{"id":33309,"date":"2022-06-27T17:33:04","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T00:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/?p=33309"},"modified":"2024-02-18T14:23:59","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T22:23:59","slug":"best-bars-of-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/local-chocolate\/best-bars-of-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Best bars of 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2022 Top Chocolate Bar<\/a> competition was not as big as last year\u2019s<\/a>, but it still had plenty of top quality entries. Some bars were just gorgeous, a lot were tasty, and I was impressed that one competitor whose previous entries didn\u2019t make my cutoff landed a bar on my above-average list.<\/p>\n

SFBA entries<\/h2>\n

Two local chocolatiers submitted entries this year. One entry was a variation on classic orange chocolate and the other used a rare local ingredient.<\/p>\n

Kokak Chocolates<\/h3>\n

Veteran competitor,\u00a0Kokak Chocolates<\/a>,<\/strong> SF, makes lovely inventive bars that I always look forward to. Their entry this time held true to that assessment, but I had a minor quibble with it.<\/p>\n

\"Kokak
Kokak\u2019s Nuts about Cherries bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kokak\u2019s Nuts about Cherries was an attractive dark chocolate bar covered with dried cherries, candied orange peel, and pistachios. The fruits were soft, and orange was the first and strongest flavor. In fact the orange and somewhat bitter dark chocolate dominated the piece. The pistachios seemed to be there for the crunch.<\/p>\n

I could only taste the pistachios and cherries in pieces without the orange peel. I liked the bar\u2019s flavor, but it was a crunchy orange chocolate to me. The weakest flavors were the cherry and pistachio, which was the opposite of what I expected based on the name. I would\u00a0reduce or remove the orange peel. Or change the name because it was tasty as is. I gave it an above average rating.<\/p>\n

Kokak Chocolates\u2019 Nuts About Cherries Dark Chocolate Bar did great in the competition, winning Silver for Best Ingredient Combinations, Best Texture,\u00a0Best Flavored Chocolate Bar, and Best Chocolate Bar; Bronze for Best Taste and Best Bar Design & Art (non packaging); and an Honorable Mention\u00a0for Best Dark Chocolate Bar. It received 4 stars.<\/p>\n

You can buy Kokak chocolates online<\/a> and at their Castro district factory store, which also sells coffee, tea, chocolate drinks, baked goods, and more.<\/p>\n

The Oakland Chocolate Company<\/h3>\n

The other local chocolatier and veteran competitor,\u00a0The Oakland Chocolate Company<\/a>,<\/strong> Oakland, submitted a bar that used their usual Jamaican cacao and the unusual local bay nut.<\/p>\n

\"Oakland
The Oakland Chocolate Company\u2019s Bay Nut Bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Their Bay Nut Bar was a 70% cacao bar decorated with sea salt, locally grown bay nuts, and candied orange zest. Bay nuts are an interesting choice \u2014 they are the seeds of the California bay laurel tree and I think you have to hand gather them yourself; I don\u2019t think they are commercially available. (The former Firefly, now Ora Cacao,<\/a> were the first to use them in their now discontinued bars.)<\/p>\n

Whole nuts were carefully placed on the small bar so you could easily get one per bite. The bar was hard and had a good snap. The nuts were hard too, which was a little disconcerting. Maybe they should have been chopped and scattered for a better experience. The bar had a coffee flavor from the nuts, which was nice, but there was a soapy aftertaste that I didn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n

The Oakland Chocolate Company\u2019s Bay Nut Bar\u00a0won an Honorable Mention for Best Chocolate Bar. It received 3.5 stars.<\/p>\n

The Oakland Chocolate Company chocolates are available online and in some local shops. You can also arrange pickup at their kitchen.\u00a0Visit their website<\/a> for details.<\/p>\n

Excellent<\/h2>\n

There were 8 entries this time that I gave my highest rating. If any of these sounds enticing, I encourage you to try them yourself.<\/p>\n

Coco Jolie<\/h3>\n

Coco Jolie<\/a>,<\/strong> Englewood, NJ, who submitted 2 beautiful delicious bars in last year\u2019s competition<\/a>, returned with 2 more stunners. Coco Jolie is the definition of gift-able chocolate: Beautiful, unique, and delicious. I gave both bars my highest rating.<\/p>\n

