Chocolate

[Faust]

It's a nice place to take a date, especially after dinner at Blossom, which I suspect is exactly what you did, you sly vegan!

[Ahimsa]

^ It would seem that you are not unfamiliar with the ways of vegan seduction.

[Faust]

Girlfriend does not eat meat (eats fish for health reasons, but would not eat it, ideally). I love Blossom.

[thinbuddha]

I'm a big fan of Cocoa V. I also think it would be the ideal place to take a date, so take what you will from that in terms of a recommendation.

I'm going to check this out over the weekend. Thanks!

[kirie]

There's a little company called Denman Island Chocolate from an island near where I grew up that does fantastic chocolates.
They have a chipotle infused dark chocolate bar that is absolutely amazing (the smokiness of the chipotle really adds something that I find most other hot chilli chocolates miss).
click here to look at delicious chocolate

the candied ginger bar is pretty amazing too. I always load up on DIC whenever I visit my family

[Ahimsa]

Girlfriend does not eat meat (eats fish for health reasons, but would not eat it, ideally). I love Blossom.

Further proof that you are a man who knows and appreciates quality when he sees it.
(in regards to average people being biased against vegan food)

I'm going to check this out over the weekend. Thanks!

You're very welcome! Feel free to post if you liked it or not XD

[thinbuddha]

I dropped by Coca V today. I ended up getting the salted almond chocolate bar and one of the coconut cream cupcakes.

Both were phenomenal! I'll definitely be going back. Their chocolate was super smooth and I liked the mold they use on their bars.

Thanks again for the recommendation!

[thehouseofdis]

Just bought a bar of Gnosis Raw Chocolate (with hazelnuts). Amazing flavor and free of refined sugar and dairy among other things. Made in NYC.

[MoFiya]

For my father's birthday, I worked myself into chocolate a little bit more in order to compile an "bitter chocolate taste" package.

Was quite interesting and I learned a lot. Ended up with four bars of Criollo chocolates in the range of 70-75% from various regions. All with a distinct history which I outlined on a sheet.

The compilation consisted of:
- Amedei 70% Blanco de Criollo
- Pralus Chuao Venezuela 75%
- Akesson's Criollo 75% Bio Ambolikapiky Plantage Madagascar
- Duffy's 72% Honduras Indio Rojo Xoco Criollo

As I got so fond of that and also had some tastings on my own, I just ordered a huge package of different Zotter chocolates, who is one of my favorite manufacturers. Bean-to-bar, fair-trade, mold-made. However, I only ordered "pure" bitter chocolate and none of his flavoured stuff (which I like as well). Including are some 90% and 100% bars. Looking forward to taste these.

[galia]

super high purity chocolate tastes like ass IMO. Anything over 80% is kinda gross, or best left used for cooking.
Still, look forward to some feedback from you on those

[theetruscan]

I very much disagree galia.

In general, my favorite chocolates are in the 70-85 range, but Blanxart's 95% chocolate is super delicious. Creamy and smooth like most great chocolate, hinting at sweet, but mostly just rich and chocolatey.

My absolute favorite chocolates ever (not chocolate, but chocolates) have to be from Jean-Charles Rochoux ( www.jcrochoux.fr ). The little squares of soft chocolate he sells are, well, if I lived in Paris I would be unable to fit through doorways.

[theetruscan]

Also, what are good places to get great chocolates?

My favorites have been:

The Meadow in Portland http://www.atthemeadow.com/shop/
Cocovoa in DC http://www.cocova.com/
Schokogalerie in Berlin http://schokogalerie-berlin.de/

There must be many more

[Faust]

What about that newsstand/chocolate place in downtown San Fran (on Market St. I think)? They seemed to have a nice selection.

[k3mist]

CocoaBella Chocolates?

surely one of the best. love the pistachio one.

[MoFiya]

super high purity chocolate tastes like ass IMO. Anything over 80% is kinda gross, or best left used for cooking.
Still, look forward to some feedback from you on those

So, I tasted it.
Tastes like ass is too much.
Actually, I found this one quite mild as well.
Sure, it is nothing you can eat away like milk chocolate.
But it certainly offers a great variety of flavours, let alone the great texture.
I am no expert when it comes to tasting chocolate. Maybe after tasting some more of the other bars, I can provide more details and comparisons. As for now, I must say I like it.