Koko Black chocolate

In Perth's fanciest shopping precinct (or at least, the fanciest I venture into), there is a fancy chocolate shop. Koko Black has several stores around Australia, with the Claremont store being the first, currently only, in Perth.

To highlight my point about 'fancy', they call the stores salons rather than stores. Truly. I discovered this when I looked at their webpage and thought I had inadvertently found a Koko Black hairdresser's.

I forgive them the fanciness, though, because they make impressive chocolate. At the Claremont store (salon...), you can also watch chocolate being made and there is a chocolate-themed cafe, which incorporates some of the inside space and then spills out on to the pavement. After looking at the menu online, I now wish I'd tried it out on my visits, rather than just gazing at the chocolate available for purchase.

Given that this chocolate is a little pricier than my usual purchases - the 100g blocks cost around $8 - it was something I'd mentioned in the lead up to my birthday and Christmas. Between us, Mr Bite and I ended up with three blocks, thus allowing me to not only try Koko Black produce for the first time, but to make comparisons across flavours.

I do think it's only fair to include a warning, for those who aren't fond of fruit in their chocolate, and especially aren't fond of orange. Look away from the orange and place your faith in cocoa nibs!

As the above picture highlights, our selection included 54% Dark Chocolate with Walnut & Crystallised Ginger; 80% Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs; and 54% Dark Chocolate with Orange and Almond. All are dairy free.

All of the 'bits', in terms of nuts and fruit and nibs, are on the top of the bars. However, because these are fancy bars, the top is actually the bottom, at least if you are like me and think that the squares have to count as the top.

Right? Definitely the top.

This approach to chocolate construction, where the non-chocolate ingredients are left somewhat separate from the chocolate, is one I used to be skeptical of. I quite like bits in my chocolate. If the bits are separate, I tend to eat them separately, and the whole experience is different to when they are mixed throughout the bar.

However, I am now a convert. After the Harem Dream chocolate I reviewed last year, which had a similar approach, I realise that this separate business works wonderfully when the chocolate is good enough to stand alone.

This chocolate is good enough to stand alone. As a bonus, if you are in a house where one person doesn't like nuts, and the other person doesn't want a lot of ginger or any orange peel, you can easily cope with this. You just take the bits you don't like off.

In terms of flavours, the 54% dark chocolate in the Walnut & Ginger and Orange & Almond blocks was the same. It was wonderful. The 50 - 70% cocoa range is the chocolate category I most commonly consume, and I think this rates as amongst the best I've had.

It is a relatively sweet dark chocolate. However, the sweetness isn't cloying. The tastes are smooth, reminiscent of brown sugar and fudge, with no hint of bitterness and plenty of cocoa. I suspect it would suit people who are tentative around dark chocolate.

Mr Bite is very fond of orange chocolate, so he was happy with the orange pieces decorating the Orange & Almond block. He also enjoyed walnut-free pieces from the ginger block. For my part, I found that the whole (and I think raw) nuts made a wonderful flavour and texture ontrast to the dark chocolate. As a bonus, they also worked well as hand holds, an effective way of not geting your fingers chocolatey when eating chocolate at room temperature in Australian summer!

With my enjoyment of the 54% cocoa blocks, I was really, really looking forward to the 80% cocoa nib option.

Again, there was no bitterness. Deep, deep flavours and underlying notes of burnt toffee made a perfect, delightful contrast with the crunchyness of the nibs. I didn't find the cocoa nibs to carry much of a taste on their own, but when set against the main chocolate block the texture provided a nice edge.

All in all, I would recommend this chocolate without hesitation. And now I've ventured in, I suspect I'll be trying more flavours. Maybe for Easter...

Have you tried Koko Black? What is your favourite cocoa percent range?

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