Chocolate

I don't think there are many people who don't like chocolate and I'm certainly not one of them. I adore chocolate. I didn't like bitter or dark chocolate as a child but through the recent years I've grown to like them. In fact, I hardly eat milk chocolate any more since I discovered what good quality dark chocolate can give you: real flavour which takes you back to the roots of chocolate, cocoa beans and the hard work of those who grow it.
So, I have become a "the more bitter the better" person. However, I don't find good chocolate with more than 70% cocoa solids bitter at all (unlike semi-sweet chocolate which I can only use for baking if ever), I only feel the depth and many layers of flavour hidden in a single bar.
Living in a small town in the not too modern part of Hungary, I don't have much opportunity to buy real good quality chocolate. So I've become a chocolate collector. There is a specialist chocolate shop I love to visit once in a while, not too far from where I live, which stocks some of the best chocolate available.
So let's take a look at some of my treasures, for indeed I treasure them, sometimes for months (or a whole year!) without opening them, fearing I don't get the chance to restock the collection LOL But when I do open them, I savour them slowly and keenly like it was the last thing I could taste.

There you go: chocolate with 85% cocoa solids (my ever-lasting love), chocolate with 71% cocoa solids (this particular bar rivals the 85% chocolates in smoothness and richness in flavour, I was quite surprised), 75% bar with passion fruit, and a sexy combination of chocolate with mango and chilli.

I don't think Lindt's chocolate needs any enthusiastic reviews in general, but let me tell you that the sour guave filling makes a perfect combination with this well-known quality of Swiss chocolate, and the other version filled with a gentle cream and cocoa bean pieces would convert a milk-chocolate-eater-only as well!

And here are my latest babies, Belgian chocolate with 88% cocoa solids, another version of the Grand'or, this time with lime flavour (I really should try either of them now LOL) and a dark chocolate bar with Rooibos tea filling (should be devoured soon, as winter's coming to a rapid end here LOL).

And this little gem from Café Tasse deserves a picture of its own: OH HOLY COW! Coffee beans hidden in the best white chocolate I've ever tasted. It reminds me so much of my childhood favourite chocolate, a cappuccino flavoured one. Enchanting...