I bought this chocolate bar from this Natural Health store I frequent, they often have unusual and interesting foods. I had never seen this brand before, there were several different flavours. The one I chose was the Bittersweet Dark 70% Chocolate with a Soft Mint Centre. According to the information on the inside of the wrapper, they bill themselves as "The Most Heavenly Chocolate on Planet Earth". They use the finest organically grown cocoa beans, and these are called Fairtrade mark Maya Gold Chocolate, which is made by Maya Indian farmers in southern Belize. They have an exclusive long-term contract to buy all that they can produce, and pay them a higher price than that of conventional cocoa. Their cocoa beans include the varieties of criollo and trinitario. Criollo, often dubbed the Prince of cocoas, has a pleasant aroma, while Trinitaro is a hybrid between Criollo and Forasetero varieties. Forastero has a more pungent aroma.
Beyond the good feeling you get from buying a product that helps improve the life of Indian farmers in South America, I can say that their efforts of making the chocolate, including extra time conching the chocolate, something that Lindt also does and is know for, which produces a more intense chocolate flavour, has produced a chocolate bar that tastes wonderful. Conching, invented by Rudolphe Lindt, is a process by which metal beads and heat are used to grind the chocolate and sugar particles to a particle size that is smaller than the tongue can detect, resulting in a smooth product. Oddly enough, I have read that some people think that Lindt overconches their chocolate, but that is all about individual taste.
I far prefer dark chocolate, less sweet chocolate, and this bar has a more subtle mint flavour than other mint chocolate bars that I have tried, that works well for my taste buds. Check them out here.
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