\"Mojito
Coco Jolie\u2019s Mojito Magic bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Mojito Magic with 65% cacao from Esmeraldas, Ecuador was eye catching with molded concentric rings painted light to dark green and accented by gold swooshes. It was a hefty filled bar with a thin dark chocolate shell.<\/p>\n

It smelled of lime and chocolate, and tasted immediately of mint, then chocolate, and finally lime with a little burn. The filling was an interesting texture: a little sticky like caramel but also soft and melty like ganache. The bar had a\u00a0good aftertaste of minty chocolate.<\/p>\n

In addition to good dark chocolate, high quality ingredients including unrefined cane sugar, lime pur\u00e9e, peppermint oil, and rum made for a delicious vegan bar. The only minus is it\u00a0was messy. The thin shell shattered when breaking off a piece, and the filling oozed out onto my fingers. It\u2019s a big bar but hard to share (seems like the only way to manage it is to bite it). Best bet is to buy one for everybody!<\/p>\n

Coco Jolie\u2019s Mojito Bar won Silver for Most Unique and Best Bar Design & Art (non packaging); Bronze for Best Ingredient Combinations and Best Chocolate Bar; and an Honorable Mention for Best Flavored Chocolate Bar. It received 4 stars.<\/p>\n

\"Hazelnut
Coco Jolie\u2019s Hazelnut Espresso bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Coco Jolie\u2019s other entry, the Hazelnut Latte with\u00a075% cacao from Tanzania had a more subdued appearance but was just as tasty. Subtle dark luster dust covered the isometric-cubes molded surface. Finely chopped hazelnuts and sugar crystals were sprinkled over the backside.<\/p>\n

Like the Mojito Magic, it was a filled bar but the shell was thicker while the filling was thinner and more solid, so not as messy. The description was roasted hazelnuts and espresso, and it smelled like hazelnut, chocolate, and espresso. It had an immediate hazelnut flavor then espresso with a little oat undertone, which made sense because it was a vegan bar made with coconut cream and oat milk. Even with the chopped nuts, it was a smooth bar, with a good espresso chocolate aftertaste.<\/p>\n

Coco Jolie Hazelnut Latte Bar won Bronze for Best Ingredient Combinations and Best Flavored Chocolate Bar; and Honorable Mentions for Best Taste, Best Bar Design & Art (non packaging), and Best Chocolate Bar. It received 4 stars.<\/p>\n

Coco Jolie bars, bonbons, and other chocolate treats are available online and at their shop in Englewood, NJ.<\/p>\n

Codinha Chocolate<\/h3>\n
\"OMG
Cutaway of Codinha\u2019s OMG bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New competitor,\u00a0Codinha Chocolate<\/a>,<\/strong> Los Angeles, submitted 2 excellent bars, one of which I think is the ultimate candy bar and the other was just cool.<\/p>\n

The OMG Bar is a long square log containing layers of rice crispy, sea salt caramel, and hazelnut praline enrobed in milk chocolate. All of the parts were delicious on their own, but it\u2019s the combination of textures \u2014 crunchy, chewy, smooth \u2014 and flavors \u2014 milk chocolate, caramel, and hazelnut \u2014 that make it addictive. This is what candy bars should be like; this bar is so satisfying, it\u2019s the ultimate candy bar.<\/p>\n

In addition to the bar being high quality, the packaging was attractive: a turquoise colored slide-out box. I was surprised that there was no inner wrapper: The bar was just placed inside the cardboard box. After tasting this bar, I get it \u2014 it\u2019s not going to stick around long enough for freshness \u00a0to be an issue. I gave it my highest rating.<\/p>\n

Codinha Chocolate\u2019s OMG Bar won Gold for Best Ingredient Combinations, Best Taste, Best Texture, and Best Chocolate Bar; and Bronze for\u00a0Most Unique,\u00a0Best Milk Chocolate Bar, and Best Flavored Chocolate Bar. It received 4.5 stars.<\/p>\n

\"Tiger
Cutaway of Codinha\u2019s Tiger Bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Codinha\u2019s other entry, the Tiger Bar, was so cool looking: A thick, palm-sized, gold painted oval bar with a tiger molded on top. Inside the milk chocolate shell was a double punch of passion fruit: a passion fruit caramel and a passion fruit mango flavored rice crispy(?) crunch layer sandwiching a layer of vanilla marshmallow. I could smell the passion fruit when the bar was just sitting on the table before we cut into it.<\/p>\n

