These days it seems like there is a new craft chocolate producer popping up every day. Many of them have a schtick that appeals to our inner ironic mustache. Hipster, packaging and vibes all around. These days most of them even preserve enough of the phenolic flavors in the beans to make the bars actually taste like they came from plants vs. the indistinguishable vanilla flavored candy approach to dark chocolate so often favored in Europe.  Unfortunately, most of it tastes like a moldy old apothecary gone rotten.

In true brash hipster American style Dick Taylor’s bars blast you with blaring flavors from start to finish. However, the flavors stay clean and pure through all their length. If Amedei is a chocolate symphony, Dick Taylor is chocolate’s Led Zeppelin. They are among a handful of American greats with a style all their own.

Tropical floral goodness in cacao form. This single-origin bar features beans from Belize. The cacao is sweet and fruity like dried apricots and figs with a top note of hibiscus. Belize is a unique origin, not often found in the fine chocolate world. Dick Taylor’s representation of these rare beans create a unique flavor profile that pairs well with late harvest Zinfandels.

• Single-origin, Belize dark chocolate
• Ingredients: Cacao, cane sugar
• 2-ounces

TASTING NOTES (AROMA/FLAVOR/FINISH): DRIED PLUM / TART CHERRY / JASMINE

Also featured in our blog: Ask Matt: Red Wine and Dark Chocolate?