Every morning, I enjoy at least one chocolate with a cup of coffee. A friend and I meet up around 11am, with one of us bringing a new chocolate offering to try out. We've worked our way through a LOT of chocolates this way. I also was a member of a weekly chocolate tasting club, until it ended a few months ago. And I've visited a number of chocolate festivals. So, I've tried a lot of chocolates, and have a big backlog of chocolate reviews to get through. On nights where I don't go out to eat, I'll try to post one of these instead!
One merchant that I have seen popping up at a lot of local events is Cocotutti. They make tiny little chocolates, always beautifully colored. They are also notable in that they always bring plenty of samples of a variety of different chocolates, and encourage you to try numerous ones. The merchant is always friendly and gracious, even when dealing with crowds of people frantically grabbing for the chocolates (like as the SF Chocolate Salon). If you see them around, check them out!
As always, subsequent tastings are noted [in brackets].
- Bon bons - tiny little balls of chocolate.
- Raspberry confit: Tasting notes: Very fudge-like in consistency. Not very strong chocolate flavor, raspberry subtle as well. [ Not very chocolately, not very raspberry, meh ] [ Crazy soft, just melts in your mouth, decent raspberry flavor ]
- Fig in roasted walnuts: Tasting notes: Very fudge-like in consistency. Not very strong chocolate flavor, but a balsamic note? Rolled in chopped walnuts. [ I really liked the fig and walnut flavor pairing. ]
- Cappuccino: Tasting notes: Same fudgy chocolate that doesn’t have much chocolate flavor. Mild cappuccino flavor.
- Blackberry: Tasting notes: Same fudgy consistency, same not very chocolately. Blackberry flavor is pretty subtle, but discernible. Very similar to raspberry one.
- Earl gray: Tasting notes: Same thing, flavor too subtle, barely any earl gray, rolled in white powder.
- Caramels:
- Florentine caramel: “liquid caramel with fresh citrus and roasted almonds”. Tasting notes: very runny caramel filling that has a strong citrus flavor. Coated in forgettable milk chocolate and topped with almonds. Not sure the toasted almonds added anything.
- Thai Chili Peanut: Tasting notes: liquid caramel filling, dark chocolate coating, topped with almonds. Filling had very strong chili flavors. Really nice.
- Liquid vanilla caramel: Tasting notes: Chocolate shell filled with runny caramel. Not particularly interesting, nor non-interesting.
- Coffee hazelnut caramel: Tasting notes: Good coffee flavor, decent overall.
- Truffles - hand dipped in either 64% Guittard or 40% Valrhona chocolate.
- Jasmine: Tasting notes: Dark chocolate shell, milk chocolate filling, didn’t really taste any jasmine at all.
- Peanut butter: Tasting notes: nice creamy peanut butter inside, milk chocolate outside. Like a very tasty pb cup. Quite good.
- Lemon lavender: Tasting notes: Dark chocolate shell, dark chocolate filling, tastes like a flower … or a soap. No lemon flavor. [ Very strong lavender flavor, like eating a flower! ]
- “Hot” chocolate: Chipotle ganache. Tasting notes: Dark chocolate shell, milk chocolate filling, with some heat to it. Nice kick, subtle at first and builds a little. [ creamy chocolate, only slight heat, would prefer more heat to it ]
- Rocky Road
- Peanut: Tasting notes: Nice chocolate, little chunks of marshmallow, peanuts go well with it. Good mix.
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