Review: Tohi Chocolat Noir 88% (*)

And Belgium produces the best chocolate in the world. For years I’ve believed this line. After all, our bulk chocolate is pretty good compared to the sweet stuff mixed with vegetable fats they like to call “chocolate” abroad, but still. It’s only once you discover the really good chocolate, you’ll start to see how false that first line actually is.

But I believe in my country and chocolate makers! After all, among all the mediocre ones, there has to be a little gem, right?

Maybe this high percentage Tohi, the organic chocolate of the Dolfin Chocolate company…

Bean: Not mentioned
Origin: Not mentioned
Production: tohi is the bio-line of Dolfin SA, Belgium
Price paid: € 2,59/70 g
Bought at: Bio Planet – bio shop of the Colruyt Group

Colour: ebony dark – there was a big crack running through the bar, careless stocking in the shop I’m afraid.

Aroma: cacao and promise of red fruits

Taste: distinctly dry in its start, it tumbles over in a more classic cacao taste, with slight bitterness. The melt is the worst I’ve experienced so far. It melts slowly, but at the same tame it feels a bit greasy and smothers the palate. There is some espresso for a second, but then it becomes really bland and empty. I tried half a piece and I found small hard bits inside the chocolate. To make things even worse, a really unexistant aftertaste, other than some bitterness ends the tasting “pleasure”. This is a real disappointment. Why the smothering feel? Where is the fruit the smell promises? Where it the refinement? Chocolate can be so exciting, so refreshing or bold and can make you taste aroma’s you’d never have linked to cacao. But this one really isn’t doing any of that! I’m still hoping to find at least one true great Belgian chocolate, but it will be tricky. I’m putting al my hopes on Pierre Marcolini, but it could take a while before I get my hands on one of his bars. It requires a trip to our capital Brussels. But I recon it will be well worth it!