The inside was as pretty as the outside with the dark caramel layer on top of the white marshmallow and yellow crunch layers. It had a strong passion fruit flavor that lingered. I liked the soft chewy marshmallow texture and small crunch from the bottom layer. With so much passion fruit, it had a slightly perfumy taste, but it was still an excellent bar.<\/p>\n

Codinha Chocolate\u2019s Tiger Bar won Gold for Most Unique and Best Bar Design & Art (non packaging); Silver for Best Flavored Chocolate Bar; Bronze for Best Ingredient Combinations and Best Chocolate Bar; and Honorable Mentions for Best Taste and Best Texture. It received 4 stars.<\/p>\n

You can buy Codinha Chocolate online and at special events around LA.<\/p>\n

Tandem Chocolates<\/h3>\n

Veteran competitor,\u00a0Tandem Chocolates<\/a>,<\/strong> Reno, NV, submitted a much more modest bar, but it was still good enough to earn my highest rating.<\/p>\n

Tandem\u2019s ChocoCoco Bar was simply decorated: a tall rectangular dark chocolate bar splattered with white dots. Inside the dark shell was a dark ganache layer under a white coconut layer. It smelled mostly chocolate and slightly coconut. It tasted the same too: Mostly a good chocolate flavor with some coconut.<\/p>\n

\"cutaway
Cutaway of Tandem\u2019s Chococo bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The textures were nice, a\u00a0light smooth ganache contrasting with the chewy coconut texture. The ganache was so light it disappeared quickly, leaving a delicious chocolate aftertaste. A modest, but elegant bar, it was like an upgrade to classic Mounds bars: better ingredients and the light texture ganache gave it a better taste and improved the chocolate to coconut ratio.<\/p>\n

Tandem Chocolates\u2019 ChocoCoco Bar won Silver for Best Texture. It received 4 stars.<\/p>\n

Tandem Chocolates are available online and at their store. Visit their website for more info.<\/p>\n

Stella\u2019s Confectionery<\/h3>\n

Veteran competitor, Stella\u2019s Confectionery<\/a>, <\/strong>Milwaukee, WI, who usually wows us with bars liberally studded with visible inclusions, did a 180 this time and submitted 2 visually subdued bars.\u00a0The Hazelnut Crisp and Cookie Butter & Milk bars were simple squares of milk chocolate with Stella\u2019s logo embossed on top. The backsides were plain. But no worries; they were still delicious. I gave both bars my highest rating.<\/p>\n

\"Stella\u2019s
Stella\u2019s Hazelnut Crisp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Hazelnut Crisp bar\u00a0was the fancier of the 2 bars with a gold luster dust accent on chocolate square looking like wispy gold clouds in a chocolate sky. The bar was aptly named as Stella had added crispy puffed rice to hazelnut praline in milk chocolate for extra crunch. It had a good hazelnut smell and good chocolate hazelnut flavor with a fractured crunch, which was fun.<\/p>\n

Stella\u2019s Confectionery Hazelnut Crisp bar won Silver for\u00a0Best Milk Chocolate Bar; Bronze for Best Texture and Best Chocolate Bar; and\u00a0Honorable Mentions for Best Taste and Best Flavored Chocolate Bar. It received 4 stars.<\/p>\n

\"Stella\u2019s
Stella\u2019s Cookie Butter & Milk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Cookie Butter & Milk bar added Speculoos cookie butter to the hazelnut praline in milk chocolate. Like the Hazelnut Crisp bar, it smelled like hazelnut and tasted of hazelnut chocolate first and foremost, then cinnamon and cookie. The cookie gave it a nice crunch.<\/p>\n

Stella\u2019s Confectionery Cookie Butter & Milk bar won an Honorable Mention\u00a0for Best Milk Chocolate Bar. It received 4 stars.<\/p>\n

You can order Stella\u2019s chocolate bars and other treats online, and find them at a few stores across the country. Check their website for locations.<\/p>\n

Panache Chocolatier<\/h3>\n

Veteran competitor,\u00a0Panache Chocolatier<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>Leawood, KS, submitted 2 entries, one a tweak on a bar they submitted last year and the other a totally new idea from them.<\/p>\n

