As many of you may have gleaned already, I have been nibbling away at rather vast quantities of rather a lot of different chocolates. More often than not, I have been delighted by deliciousness, richness, interestingness and, as a corollary, happiness. Yet even such a dedicated chocolate taster as yours truly cannot escape the occasional moments of disappointment, the majority of which occur when an hypothesised-as-delectable treat is found to be, well, not delectable. The following two items comprise such let-downs, although this is not to say that the chocolates described would not appeal to another’s tastes.

365 Everyday Value Organic Swiss Dark Chocolate Bar with Coconut Flakes

Golden Rough in Organic Form?

Whole Foods’ own-brand “365 Everyday Value Organic Swiss Dark Chocolate Bar with Coconut Flakes” has led me to question whether there may be an inverse relationship between the wordiness of a chocolate’s name and its quality. My unenthused response to this bar may, however, have more to do with personal taste than the chocolate maker’s skill. Coconut is by far not a favourite flavour of mine, so combining it with an incredibly sweet 54% chocolate is unlikely to constitute a win in my book. It tastes exactly like a Golden Rough, so if you like sweetness, milkiness (honestly, I found it hard to believe this was dark chocolate), and the flavour of toasted coconut, you’ll be likely to enjoy this. (And I hope you do – this was one case where I really wished I had a traveling companion to share my chocolate stash with.)

Crispy Cat Toasted Almond

Crispy Cat Toasted Almond

I picked up this vegan ”first organic candy bar!”, made by Crispy Cat, with a fair measure of excitement. Sadly, as above, I found it far too sweet for my tastes. Comprised of toasted brown rice crisps, a few fragments of almonds which I could barely taste, and three types of sugar (tapioca syrup, agave syrup, and brown rice syrup), all covered in a thin layer of dark chocolate that had no discernable cocoa flavour, this tasted like little more than a super-sweet muesli bar to me. A really big super-sweet muesli bar.

Still, if what I was hankering for was a cloyingly sweet muesli bar rather than delicious delicious dark chocolate, I’m sure this would fit the bill perfectly. It would also work as a great energy-booster for all the vegans out there. So sweet-toothed vegans – have at it!