So I know that I was really mean, cruel, and otherwise horrible to you guys a few weeks ago.
You know, when I dangled my discovery of artisan chocolate in your faces. Without giving you any advice on how to satiate your new need unless you live in Atlanta or Asheville.
(And as far as I can tell, I have zero readers in either city. Apparently I’m not popular in A-named cities.)
Anyway. It was wrong, and I realize that.
However, it was hard on me, too. Because I ate all of my chocolate from Atlanta, and I also saw no way of satiating my new need.
However, I did some research. And I took notes.
I found out that, although we do not have a local chocolatier like I my heart desires, there are places in town (and most likely in your town as well) to buy artisan chocolate.
Here are a few points I’d like to make first:
1. Yes, artisan chocolate is more expensive (the bars I bought were between $2-6 each, most around $3.50.) But you don’t need as much. Chris and I have split a bar every night, and we don’t even always finish our half bar. The richness satisfies so thoroughly that you’re eating less, and therefore saving calories.
2. Be prepared for this chocolate to impact your body chemistry. I am a firm believer that we’ve all been eating severely watered down genetic strains of chocolate, and the real stuff is powerful.
3. You can get artisan chocolates with mix-ins, or just pure chocolate. Although we have come to prefer the pure chocolates, the ones with the mix-ins are good also. Some chocolates call them “nibs” – they can be cocoa bean pieces, vanilla pieces, fruit pieces, or even pepper pieces. I recommend experimenting to narrow down your preferences.
4. Although you can get artisan chocolate in milk flavors, the dark chocolates are something special. Even if you’ve never liked dark chocolate, it’s worth trying, because real dark is nothing like “Hershey’s Special Dark” – I promise.
(We did not try any milk chocolates. Call us snobs. That’s fine.)
If I indeed did birth a cacao need inside of you, you should have at least one of these stores in your city, and I also found some of them online (although you’ll do better to buy in store – shipping temperatures are likely to hurt the quality.)
I have taken three chocolate shopping trips: Earth Fare, Publix, and Whole Foods.
My first was to Earth Fare, a new organic grocery store in town. Here is what I bought:
In order of our favorite to least favorite, here are how these fared:
1. TCHO “Nutty” – This chocolate was mind-blowing. Still one of my favorites, it had a nutty taste profile, but had zero nuts in it – it was just the natural flavors of the cacao beans. It was rich in flavor and luxurious, but completely smooth.
2. TCHO “Chocolatey” – This one was also fantastic. Smooth and dark, but not at all chalky like some dark chocolates can get. If you don’t like a nutty tone, this is the one for you.
3. Alter Eco Dark Twist – This bar actually has crystallized orange peels in the chocolate. It was different and a fun flavor, when you’re not in the mood for a simple chocolate.
4. Green & Black’s – This company recently got bought out by Kraft, and I learned at Atlanta Food & Wine that whenever a big company buys out a small chocolatier, they always replace the artisan chocolate with “stock” chocolate. So I was prepared for it to taste regular old chocolate, and that could have affected my opinion. But it was still good – very dark but very smooth.
5. Theo 85% – This one was too dark, but I did end up liking Theo later in the experiment.
6. Alter Eco Dark Blackout – This bar was just too dark. Somewhat like eating cocoa out of the can.
7. Chocolove – I really thought I was going to like Chocolove (I had heard good things), but was very unimpressed. Not sure why, but I have bought another bar to try for a second chance.
I realized after this trip that perhaps I was buying too dark. I love dark chocolate (and I believe everyone should, just like everyone should eat their steaks rare), but I decided I would keep it at 75% or below.
My next stop was Publix, at Chris’ suggestion. I didn’t think that a regular grocery store would have artisan chocolate, but they had a better selection than I imagined. Here’s what I bought:
We haven’t eaten the Chocolove or Lindt yet (although we’ve had Lindt plenty of times in the past, I wanted to see how it stacked up against the more boutique brands), but of the ones we have eaten, here’s what I thought:
1.Dagoba – This bar was perfection. I adored it. It was exactly what it claimed: rich and dark. Not a trace of bitterness – all smooth chocolate. It also had a quote on the inside of the wrapper that said “You can deprive the body but the soul needs chocolate.” I agree.
2. Endangered Species Chocolate – this bar was good, but almost too rich for my taste.
3. Green & Black’s – again, it wasn’t bad. It was smooth, dark, and still way better than Hershey’s, but (at least by power of suggestion) can’t compete with the boutique brands.
So although Publix’s selection wasn’t as good, it’s doable in a pinch.
However, I was shocked when I hit the choco-jackpot at Whole Foods.
Look at their chocolate aisle!!!
Look how much money I spent! All in the name of research. For you guys. You can send me thank you cards later.
