Chocolate: Refined Intense Excellence (Lindt Excellence Dark Chocolate)

Member Name: Vialdana

Product:	Lindt Excellence Dark Chocolate
Date:	15/09/02 (778 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Full flavoured

Disadvantages: *sigh* no chocolate can actually be considered good for you

Lindt dark chocolate is in my opinion one of the best quality dark chocolates out there. They do two bars in this range, one which contains 70% minimum cocoa solids, and one which contains 85% minimum cocoa solids. For choice I would rather eat the 70% version, as although I like my chocolate very dark, I tend to find the 85% version a little too bitter even for my tastes. However if I am using it as little curls (or other decoration) on a chocolate or orange dessert dish however, I will always choose the 85% version as its stronger taste will always enhance the chocolate or orange flavour of the dessert that bit better I think.

**Cost & Packaging**
A 100 gram bar of either will usually cost in the region of £1.00 to £1.25 (Tesco's sells both versions at £1.09 each). Lindt packaging is simple but effective as they use a simple black on white with gold touches which add a little of the elegance this chocolate deserves. Sporting words like 'excellence', 'Intense' and 'Refined' this is definitely a chocolate for the more refined adult palate, and not a bar I would waste on the kids who are perfectly happy with a bit of Bourneville or similar. The inner foil wrapping is delicately printed with the words 'Lindt Chocolats Fins' which translated means 'Lindt Fine Chocolate'.

**The Scent**
The smell of this chocolate is strong. It is an intense scent of powerful chocolate, there is no sweetness in this smell. I imagine that if you smelt the ground cocoa beans before they had been processed the smell they produced would be similar.

**The Taste**
When you unwrap this chocolate, you are met with large but delicately thin squares of chocolate each of which sports six diagonal lines and above them the word Lindt No bulky slabs for this chocolate. This is an elegant looking bar of chocolate even when unwrapped and naked. The taste is incredible, as you bite off a small piece, let it slow
ly melt on the surface of your tongue to get the benefit of its full flavour. As it melts, you get this almost powdery texture coming through because of the lack of sugar in this chocolate. Roll it across your tongue and you get an extreme intense burst of chocolate which just overpowers your mouth. Imagine an ordinary bar of dark chocolate such as Bournville compares to a regular cup of instant coffee, well then this chocolate has power of flavour similar to that of drinking a good expresso coffee!

**Recommendation**
Oh yes, if this is something you've not tried, then do so. Make a special trip out to the shops if you must, and buy yourself a bar of this velvety dreamy bar of chocolate. Oh, and guess what all you dieters out there, although this bar doesn't contain details of its fat content, or its calorie content, as a general rule, the darker the chocolate is the less horribly bad for you it is. (Check out the difference between a bar of milk chocolate and a bar of true dark chocolate which contains no milk!). So, go on indulge your senses!!!

Summary: A lush dark chocolate with a smooth texture and a deep flavour.