Thursday, November 2, 2017

An Excellent Blend Of Its Promised Flavors, Taza Vanilla Dark Chocolate Delivers!


The Good: Wonderful ingredients, Amazing flavor, Actually embodies the promised vanilla flavor!
The Bad: A little expensive, Biased against the dark chocolate flavor
The Basics: Taza Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano is surprisingly good for those who love chocolate and vanilla!


I am perfectly able to admit when I go into a culinary experience with a sense of bias and my preconceived notions turn out to be wrong. I sat down today to review the Taza Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano because I recently had the Coffee Dark Chocolate Mexicano (reviewed here!) and found it to be perfect. I have a real problem with reviewers who love everything they encounter - I don't think such reviewers' works are terribly useful. So, when my first experience with a new product line or company is amazing, I tend to actively seek out a product I figure will not measure up. I went into the Taza Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano chocolates figuring that they would be like every other vanilla and chocolate mix - one where the vanilla cannot possibly hold its own against the chocolate in the product.

I, however, was wrong. The Taza Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano might be one of the best blends of the two promised flavors I have yet encountered! In fact, if anything, the dark chocolate gets overwhelmed by the realistic vanilla flavor in these chocolates!

Basics

Taza is an premium chocolatier that is making Mexican-style stone ground chocolate in . . . Massachusetts?! The Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano is a high-quality chocolate that I was lucky enough to find inexpensively at my local discount store.

The Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano comes as two discs (2.7 oz. total) that are paper-wrapped together and packaged inside a cardboard wrapper. The whole disc is presented as a 3” in diameter by 5/16” thick slightly segmented chocolate disc. The segments do not snap apart evenly. Despite that, the Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano are generally easy to portion out to have less than a full serving, which is nice for those who might be watching their waistline!

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Taza Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano is not a real challenge. After removing the chocolate from the cardboard and the paper wrapper, simply pull out the disc or break a segment off and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated method to eating these chocolates. This is an entirely ready-to-eat food . . . unless one wants to make it into a hot cocoa!

The hot chocolate version of the Taza Vanilla Dark Chocolate requires milk and uses both discs in a package. One needs to grind up both discs of the chocolate and stir it into the simmering milk. Honestly, I've yet to make up some of this flavor as a cocoa.

Taste

Unwrapping the paper around the vanilla dark chocolate disc, the smell of dark chocolate is instantly recognizable. The Vanilla Dark Chocolate finishes in the nose with a drier scent that is the embodiment of vanilla. The vanilla is almost like an afterscent in the bouquet.

In the mouth, the Vanilla Dark Chocolate is sweet and dry, surprisingly possessing a flavor like the dark chocolate had been doused in vanilla extract. The flavor of vanilla comes through in the sweet, dark chocolate and the balance between the two promised flavors actually works exceptionally well! The dark chocolate, in fact, is sublimated to the vanilla; its bitterness barely manifests in the flavor palate.

There is a sight, predominately sweet, vanilla aftertaste that lingers in the mouth after the last of the Taza Vanilla Dark Chocolate is consumed. The aftertaste lingers in the mouth for a few minutes, but is not unpleasant and is definitely dominated by the vanilla, not the chocolate, flavor.

Nutrition

Taza chocolates are intended as a dessert product, not a health food! Each 38 gram disc of Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano represent a single serving of the chocolate. Made primarily of organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar and organic Vanilla beans, there are no unpronounceable ingredients in this chocolate. They were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about almonds, pecans, coconuts, and hazelnuts. The Taza Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano are marked as both gluten free and Vegan-compliant, as well as Soy Free.

Taza's Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano have 210 calories in a one-disc serving, 110 of which are from fat. A full serving represents 35% of one's RDA of saturated fat, but they are cholesterol-free. There is a minimal amount of sodium in these Dark Chocolate Mexicano Vanilla chocolates and there are 3 grams of protein. These are not a significant source of any vitamins or minerals, though they do have 1% of one’s daily calcium and 4% of the RDA of Iron.

Storage/Cleanup

As a chocolate, Taza Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano are fine as long as they are stored below 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The package I picked up two weeks ago had an expiration date of April 14, 2018. Given that mine are gone already, I cannot comment on how well they endure as they come closer to the expiration date.

If, however, they melt, they will stain. Consult your fabric guide if they melt as dark chocolate can be a bear to clean up when melted into light fabrics. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the paper wrapper away when you are done with the chocolate disc.

Overall

Taza Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano are a premium (read: "expensive") chocolate the uses the chocolate as a medium to deliver amazing vanilla flavor and fairly good chocolate flavor to consumers.

For other reviews of other chocolates, please check out:
Russell Stover Freeze-It Vanilla Bean In Dark Chocolate
Lindt Dark Pineapple chocolate bars
Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups

9/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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