\"Panache
Panache\u2019s Spiced Caramel Peanut Bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Spiced Caramel Peanut Bar was an updated version of last year\u2019s\u00a0Salt & Pepper Caramel Peanut Bar<\/a>, which I liked for its salted peanut\/dark chocolate combo and the added spark of ground pepper. This time Panache used Columbian and Belgian dark chocolate to cover caramel and spiced peanuts. The bar was drizzled with dark chocolate and sprinkled with crushed peanuts so it smelled like peanuts first. The bar was full of good tasting chewy caramel and lots of peanuts. The couverture was a good tasting chocolate and the bar had the nice perk of a little heat from the spices. It was an excellent candy bar, like a riff on Snickers bars.<\/p>\n

Panache Chocolatier\u2019s Spiced Caramel Peanut Bar won Silver for Best Flavored Chocolate Bar; Bronze for Best Ingredient Combinations; and Honorable Mentions for Best Taste, Best Texture, and Best Chocolate Bar. It received 4 stars.<\/p>\n

(Panache\u2019s Belgian Chocolate Cookie Bar was another Speculoos themed bar \u00a0\u2014 along with hazelnut, this seemed to be the year\u2019s trendy flavor. It was a milk chocolate bar filled with spiced cookie butter and topped with crushed Belgian cookies. It was messy \u2014 those cookie crumbs! \u2014 and too sweet for me. It tasted like cinnamon graham crackers and milk chocolate, so it was a nostalgic taste but not special enough to get my highest ratings. It won Honorable Mention\u00a0for Best Flavored Chocolate Bar and received 3.5 stars.)<\/p>\n

Panache Chocolatier\u2019s website is still under construction, so you have to call or visit them in person if you want to order something.<\/p>\n

Above average<\/h2>\n

Along with the bars that earned my highest rating, there were others I rated just one rung below.<\/p>\n

Treat Dreams<\/h3>\n
\"Treat
Treat Dreams\u2019 Toffee Crunch Bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our fav vegan chocolatier,\u00a0Treat Dreams,<\/strong> Sydney, AU, submitted 3 entries this time, a dark, a \u201cmilk,\u201d and a white chocolate bar. The first 2 I rated above average and the third was a worthy competitor.<\/p>\n

The Toffee Crunch had toffee pieces and sea salt in dark chocolate. The toffee mainly provided texture, not flavor, and made the bar very crunchy with a crystallized sugar texture. The chocolate was a little bitter but not unexpected for a dark. Salt came last and spread along with the dark chocolate flavor. A nice well made bar using quality ingredients.<\/p>\n

Treat Dreams\u2019 Toffee Crunch Bar\u00a0won Honorable Mentions for Best Texture and\u00a0Best Dark Chocolate Bar. It received 3.5 stars.<\/p>\n

\"Feeling
Feeling Snacky\u2019s backside<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Feeling Snacky had pretzel pieces and caramel popcorn scattered throughout the milk chocolate bar. I\u2019m not a fan of pretzels, but they were pretty understated in this bar, providing a little hit of salt first before the caramel popcorn and chocolate flavors took over. I though it was an excellent vegan milk chocolate.<\/p>\n

Treat Dreams\u2019 Feeling Snacky Bar won an Honorable Mention for Most Unique. It received 3.5 stars.<\/p>\n

The third bar, the Ispahan, contained lychee, raspberry, rose and toasted almonds in white chocolate. It was an attractive pink color and tasted mostly of raspberries and crunchy almonds. I didn\u2019t taste the rose in it, so yea! But it was too sweet for me, so I only rated it average.<\/p>\n

Treat Dreams\u2019 Ispahan Bar won Gold for Most Unique. It received 3 stars.<\/p>\n

A 100% vegan chocolatier,\u00a0Treat Dreams makes vegan bars and filled molded chocolates. UPDATE November 2022: Treat Dreams has closed.<\/p>\n

Moser Roth Privat Chocolatiers<\/h3>\n
\"Moser
Moser Roth open pack shows the individually wrapped snack size bars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Veteran TasteTV competitor,\u00a0Moser Roth Privat Chocolatiers,<\/strong> the German chocolate maker that supplies Aldi\u00a0supermarkets with good value chocolate bars, submitted a bar they have entered before<\/a>. And it tasted the same as I remember.<\/p>\n

