, since the bar is about as boring as they come.

To be fair, though, the taste isn’t too bad, especially for an organic bar. The bar features 70% cocoa, so it’s pretty intense, i.e. bitter, but the sour cherries and almonds help to balance it out, making it far less intimidating. The sour cherries are especially nice, contrasting the intense cocoa very nicely with their tangy fruitiness.

The finish, though, isn’t very satisfying, leaving you with a rather dry, bitter tanginess that only gives you an insatiable thirst for water. Nor do new notes really pop out after the finish (though if you’re lucky you get a really pleasant burst of sour cherries right at the end), so while you might want to savor the flavor, the more interesting cherry notes will soon fade, leaving you with a simple, dull dark chocolate bitterness.

And that’s really my biggest complaint. While Theo’s Cherry and Almond Chocolate Bar is has some solid flavors and even a nice nutty crunch (whole pieces of almonds are included), it relies a lot on those flavors, without which its effect dies down. Even with such interesting flavors though, Theo fails to cover up the dry, slightly unpleasant bitterness of the underlying chocolate.

On a more positive note, the melt on the bar is great, especially for a bar with so much cocoa. The reason is largely the thinness of the bar. While it’s a solid 90g, it is overly long (in terms of its size) compared to other bars, meaning it’s also a lot thinner. In turn, there’s more surface area in contact with the mouth, and so the bar will melt more quickly. It also helps that the chunks of nuts are kept small and are dispersed nicely, so that they don’t interfere with the melt at all.

Overall, then, the Theo Cherry and Almond Chocolate Bar does have its share of positives—nice melt, great flavors, and good balance. At the same time, it’s somewhat of a boring bar. Without the sour cherry and almond, the bar is sub-par dark chocolate. And that’s really the last impression this dark chocolate bar leaves you (in the finish), which is a shame because it seems so much more on first taste.

Scores:

Presentation: 3.0/5.0
Melt: 3.0/5.0
Length: 1.2+/5.0
Taste: 2.5/5.0
Value: 2.5/5.0. This is a pretty standard/better-than-average price for a decent 70%+ dark chocolate.
Overall Score: 2.5/5.0