A bit over a week ago, I brought you my thoughts on TCHO’s Nutty chocolate. After a promising start, the bar put forward some of the strangest flavours I’ve ever encountered in chocolate: cast-iron and cardboard.
Luckily, I also had a bar of TCHO’s Chocolatey flavour in my travel-suitcase-stash. A day after my Nutty experience, I opened the Chocolatey in order to taste and ruminate upon any differences between the two products.
Was I a bit scared to try Mr. Chocolatey? Yes. You see, there’s only so much metal I can bear to taste in my chocolate; only so much disappointment I can cope with in my gustatory adventuring.
Was this fear justified? Read on, readers, read on.
TCHO Dark Chocolate “Chocolatey”
If chocolate can be chocolatey, then can I say I'm feeling very Hannahey today?
Whereas the Nutty is a 65% cacao chocolate is made with beans from Peru, the Chocolatey ups the ante with a 70% content and beans from Ghana. However, mes amis (did you know I went to Paris?), I just noticed that the Nutty chocolate is made from Fair Trade beans and the Chocolatey is not.
What am I supposed to do now? Eat the bad chocolate and feel good about myself, or eat the good one and feel like a wretched, wretched inequality-perpetuating human being? WWEDD*?
(Note: See what I did there? I gave the game away. You now know my opinion of this chocolate.)
It's the return of the geometric-snakeskin-hammock! (Peruse the earlier TCHO post if this doesn't make sense...)
As I said above, the Chocolatey bar is good. Good, but not great. Good in the sense of not tasting like metal and cardboard, but not great in the sense of lacking in depth and richness.
There is, to TCHO’s credit, a thick and fudgy element in the chocolate that lends it a satisfying mouthfeel. However, little more emerges from the bar’s pleasant-but-not-striking-sweetness than a few vague flavours of red plum and raspberry.
Do you think, if I don't change tack and give this an entirely positive review, I'll be stabbed in the middle of the night by this pointy bit of chocolate? Also, talking of the middle of the night, last night I dreamt that Lady Gaga was running up stairs wearing scuba-diving flippers. Then I woke up and realised that such behaviour wouldn't be beyond her.
Interestingly, I got some almond notes from this that were completely lacking in the Nutty bar. Overall, though, it would be remiss of me not to admit that TCHO’s Chocolately bar tastes chocolatey.
Such chocolatey-ness does seem to be the bar’s blessing and its curse, though. The chocolatey flavour is pleasant, and I’m hardly likely to stand (type?) here and say I’m against my chocolate tasting like chocolate… but there is also a lack of complexity in the bar that ensures I’m unlikely to buy it again.
Instead, I think I’ll stick to my ridiculously-expensive-oh-dear-heavens-did-I-really-spend-as-much-on-50g-of-chocolate-as-I-do-on-eggs-florentine Amadei chocolate.
But you’ll have to wait for that post.
* What Would Ellen DeGeneres Do.
Ooh la la, “mes amis” indeed, you are so well travelled! This makes me think – do you know anyone who always says “ciao” instead of bye, even though they have no Italian connections whatsoever? I do, and have always thought it a bit poncy, but maybe that’s just me.
Um, I just had a thought that maybe you might say ciao. I hope not, but if so, I don’t think it’s poncy at all. It’s cosmopolitan, that’s what it is. Yes.
Nice chocolate. I’m not a fan of metal or cardboard either.
They sell this chocolate at our local Starbucks, and I was wondering whether to buy it. I haven’t yet because 1. chocolate + coffee are generally too much caffeine for me at once, and 2. I have an unsophisticated palate, and prefer my chocolate with bits and pieces of something or other. It sounds like it’s worth a try, though. At least if I’m in the mood for something “chocolate-y.”
Incidentally, Local Starbucks is also offering a lot of gluten-free items now, including flax/corn tortilla chips, raw food-style granola bars, and that brand where everything is shaped like a bunny. Interesting! I am glad to have the variety of options — and so sorry you will be missing your frappucinos in Starbucks-free Canberra.
Interesting that they feel the need to tell you that this bar is of a chocolatey flavour. Were they worried you might not realise it was chocolate?
I must have missed the cast-iron and cardboard review…off to find that now. Despite all that though, I’m getting a craving for chocolate. Damn!
What indeed!
Ack! Perhaps they should put “Does not taste like metal or cardboard” on the wrapper as a selling point!
And I’m curious, how many chocolate stashes do you have? 
Ahh chocolatey chocolate? I think you’ve described it in a commendably Hannahey way! I’m not sure what a dream analyser would make of your Lady Gaga dream either although I agree, I wouldn’t put this past her either!
Conor: Don’t worry; you’re safe. Your foot is still nowhere near your mouth
Thankfully I haven’t come across any Ciao Ponces of late, but if I do, I’ll be sure to glare in their direction on your behalf.
Lauren: I think I bought mine at Foods of All Nations, but did see them (and the rest of what you mention) at the Corner Starbucks. I was very tempted by the raw snacks, and actually brought home some of the (larger bags) of Sahale snacks, though procured them at Whole Foods. I do miss my frappuccinos, but with every day, the pain lessens…
Vaala: You can’t trust consumers. We consumers is of stupid-head thinky-not. But Vaala! A craving for chocolate never equals “damn”, only “what a glorious feeling!”
Whisperinggums: We still have about 15 to finish before I’m out of the house again tomorrow…
Lorraine: There’s a small chance I kept bursting into giggles this morning while trying to sort out what to take to my house-sitting gig, because I kept finding different chocolate bars in different bags from my travels. Wrapped in a new dress? Check. With my contact lenses? Check. It’s like my own personal Easter Egg hunt, but with fancy chocolate.
Helen: I usually try a bit harder with my descriptions than just “chocolatey”, but this time I decided to follow TCHO’s lead!
Oh, Lady GaGa. She is a strange one.
I’ve never seen this kind of chocolate before – you just keep teaching me about this whole new world that exists!
I love the way you describe the chocolates here. I just realise my very limited knowledge on chocolate.
Simply Life: Apparently you can find these at Starbucks, so it’s a world at your door!
Penny: Thank you! And hey, knowlege doesn’t matter as long as the chocolate tastes good to you