The Milk Extra Creamy bar is actually 5 bars of the same flavor. Moser Roth manufactures snack sized bars that it lines up 5 at a time in one big pack \u2014 kind of like the two kids in a trench coat meme<\/a>. It looks like it\u2019s one big bar, but opening it reveals 5 smaller foil covered bars.<\/p>\n

The chocolate is good milk chocolate with a smooth texture. It\u2019s a milky tasting milk chocolate and not too sweet \u2014 as opposed to a lot of American milk chocolate which has a higher sugar to milk solids ratio. If you like classic German milk chocolate, this bar is a good deal.<\/p>\n

Moser Roth\u2019s Milk Chocolate Bar won Gold for Best Milk Chocolate Bar. It received 3 stars.<\/p>\n

You can find Moser Roth bars at Aldi supermarkets and on Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Aldi Choceur<\/h3>\n

The other Aldi\u00a0brand we see in these competitions,\u00a0Choceur,<\/strong>\u00a0is a Polish candy maker.\u00a0We tried their Creamy Milk chocolate bar in last year\u2019s bar competition<\/a>. For supermarket chocolate, it was pretty good: smooth, sweet, and extremely balanced, if not a little bland. (For the record, I prefer the Aldi Moser Roth milk chocolate.) This time they submitted 2 filled bars, one I liked; the other I didn\u2019t like its inclusion.<\/p>\n

\"Choceur
Choceur\u2019s Coconut Macaroon bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The one I liked, the Coconut Macaroon filled Belgian Milk Chocolate bar, smelled coconutty and had an immediate coconut flavor. The filling had a little coconut texture, and it was covered in a good smooth milk chocolate. The bar was sweeter than the Moser Roth bar but tasted milky and coconut enough that I still rated it above average.<\/p>\n

Choceur\u2019s Coconut Macaroon filled Belgian Milk Chocolate Bar won Silver for Best Milk Chocolate Bar. It received 3 stars.<\/p>\n

(Their other entry, the Burnt Caramel Sea Salt filled Belgian Milk Chocolate bar was made similarly, and it had a good chocolate to caramel ratio and the same milk chocolate, but I didn\u2019t like the burnt caramel flavor.)<\/p>\n

You can find the Choceur line at Aldi supermarkets and on Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ratza Chocolate<\/h3>\n

Ratza Chocolate<\/a>,<\/strong> Tarpon Springs, FL, submitted 3 bars in last year\u2019s comp, but I didn\u2019t care for them. They were on the bitter side and the inclusions didn\u2019t do it for me. They submitted 3 different bars this time, only one with inclusions, with improved results.<\/p>\n

\"Ratza
Ratza bar unwrapped<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The one with inclusions didn\u2019t make my cut, I didn\u2019t have a problem with the taste of the inclusions this time \u2014 dried pineapple and coconut \u2014 but the chocolate wasn\u2019t tasty. It was more bitter than I expected for a 65% and savory which clashed with the pineapple. It also had a powdery drying sensation.<\/p>\n

It did very well in the competition though, winning Gold for Best Flavored Chocolate Bar; Bronze for Best Ingredient Combinations; and Honorable Mentions for Best Dark Chocolate Bar and Best Chocolate Bar. It received 3 stars.<\/p>\n

\"Ratza
Ratza\u2019s Bolivian cacao bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think the big problem I\u2019ve had with their chocolate is the cacao they use. Most of their bars use cacao from Moho Valley in Belize, and those bars were all bitter with that drying sensation. I gave their Just Dark 80% cacao an average rating, even though it used beans from the same place, because you expect an 80% chocolate to be bitter. It was a savory chocolate but it had some fruit undertones, and I thought it was good for an 80%.<\/p>\n

Ratza Chocolate\u2019s Just Dark Belize won Gold for Best Dark Chocolate Bar; and an Honorable Mention for Best Chocolate Bar. It received 4 stars.<\/p>\n

I liked the third bar they submitted best, and I think it was because they used different beans. The Bolivia Wild Harvest Tranquilidad 80% smelled more chocolatey with licorice and fig overtones \u00a0initially, then berries before turning savory. It wasn\u2019t bitter (and it was 80%!) and had a smoother texture than the other 2. I rated it above average.<\/p>\n