This collection included some stunning chocolate, too. Chris’ absolute favorite was in this batch, so I’m going to list it first.
1. Equal Exchange Ecuador Dark (The top middle bar) – Chris raved about it. He had enjoyed most of our prior experimentation, but this one was special. It was very smooth without a hint of chalkiness, and was sweet in spite of it’s darkness. Chris described it as “having the richness of brownie batter.” This was also a single origin chocolate, which is supposed to make the flavor much better.
2. Madecasse Madagascar Sea Salt and Nibs (top left) – This company is owned by former peace corps volunteers who wanted to do more for Madagascar. So not only do they buy their beans there, but they actually have their factory and make their chocolate IN Madagascar – something that is quite rare! Their chocolate was delicious, too. The cacao bean nibs had a coffee bean quality.
3. Divine Chocolate – This one was very good. Smooth and thick, but still very dark. It had a richness that was very satisfying.
4. Olive and Sinclair Southern Artisan Chocolate (the bottom right and left bar) – this one reminded me of the ones I had in Atlanta, which was interesting since Olive and Sinclair is in Nashville. They claim to be the first Southern Artisan Chocolatier. They say that the defining ingredient of southern chocolate is brown sugar, and you can definitely taste the hint of molasses in the bars.
5. Theo Pure 70% – I think this bar would be the easiest to take if you normally don’t like dark chocolate. It was the smoothest chocolate flavor we’ve tried.
6. Theo Congo Vanilla Nib – This one had crunchy bits of vanilla mixed into the smooth chocolate. Great for when you want a little something extra in your chocolate.
7. Lily’s Dark Chocolate with Stevia – I got this bar as an experiment because it was low-cal, sweetened with Stevia instead of sugar. It really wasn’t bad! It didn’t have a sweetener aftertaste, but it also had a less rich flavor than the others.
7. Escazu – Although I was excited about this one because it was another southern chocolate (from Raleigh), Chris and I actually both strongly disliked this bar – neither of us came close to finishing it! It had a very strange after taste and really left an unpleasant coating on our tongues.
So. If you find yourself in a place with all of these chocolates, here is our top ten list, in order of preference:
1. TCHO
2. Equal Exchange
3. Dagoba
4. Madecasse
5. Theo
6. Divine
7. Olive and Sinclair
8. Alter Eco
9. Endangered Species
10. Lily’s
But of course, if you can get your hands on a locally produced chocolate, like those I ate in Atlanta, I am fairly certain that it will be the best experience your tongue has ever had.
Now go. And eat chocolate.
How do you know you are buying the “good stuff” and not just ordinary chocolate in a fancy wrapper? Are there key words or chocolate percentages?
Don’t worry – they’ll tell you! Reading the wrappers and looking for key words helps. “Bean to bar”, “single origin”, or the origin of the beans listed. Fewer ingredients (I usually just see four or five with no long words), and their story is usually on the back. Artisan Chocolatiers are proud of their processes.
Hi Rachel, you do have at least one reader in Atlanta-me! I’m more of a lurker than a commenter, but wanted you to know you do have a faithful reader in A town. I’ve never been much of a chocolate fan (can we still be friends?), but I may have to try some of the good stuff Atlanta has to offer.
Yay! I’m glad to know that the whole city doesn’t hate me, especially since I love Atlanta so! And yes, we can still be friends – better friends even, because you’re leaving more chocolate for me. :-) But if you do explore, the Cacao Atlanta shop in Virginia Highlands is the most fantastic place on earth. And I hear you can tour their factory as well – I’ll be checking into that on my next visit.
I am not mature enough to be a chocolate snob, because I tend to go for volume of chocolate as opposed to quality of chocolate. I do have half of a Trader Joe’s organic chocolate bar in the pantry which I will now be eating for breakfast. Thank you for the meal recommendation ;)
I would love to try the good stuff like a grown up, though, so I’ll pin this list. I live in a little town that doesn’t have a bakery let alone a chocolatier, so it looks like I’ll have to try some from a store!
But you have Trader Joe’s, which is better than me!
Aw, I am sad to hear about Green & Blacks. A few years ago I found that the dark chocolate & cherries bar was a sure fire way to stop PMS in its tracks. I haven’t been able to find it lately though, and the other kinds do not taste as good to me. I wonder if it is because they got bought out?
And I forgot to mention, I’ve always avoided the Dagoba chocolate since the one time I got teased unmercifully for buying it… seeing as how my whole family knows I am a huge Star Wars nerd… and I may have channeled Yoda a little bit while enjoying the chocolate… and me earnestly pointing out that the real Dagobah is spelled with an “H” probably did not help (my mom tried to point out what “real” actually means).
But may be I will give it another try now. Secretely.
