Re: Olive and Sinclair Chocolate

It's the best chocolate on the planet.

My roommate and I were at the grocery store picking up a few things. Near the artisan cheeses we came across a display for artisan chocolate. We love artisan bread and cheeses, so naturally this grabbed our interest. My roommate was the person that originally taught me that not all chocolate is created equal. She was the first to introduce me to higher quality chocolates like Lindt. Needless to say, after really only knowing Hershey, it opened up a whole new world of chocolate to me. But I wasn't prepared for what we just discovered.

Olive and Sinclair Chocolate is southern artisan. It is hand crafted in Nashville, Tennessee. They start with the raw cocoa beans and expertly craft them into bars of solid deliciousness. The beans are select single origin and taken in small batches. They are slow roasted and ground, but not just ground, stone ground. The makers combine traditional methods and modern European technique. The ingredient list on the package boasts only 3 ingredients: Cacao Beans, Brown Sugar, and Cacao Butter. It is also a fair trade item.

Now, this would all be pretentiousness and laughable if the chocolate was unremarkable.

But no.

This chocolate is the ABSOLUTE MOST DELICIOUS chocolate that I've ever had the pleasure to taste! I literally had to use a lot of self control to spread it out over several days. I wanted to eat the whole thing, but I loved it so much that I hated the idea of the bar being gone. That may sound odd, but here's the context: This chocolate bar is normally around $7.00. Who buys a chocolate bar that expensive? I'm not one to throw that much cash on a sweet tooth fix. The bars were on sale when we picked them up. The sign said $4.00 Buy One Get One Free. My roommate says that she thinks they rang up for regular price at the checkout. I don't know. I was returning an item to the shelf while she was checking out. We didn't check the receipt.

We got the regular 67% bar (there are a variety of flavors). It's not like your ordinary chocolate. It's a bit harder and crunchier. You can hear a person bite and chew it. The flavor is not super sweet like many chocolates. It runs closer to dark chocolate. There's a richness that's not bitter and not overpowering. To me personally, it's chocolate the way it was meant to be. I am a minority in my household however. My roommate didn't find it remarkable and says it must be an acquired taste. My other roommate didn't like it at all, but I suspect her hatred for dark chocolate influenced that considerably. This chocolate isn't for everyone. I totally get that. But for me, it is the king of chocolate bars.

That's it for this Re:View (can you review chocolate?). Thanks for reading! Send any feedback to thehalflingninja@gmail.com or leave a comment. And don't forget:

You're never too small to make a difference in the world.

The Halfling Ninja