The 6 dark chocolates chosen to review were:
74% Dagoba organic dark chocolate- xocolatl, 3oz (85g) -$2.99
73% Dagoba organic dark chocolate- conacado, 3oz (85g) -$2.99
70% Newman’s Own Organics- super dark chocolate, 3.25oz (93g) -$3.39
70% Endangered Species- dark chocolate with deep forest mint, 2oz (56g) -$2.95
72% Endangered Species- supreme dark chocolate, 2oz (56g) -$2.95
77% Chocolove- extra strong dark chocolate xoxox, 3.2oz (90g) -$2.65
74% Dagoba organic dark chocolate- xocolatl
Smoothness – silky smooth melt in your mouth texture
Smell- a cocoa smell like you would expect in most dark chocolate
Taste- for a 74% chocolate I really enjoyed it! I thought it would be too bitter but it was delicious. It has a similar tangy taste like the Green & Black’s Organic chocolate previously reviews (an acquired taste that I have grown to really like). It’s almost like a slight burnt taste, but pleasant.
Ingredients – Organic dark chocolate, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa, organic non-gmo soy lecithin, organic milk (less than 0.1%).
Conclusion- I would definitely add this to my chocolate list. It tasted great and I loved the fact that it was all organic. It’s the highest cocoa % so that’s a plus too, for more healthy benefits.
73% Dagoba organic dark chocolate- conacado
Smoothness – silky smooth melt in your mouth texture with little crunchiness flakes. It contained cacao nibs in it.
Smell- like dark chocolate with a hint of chili smell.
Taste- definitely the most unique of the bunch! I went out on a limb to try something different…dark chocolate with chili. And yes it was very spicy chocolate! As much as I Love my food spicy, I can’t say spicy hot chocolate is on my favorite list yet (maybe it will grow on me).
Ingredients – Organic dark chocolate (cacao beans), organic sugar, organic cocoa, organic cacao butter, non-gmo soy lecithin); organic cacao nibs, organic chili powder, organic maca, organic citrus oil, organic nutmeg oil, organic vanilla extract, organic milk (less than 0.1%).
Conclusion- I loved the fact it was all organic, and even had maca and nutmeg, but the chili was a little much for me, and something I’d need to get used to…although chilies are healthy, not so sure I want them in my chocolate.
70% Newman’s Own Organics- super dark chocolate
Smoothness – silky smooth melt in your mouth texture
Smell- smelled a little sweeter than most dark chocolate, but still had the cocoa smell
Taste- very delicious, I would say one of my favorites so far. It had a very creamy buttery taste…made you feel like you’re eating something very rich and savory.
Ingredients – Organic dark chocolate (Organic chocolate liquor), organic evaporated cane juice, organic cocoa butter, organic soy lecithin, organic vanilla.
Conclusion- I think the added vanilla really made a difference in the taste of this chocolate, it was very yummy with a little more of a sweetness to it. It was also all organic which put it at the top of my list.
70% Endangered Species- dark chocolate with deep forest mint
Smoothness – silky smooth melt in your mouth texture
Smell- like mint chocolate…and I love mint chocolate! Reminded me of peppermint patties which was one of my all time favorite (healthier option) chocolate. Also reminds me of a mink lotion bar I just purchased (I need to get used to all the mint scent items I receive to smell like each other, because they’re all made of pure mint so all smell very similar).
Taste- with the blend of mint and dark chocolate it had a very cool and refreshing taste…quite the opposite of the chili chocolate above. However both kinda clear your sinuses…which makes for an interesting experience.
Ingredients – bittersweet chocolate, chocolate liquor, unbleached water-filtered beet sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla, natural mint flavor.
Conclusion- I wish it was organic, but it gets a plus for the fact that 10% of the net profits are donated to help support species, habitat & humanity. I love the mix of mint in chocolate so I really liked this one. I would have liked it even better if the chocolate was half the thickness…it was a little thicker chocolate than the previous ones. So if I had any suggestions to change it I would say to make it thinner and compensate by making it larger (like Lindt, Godiva, Ghirardelli etc).
72% Endangered Species- supreme dark chocolate
Smoothness – silky smooth melt in your mouth texture
Smell- sweeter than most dark chocolate smells, in spite of it being 72% cocoa. I supposed the vanilla added to that. Although there are no nuts in it, I would describe the smell to be slightly nutty. Wonderful aroma.
Taste- very delicious chocolate. Not too cocoay, yes a slight chalky taste, not texture though…hard to describe. I would rate it at the top if only it was all organic like the first 3.
Ingredients - bittersweet chocolate, chocolate liquor, unbleached water-filtered beet sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla.
Conclusion- like the mint one, I found this to have the same texture, and although very different smells and tastes, both the Endangered Species ones smelled and tasted great. I would definitely get this one again if I craved some chocolate and had no organic options.
77% Chocolove- extra strong dark chocolate xoxox
Smoothness – silky smooth melt in your mouth texture
Smell- like you would think dark chocolate would smell, although not a very strong aroma.
Taste- definitely noticeably the darkest chocolate of the bunch. Was clearly the least sweetest chocolate, so not quite as enjoyable.
Ingredients – cocoa liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin. (May contain traces of milk and nuts).
Conclusion- When I opened the wrapper the outer paper had a love poem written on it…I like fun things like that (like dove promises). The smell and taste however was a little too blah for me. I had to sniff really hard to smell it, and it was more so un-sweet than bitter. The Green and Black’s organic chocolate that I reviewed in my last chocolate review was darker tasting but had a bitter/taniness to it that made it very enjoyable, but this one seems to be lacking in a taste bunch. I probably wouldn’t purchase this one again. It reminded me of a chocolate that would be used more for baking with.
Overall Conclusion
I would put the Chocolove 77% dark and Dagoba xocolatl 74% dark at the bottom of my list, amongst these reviewed today. I don’t think I would purchase those 2 again. Unfortunately the Chocolove had the highest cocoa % and best value in price per ounce of chocolate, but all in all I find them all expensive for one bar! I would then put the Dagoba conacado 73% dark along with the Newman’s Own Organics on the top of my list. The Dogoba conacado one had more of a dark tangy taste that I’ve grown to love, and the Newman’s Own almost resembled milk chocolate to me (almost too buttery)…it was creamier and more buttery much like Lindt which I need to be in the mood for.
The two Endangered Species chocolates were also very delicious, but they didn’t make it at the very top of my list because they weren’t organic and were thicker than I like. Also their very slight chalky taste docked a point with me. So all in all if I were to pick just one out of the 6 to purchase again I would choose the Dogoba conacado 73% dark chocolate one, in spite of it being the most expensive per ounce. I would choose the Newman’s one second because I don’t always crave the super creamy butteriness of it.