The fact that your family knew to tease you means that they are slightly nerdy themselves. Because I have no idea what you’re talking about.
I’ve had the Lindt you got before. I’ve also had a blackberry version and they’re both really good. Aldi tends to randomly get some really good chocolate bars. Both artisan and some random German ones.
I have yet to go to Aldi (We just got them here a couple of years ago), so I will have to further my investigation there. Thanks for the info!
You have the best posts! Not to make you spend more money, but could you head over to Trader Joe’s next? K’thanks! ;)
I am DYING for a Trader Joe’s here, but alas – the closest one is in Atlanta. I have yet to ever step foot in that store (Or Ikea, sadly enough), but I have heard amazing things!!
If you want to visit Ikea and get some great chocolate while you are at it, let me know. I will do a day trip with you or we can stay longer…
That does sound like a fun trip! :-)
A few thoughts –
1 – You can get Green and Blacks at Kroger; it’s in the “organic/health foods section”. They have some other “better” chocolates as well.
2 – Trader Joe’s has a lot of chocolate too.
3 – Are any of these fair trade? I didn’t notice that you commented on those, though I imagine the one made IN Madagascar might be. Green & Blacks was though if it was bought by Kraft, it probably won’t remain fair trade. I have been trying lately to think about this more, though I have not actually made the jump to only fair trade chocolate (and coffee).
Thanks for the tips! I don’t have either Kroger or Trader Joe’s – how deprived is that?
And yes, almost all of them were fair trade. It seems that artisan chocolate, fair trade, and organic stick together very closely.
Have you had Olive & Sinclair’s Mexican Cinnamon chocolate or the Sea Salt? Divine.
I haven’t, but thanks for the recommendation! It sounds amazing. I love cinnamon and chocolate paired together – my favorite chocolate cake recipe features cinnamon.
And now I’m hungry.
You should try Manoa Chocolate from Hawaii! Small bean to bar shop on Oahu! http://manoachocolate.com/ Expensive, but so worth it. Each bar actually tastes a bit like paradise. :)
I haven’t, but I’ll check it out! Thanks for the recommendation!
We have a Whole Foods here, and now I must go there and check out their chocolate! I have to confess to eating fairly pedestrian darks, like Lindt, most of the time (to be thrifty), but I adore a really good 82-85% bar as a treat every now and then. Thanks for the reviews! That will really help me narrow things down when I get to WF.
I thought that Lindt was the epitome of chocolate bars – until a month ago!
We have been to the Theo factory in Seattle. They do a tour where they let you sample several of their flavors. If you are ever in Seattle, check it out. :)
Sounds awesome! I think the Cacao Atlanta factory offers tours, too – and there’s a pretty good chance I’ll be in Atlanta before I’m in Seattle…but you never know!!
So, it’s 8:15 on Friday night…how do you suggest I get my husband psyched up about a chocolate run???
Hmm…offer to buy him whatever he wants? Tell him that real chocolate will change your life? Let him stay home with the sleeping baby?
Yesssss! I am so glad that you did this testing. I am going to find some TCHO chocolate if I can.
Funny. I just did a chocolate taste test with my husband last week. There were two artisan kinds, a lindt and a ghiradelli. (its too late to look up the spelling of that right now.) Anyway: I really liked LIndt and the Lake Champlain chocolate (one of the artisan brands) but the other fancy one I did not like at all. My husband did though. Ghiradelli isn’t very good either. Too bitter.
Some great suggestions! Try the Bacon and Chocolate combinations! and poster Breenah is right about Aldi’s. even their store brand of Orange and Almond is great. A great nightly ritual, glass of Cab and some chocolate :)
Side bar- make a point to try Aldi’s you will not be disappointed!
I do need to go to an Aldi – there’s one not too far from me, but definitely not convenient enough for weekly shopping. But for chocolate, I’ll make the trek.
I am a fan and I live in Atlanta. :)
Thanks for letting me know! I always feel so lonely in Atlanta. :-)
Hmm I feel like doing my own “research”. I am limited to gluten free stuff though, which makes it a bit trickier
I actually saw a bunch that said they were Gluten Free – I just don’t remember which ones. I am so not helpful.
I actually ordered 3 chocolate bars from the French Broad chocolate company. The chocolate was truly divine! But the shipping cost me more than the chocolate. I live in Washington state so you can imagine how much they charged to send it in insulated packing w reusable freezer bags. I can say they arrived cold, even in our 100 degree weather.
That’s fantastic! I need to order some – I only got to taste their truffles, no bars.
If you’re ever in San Francisco, I think you can do tastings at TCHO. They are so awesome.
That would be HEAVENLY! I haven’t been to San Francisco since Junior High, but TCHO almost makes it worth the trip.