TCHO Beta Bars: Like Fudge Brownie Batter
I recently signed up at Blake Makes to receive and review free samples of food products. If you are a food blogger and you haven’t heard about Blake Makes yet, definitely check it out. This week’s sample was from TCHO chocolate, a San Francisco chocolate company.
Over the past month, I’ve gone from chocolate commoner to snooty chocolate elitist. I actually turned down some cheap chocolate Groom 2.0 brought to an event, calling it “fake chocolate”. I attended a lecture and tasting with Patric Chocolate and later, I sampled some other fine chocolates including Askinosie at Ciccolata in St. Louis’ Union Station. One of the things that I learned both from Patric and Askinosie is that good chocolate stands on its own without the need for vanilla flavoring.
Enter TCHO
One thing I noticed right away about the TCHO chocolate was that it contained vanilla beans. Always the good student, my mind started repeating what I’d learned, “Good chocolate doesn’t have vanilla. This can’t be good chocolate.” I was sad. I hadn’t even tasted it yet.
My TCHO chocolate came with a color wheel to describe the possible flavors the chocolate could have:
- Chocolatey
- Citrus
- Fruity
- Floral
- Nutty
- Earthy
I wonder about the distinctions here. What does earthy taste like, vs. nutty? What fruit does fruity taste like? TCHO thinks that this system will make things easier for consumers. They say it makes more sense than the typical percentage of chocolate that you see on bars. I’m not that sure. Will people be able to taste all of these subtle flavors? I’d like to try one of each flavor and see for myself. I had no such luck. My beta bar was one flavor only: “chocolatey”.
Was the TCHO Beta Bar Chocolatey?
Despite the vanilla or perhaps because of it, my beta bar was actually extremely chocolatey. It tasted like fudge brownie batter (brownie batter also has vanilla in it so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised). I loved it! The flavor was not as complex as the Patric or the Askinosie – both of which I would describe as black on the chocolate wheel (a combination of all of the chocolate flavors). However, for a traditional deep, rich chocolatey chocolate, TCHO will leave you very, very happy.
Thanks, Blake and TCHO, for the chance to try it!
By the way, the beta bars are for sale for $5 plus $5 shipping. The real bars should be coming soon.
