Swiss Chocolate vs Mr Snob.

[mattbell]

I went to to the most famous chocolate shop in Zurich. The small chocolate truffles were excelleent, though no better than you could get at Cocoabella. In addition, their selection was much smaller than Cocoabella. Finally, they had very few bars on offer, and I was sad to see they were selling Lindt there. Lindt is decent, but there are far better brands. I did find a large gourmet supermarket with a better selection, but so far the best chocolate I've had is called Cafe Tasse, which I've found in Riga and nowhere else. It's a Belgian brand. (cue digression on Swiss-Belgian chocolate rivalry and much chocolate-eating)

Comments

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

From my experience, the European chocolatiers are best at making confections and pastries and candies out of their chocolate, while Americans are more likely to focus on making a good chocolate that stands by itself. Belgium may have that latter aspect too.

(I also note that Belgium is the one European country whose beers I tend to like as much as American ones. I love to tell Europeans that the best beers and chocolates are from the US, because they pride themselves on doing these sorts of things better than uncultured Americans.)

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Hmm... what are your favorite American chocolate bar brands?

Also, I'm in Belgium drinking a beer at the moment! It's one of those cherry beers, and it's excellent. Not too sweet at all..

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

If you haven't done it, then you must do a tour of the Scharffen Berger factory in Berkeley. They teach you a lot about the process, from growing the plants to creating the bars. I like their 71% dark chocolate, and their 62% "nibby bar" (which has cocoa nibs in it, giving a nice nutty texture). I find their 80% a bit too bitter, and I discovered from their 41% milk chocolate bar that it really is the milk I don't like in milk chocolate, and not the low chocolate content. They've also got some interesting single origin, or double origin chocolates, which make the batches have a more individual character, like wines, rather than like the blends that are more standard.

Dagoba is a nice company too, but they specialize more in bars that are around 60%, with interesting spices or other flavorings added. I think my favorite one of theirs I've had is the Xocolatl, which involves nutmeg and cayenne (or something with a similar bit of kick to it), in addition to the vanilla and sugar that almost all chocolate has. (There was an interesting article in the New Yorker a year or two ago about the founding of Dagoba, and the awful way the guy kicked his girlfriend out of the company, because he was having visions, and thought he was now the boyfriend of an ancient Maya goddess or something.)

Both of those companies are now owned by Hershey, but they've done a good job of staying very hands-off - apparently they only changes they've instituted are buying these companies more of the same machinery and raw materials they were already using and telling them to increase their volume.

I believe there are many other local chocolate companies that produce good, interesting stuff. Those are just the two that I'm most familiar with.

[inferno0069.livejournal.com]

The Scharffen Berger factory has closed to tours, and before I ever took the tour. :(

http://www.scharffenberger.com/factory.asp

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

That's quite sad, and makes me worry about potential Hershey-ification...

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I actually was never a huge fan of Scharffenberger. Their chocolate doesn't taste right to me. It almost tastes a little moldy to me.

For the flavored chocolates, Dagoba is pretty good -- I like their Xocoatl, which they also have as a drink mix.
I really like New Tree -- they have good flavored options (try the raspberry and the lemon), as does Dolfin, a Belgian company. Vosges is also good but way more expensive.

For the good really dark stuff, I typically bought Valhrona at home. Out here, I've really liked Cafe Tasse and Vivani.

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

Valhrona is one that I've definitely heard recommended for very dark chocolates, but I haven't actually seen it for sale very often.

[geheimnisnacht.livejournal.com]

The best chocolate bar I've had was from Spruengli in Zurich:

http://www.spruengli.ch/Shop/geschenke-produkt.php?art_nr=33719

Of course, it comes from Criollo beans, so a bit more expensive.

At home, I've found that Trader Joe's sells a really cheap, decent dark chocolate. They've branded it, but it comes from Belgium.