Ratza Chocolate\u2019s Bolivia Wild Harvest Tranquilidad 80% Dark won Silver for\u00a0Best Dark Chocolate Bar; and Honorable Mentions for Best Taste and Best Chocolate Bar. It received 4 stars.<\/p>\n

You can buy Ratza Chocolate online and at some shops around FL. Check their website for locations.<\/p>\n

Choco Punto By Mabel<\/h3>\n

Another bean to bar maker,\u00a0Choco Punto By Mabel<\/a>,<\/strong> Dominican Republic, makes bars using local cacao. A first time competitor, they submitted 3 higher percentage bars (including a 100%) in the vegan competition, but I didn\u2019t like any of them. They submitted 2 in this comp, and I liked one of them. I\u2019m not sure how long they have been making chocolate, but I was encouraged that they managed to make an above average bar this time around.<\/p>\n

\"Choco
Choco Punto\u2019s 62% bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We started this tasting with the lower percentage bar. Choco Punto\u2019s\u00a055% cacao bar had a soft snap \u00a0and slightly grainy texture. It started out tasting fermented but got weirder, with a chemical overtone that I compared to the taste of\u00a0water from a garden hose. That\u2019s not the bar I\u2019m recommending.<\/p>\n

The 62%\u00a0had a harder snap\u00a0and tasted much better than the 55%. It was mostly nutty, a little fermented, with licorice and floral overtones. It was unique and the best bar of all the ones they submitted.<\/p>\n

Choco Punto\u2019s 62%\u00a0Dominican Republic won Bronze for Best Dark Chocolate Bar. Both the 62% and 55% received 3 stars.<\/p>\n

Choco Punto has an online store, but it looks like they only ship within the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n

Mid-range<\/h2>\n

Finally there were a few bars I thought were good enough to share, even if I didn\u2019t give them my highest ratings.<\/p>\n

Beth\u2019s Chocolate<\/h3>\n

Return competitor,\u00a0Beth\u2019s Chocolate<\/a>,<\/strong> Newton, MA, submitted a pretty, peppery dark chocolate bar that had a lot going for it but ultimately the pepper was too much.<\/p>\n

\"Beth\u2019s
Beth\u2019s Salt \u2018n\u2019 Pepper bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beth\u2019s Salt \u2018n\u2019 Pepper Bar put single origin Madagascar chocolate in a pretty shifting hexagons 3-d mold, then added pink, black, and red pepper,\u00a0and fleur de sel. The bar had a good snap, but it took a long time to melt and the whole peppercorns were unpleasant rolling around in my mouth. Biting them proved to not be a good idea: The bar became too peppery. The chocolate was good, it just didn\u2019t need so much pepper, so I rated it average.<\/p>\n

(I would suggest Beth\u2019s Chocolate look into what flying noir did with a whole peppercorn in a truffle<\/a> in their poetry & prose collection this year. It was soft, so it still had a peppery taste, but it wasn\u2019t an unpleasant texture and the heat came on slowly.)<\/p>\n

Beth’s Chocolate Salt \u2018n\u2019 Pepper Bar won Honorable Mentions for Best Flavored Chocolate Bar and Best Chocolate Bar. It received 3.5 stars.<\/p>\n

You can order Beth\u2019s Chocolate bars, barks, bonbons, and hot chocolate online (although not during summer months). She also offers chocolate making classes. Visit the website for more info.<\/p>\n

Delysia Chocolatier<\/h3>\n

Competition veteran,\u00a0Delysia Chocolatier<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>Austin, TX, submitted 3 barks: Campfire Spiced Muffin, Champurrado, and Caffeinated Brown Butter Toffee. They also entered the Campfire Spiced Muffin in the white chocolate comp<\/a> this year where it made my cutoff. The Champurrado was entered in the vegan comp, and while it used the same ingredients as their Atole truffle which I rated highly, it didn\u2019t translate well into a bark and didn\u2019t make my cutoff.<\/p>\n

\"Delysia\u2019s
Delysia\u2019s Caffeinated Brown Butter Toffee Bark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The new bark in this competition, the Caffeinated Brown Butter Toffee Bark, used gold chocolate with coffee beans, coconut, cinnamon, and toffee bits. Cinnamon was the strongest taste. It had a small crunch from ground coffee but not a coffee taste until the end. The texture changed at the end too with the shredded coconut coming through. My only complaint is that the bark was too sweet for a higher rating.<\/p>\n

