This review is about the Lindt Excellence 70% Cocoa Dark Chocolate Bar.

I must admit, I do like my chocolate. Not in huge quantities mind, I'm not talking Easter time amounts here, but a nice sit down in front of the box with a quality bar is very relaxing for me. Most often I will buy something made buy one of the giant multi-national confectionary brands, like a large Galaxy or Bournville bar, but occasionally I do like to dip my taste buds into some tasty Swiss chocolate, and Lindt is one of the brands I would always choose ahead of the others. Here is my review on one of their most commonly available bars, Excellence 70% cocoa dark chocolate.

--Chocolate Swiss-tory--

Ever since the 19th century chocolate has been produced and distributed from Switzerland from various factories, the Suchard brand was one of the first to do this. Swiss chocolate is recognised worldwide as some of the best quality chocolate produced, predominantly the milk variety, and Lindt were one of the companies to produce such great tasting chocolate. They were founded in 1845 under the name Confiserie Sprüngli, and in 1899 changed their name to Lindt & Sprungli. The company have six factories, five of which in Europe and the final one in the USA. Their headquarters are located in Kilchberg, Switzerland.

Famous products made by Lindt are their delicious Lindor variety, which are typically chocolate balls with a silky chocolate fondant centre, but can come in bar form as well. The Lindor style comes in many different flavours and pack sizes. Another, even more well known and instantly familiar product is the Gold Bunny, a hollow milk chocolate rabbit wrapped in gold foil, commonly available at Easter time and Christmas.

You may have seen various Lindor, Gold Bunny's and standard large bars of Lindt chocolate at the usual supermarkets, sweet stores and even some garages. This is quite a recent thing, as Lindt's quality of chocolate and their general reputation seem to indicate they have more in common with other Swiss brands like Suchard and Frey, and also high quality British brands like Thorntons and Bendicks, but they now sell their bars side by side with the giant chocolate names like Cadbury, Mars and Nestle, producing the chocolate in mass numbers. On comparison of prices, the Nestle's and Cadbury's of this world will be cheaper for the equal or greater amount of chocolate in any given bar. An example of this is that a 125g bar of Dairy Milk could cost around £1, where as this 100g bar of Lindt Excellence featured here cost me £1.85 from a local Tesco Express. To be honest, I very rarely see these bars on a offer, but don't let this detract you from buying this chocolate now and then, continue reading and you will see why.

--Packaging--

This product is very well packaged with a sharp, and quite a classy design. For a start, it is not wrapped in a paper label, but a thin card box. This holds the chocolate in shape and is sealed well, with a tear off tap on the back to enable easy opening of the wrapper. The box is white and black in colour, with flashy gold writing for the titles and highlighted details. It has an image of one of the chocolate pieces with gold motif of cocoa beans and a ship. It certainly fits with the brands reputation for quality. It also has the words 'extra fine dark chocolate" written down one side, and the same slogan but in Spanish on the other side. Printed on the back is the description of the chocolate and ingredients all printed in English and Spanish. It is in a small typeface, but is clear and easy to read. The allergy information is minimal though, and could be missed by some people. All the other usual storage recommendations and production details are printed in the same format.

To keep the chocolate fresh inside, it is tightly wrapped in silver foil which is embossed with the Lindt logo and placed inside the card casing. This keeps the contents fresh and more protected from heat damage than other products of a similar nature. The bar itself is divided into ten squares, has a thickness of about 5mm, and also embossed with the Lindt logo.

This is excellently presented and make you wonder how good the chocolate could be with a wrapper of this extravagance. Yet even though with all this apparent luxury and uniqueness to the appearance, the bar doesn't stand out on the shelves as you thought it should. Most of the time in supermarkets and shops, it is placed next to bars of Green & Black's Organic, which itself has a more striking package design, and therefore takes the shine of the Lindt bar.

--Taste & Texture--

What really important is how this product tastes, and it doesn't disappoint in the slightest. With a 70% cocoa level, there is a distinct bitterness to the chocolate taste, and I find this very flavoursome. It's not so bitter as too dry your mouth out, much like that 85% variety does, but does strike a cord on your tongue. It doesn't melt too quickly, flakes and breaks apart whilst you chew, all the time keeping that cocoa twang in your mouth, with a very trace sweet vanilla tingle. Oddly, I found most of the sweetness taste becomes more evident when finishing a piece, with a slightly syrupy cocoa aftertaste. People may not find this pleasant and can leave a dry perched sensation at the very back of the throat, but I found this only happens if you are eating piece after piece continuously. It also doesn't become sticky on the roof of your mouth like milk chocolate can, and doesn't get stuck in your teeth very easily. Half a bite of one of the squares is the right amount to eat without filling your mouth up, and also to enjoy the flavour to it maximum potential.

The aroma is a quite intense cocoa hit, the quality of the beans used really becomes clear when this hits your olfactory senses the moment you open the silver foil wrapper. It smells sweeter than it tastes as well. It is not overly strong, but does give you that itchy feeling in the nose, similar to a peppery sensation. It definitely makes the prospect of tasting it more desirable.

One thing I love about this chocolate is its texture. It is quite brittle and has a very satisfying "crack" when you bite into it, followed by a very slight crunchiness before it starts to dissolve. It partially flakes and crumbles as it does this too, a pleasant sensation indeed. It really is difficult to stop yourself reaching for another piece just to feel that snap of the chocolate breaking again in your mouth. This does of course produce a small amount of crumbs in the foil, and be may be a tad messy.

This chocolate is fairly flexible with it's uses too. It melts well, and tastes lovely in cakes and biscuits. If grates and crumbles nicely as well, so sprinkling it over your ice cream, yogurt or cake icing adds a fun and tasty touch to your home baking.

--Ingredients and Nutritional Information--

Cocoa solids: 70% minimum.
Cocoa mass, sugar, Cocoa butter, natural Bourbon vanilla beans.
Allergy Information: This product may contain traces of Soya lecithin, hazelnuts, almonds and milk.

Average quantity per 100g
Energy - 2180kj / 520 kcal
Protein - 8g
Fat in total - 40g
Of Saturates - 24g
Carbohydrate in total - 33g
Of Sugars - 28g
Sodium - 60mg

It is worth noting that the label on my particular bar states this is the Australian nutritional information, but I assume this is the same as the UK and therefore no different. Also, it appears this Lindt bar has a lower fat content than similar luxury dark chocolate bars in the same class. Tesco Finest 70% 100g dark chocolate bar contained a total fat content of 43.5g, while Green & Blacks Organic 70% 100g dark chocolate bar contained 41.1g, but both were cheaper to purchase.

--Conclusion--

If you are the kind of person who loves plain chocolate, I would unquestionably recommend this Lindt dark chocolate bar. It looks the part, with unique packaging design that is not only attractive but also functional, smells appetizing and tastes wonderful. Even if you normally side-step dark chocolate, it doesn't have the strong bitter taste you may wish to avoid, but also does enough to satisfy a dark chocolate lover. The price may put you off too, given that the likes of Green & Blacks, Thorntons, Hersheys and supermarket 'finest' chocolate products may cost a tad less, but I don't think they deliver the chocolate hit that this product can deliver, and the price of this chocolate isn't exactly a bank breaker. In closing, I feel it's not the sort of chocolate you can eat all of the time, but maybe give a quality treat to yourself now and then.

Thanks for Reading. Also Posted on Ciao.co.uk © Novabug.