Super dark chocolate blocks: Reviewing 85% to 100% cocoa options

It's no secret that I love chocolate and my In My Kitchen posts often feature my lastest chocolate discoveries. However, it has been many months since I've done a proper chocolate review. Today's post aims to make up for lost time with reviews of four dark chocolate options. And by dark I really do mean dark - these blocks range from 85% to 100% cocoa.

Starting with the 85% choices, one of my Christmas presents was the M&S 85% cocoa 'Intense Dark Chocolate' block. I featured it in my January In My Kitchen post but didn't elaborate on flavours then.

For a long time I avoided 85% cocoa blocks because I don't like the Lindt 85% cocoa option, and it put me off other chocolates of the same cocoa level. Happily, I am now a convert and know that the Lindt flavours don't generalise to other brands. This M&S 85% cocoa block is delicious. The packaging describes the flavours as bringing "aromas of ripe fruit and a flavour of mixed berries, with the slight acidity balanced by overnotes of honey". I wouldn't have come up with this exact description but agree that the tartness of the berry-cocoa tones is offset by a more mellow sweetness.

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Montezuma's chocolate and cafe, Kingston Upon Thames

Last week, we went on an extended looping outing that incorporated Kingston Upon Thames to the south-west of London, and Morden to the south. Kingston had a few bike shops that we wanted to visit, and turned out to be a delightful area in all sorts of ways (river, parks, cycle paths galore, nice shops, Hampton Court Palace...). Morden is home to Morden Hall Park, run by the National Trust.

River Thames at Kingston Upon Thames

While wandering Kingston, we stumbled across a store and cafe for Montezuma's Chocolates. I have mentioned Montezuma's before, and you may remember me raving about their dark chocolate with orange and geranium back in August. As a family run British business that focuses on innovative chocolate made with fair trade ingredients, there is a lot to love about the brand. They also produce a lot of vegan bars - their dark chocolate blocks are dairy free and they go to the effort of labeling products as vegan when they are. So, I was pretty delighted to find an actual Montezuma's store.

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Chocolate reviews - an enormous chocolate-filled post!

I loved reading your comments on my last post. Some of you have never been gym people, others have made a similar transition to my recent one, and of course there is a group in the opposite position, enjoying what a gym has to offer. It goes to show that what suits one person will not necessarily suit another!

From exercise, I am moving to another of my favourite topics: chocolate. I have waxed lyrical about UK chocolates in the past. Now that I live here, I am having a great time working through the range of dark (dairy free) blocks on offer. This post reflects some two months of chocolate purchases and will be a whirlwind, snapshot review post!

Let's start with Tesco, which has several tiers of home brand chocolate to choose from. The cheapest, their 'every day value' and 'rainforest alliance' blocks, include milk and so I haven't tried those. However, their standard Tesco range includes dairy-free 74% cocoa and 85% cocoa blocks, which cost £1 ($1.80) for 100g.

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Product reviews: Montezuma's Lordy Lord 71% Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs and 73% Dark Chocolate with Chilli

I am pleased to say that it's time for another English chocolate edition. Today, we have two blocks from the Montezuma's range, which were bought (along with so many of my purchases) from Waitrose in London. Waitrose and London seem a very long way away now, so I am rationing my chocolate with a certain amount of nostalgia.

Montezuma's started in 2000 when the co-founders, Helen and Simon Pattinson, opened a small chocolate shop in Brighton on England's south coast. I rather love that the husband and wife team were lawyers before they became chocolate makers, and that they started their small business with inspiration from their recent South American travels. They say that their goal was to make British chocolate more exciting and innovative, which is a goal I heartily support (and would encourage Australian chocolate-makers to adopt too!). Their range and distribution has grown hugely since 2000 and the Montezuma's brand can now be found in shops and supermarkets around the country.

The Lordy Lord dark chocolate with cocoa nibs jumped off the shelf into my shopping basket. It is a 71% cocoa block, made up of "dark chocolate (cocoa solids, sugar & vanilla) (92%) and cocoa nibs (8%)". I found it mellow, warm and quite sweet for a dark chocolate, but sweet in a very pleasing way. The vanilla came through beautifully and the cocoa nibs provided satisfying texture contrast, being worked through the chocolate rather than sprinkled on top.

I am also very enamoured with the Montezuma star

I would definitely eat this chocolate again.

The chilli block was quite different, but still enjoyable. Despite having only slightly more cocoa (73%), it tasted much darker than the cocoa nib block and almost bitter-sweet.

Initially the flavours were all chocolate, but then the chilli came through with a satisfying zing! to tickle the back of my throat. The warm spices lingered, quite delightfully, after each piece.

I thought the balance of chilli to chocolate was just right, although if you have a piece of this with a hot drink, the chilli will ramp up to be rather stronger. I always seem to forget this when eating chilli chocolate, which means I am prone to turning my eating experience from zing! to burning! more often than I would like. Note: apply caution to chilli chocolate and hot drinks.

In all, I very much enjoyed these blocks and would be keen to try other Montezuma's flavours in the future. Given that the company ships to mainland Europe, I hold the hope that the bars may one day work their way down to Australia too.

Have you seen or tried the Montezuma's brand? What are your thoughts on cocoa nib and chilli chocolate?

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