Delysia Chocolatier\u2019s Caffeinated Brown Butter Toffee Bark won Gold for Best Flavored Chocolate Bar; Silver for Best Taste; and an Honorable Mention for Best Chocolate Bar. It received 4 stars.<\/p>\n

Delysia chocolates are currently only available online<\/a> and for curbside pickup at\u00a0their shop in Austin, while the shop is closed due to COVID.<\/p>\n

Oro de Cacao AG<\/h3>\n

Veteran competitor,\u00a0Dieter Meier, a Swiss chocolate maker, submitted 3\u00a0single origin bars from his\u00a0Oro de Cacao AG<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0line. Dieter Meier makes raw chocolate using a cold extraction process that helps counter the downsides of raw chocolate. I do find his chocolate better than most raw chocolate I\u2019ve had \u2014 it tastes better and has a smooth texture like traditional roasted chocolate \u2014\u00a0but I still prefer the flavor of roasted chocolate.<\/p>\n

\"Oro
Oro de Cacao lineup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of the 3 entries, I thought 2 were alright in spite of some downsides. The 60% milk chocolate from Ghana had a dusty, non chocolate smell. Like all Oro de Cacao bars, it was thin with a good snap. The flavor was nutty, savory, and not very chocolatey tasting, and I experienced a drying sensation in my mouth as it melted.<\/p>\n

The other Oro de Cacao bar I liked was the 80% dark chocolate from the Dominican Republic. Like the 60%, it was a snappy bar but had a more chocolatey taste (although it still had savory and nutty overtones). It wasn\u2019t very bitter for an 80% but it was extremely drying.<\/p>\n

The Oro de Cacao AG 60% Milk Chocolate Single Origin Ghana won Silver for Best Milk Chocolate Bar. It received 3 stars.<\/p>\n

The Oro de Cacao AG 78% Dark Chocolate Single Origin Peru won Bronze for Best Dark Chocolate Bar. It received 3 stars.<\/p>\n

The Oro de Cacao AG 80% Dark Chocolate Single Origin Dominican Republic won an Honorable Mention\u00a0for Best Dark Chocolate Bar. It received 3 stars.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Dieter Meier chocolate is not available in the U.S., only in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

Peter Who?<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Peter Who? slogan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Peter Who?,\u00a0<\/strong>is a new Swiss bean to bar chocolate maker, who submitted their first and so far only bar to this competition and the vegan chocolate comp<\/a>. Trying the Vegan Salted Caramel bar again for this competition, it didn\u2019t seem as bitter as my first encounter with it, but that didn\u2019t change my rating of it.<\/p>\n

Peter Who? Vegan Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate won Bronze for Best Flavored Chocolate Bar; and Honorable Mentions for Best Dark Chocolate Bar and Best Chocolate Bar. It received 4 stars.<\/p>\n

Peter Who? bars are only available online, and right now they have a special where you can get a substantial discount on their 4 or 6 bar packs.<\/p>\n

Visit the 2022 Chocolate Bar Awards<\/a> page to see the full list of winners.\u00a0I didn\u2019t receive all the entries in the chocolate bar competition, so there are probably more worthy bars in that list than I covered here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not drinking establishments, but there was a lot of fermentation in the entries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":33420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,42,946,15,169,41],"tags":[1232,1020,1247,1448,1244,1440,1217,1064,1216,1441,1021,1447,1449,1237,1175,1228],"class_list":["post-33309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-chocolate","category-east-bay-chocolate","category-european-chocolate","category-local-chocolate","category-reviews","category-san-francisco-chocolate","tag-aldi","tag-beths-chocolate","tag-choceur","tag-choco-punto","tag-coco-jolie","tag-codinha-chocolate","tag-delysia-chocolatier","tag-kokak-chocolates","tag-moser-roth-privat-chocolatiers","tag-oro-de-cacao-ag","tag-panache-chocolatier","tag-peter-who","tag-ratza-chocolate","tag-stellas-confectionery","tag-tandem-chocolates","tag-treat-dreams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33309"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41727,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33309\/revisions\/41727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}