You can keep your confectionary. I’ll happily die consuming my weight in fine chocolate and having tried a fair amount (but not enough) of chocolate from France and a good smattering of chocolate made by Patrick Roger, I’m part way there. I see so many people banging on about how great average milk chocolate mixed with various ingredients in. Of course there’s a degree of talent needed, and there are some notable chocolatiers doing this, but I would say that there can be no greater skill in the world of chocolate than taking as few ingredients as possible and making great chocolate from it. Jean Paul Hevin does it, Duffy does it and so does Patrick Roger – amongst others.

For me simplicity is the key. Lindt this, Kit Kat that, Cadbury, Snickers and Mars Bars, blah, blah, blah. I’m unashamedly purist about chocolate. And no, I’m not a chocolate snob; I just think chocolate is best produced by artisans that put skill above the bottom line offers so much more of an experience. So having tried commercial chocolate recently, I just needed to repent my confectionary sins and return to artisan chocolatesville. And here I am, at the door of a master: Patrick Roger.

So … I love the Original Beans and Beschle, Chocolate Cafe and Artisan du Chocolat packaging for various different reasons, but the Patrick Roger chocolate bars take simplicity to the extreme. There’s just his logo on the back and a sticker detailing the origin of the cocoa and its ingredients. And there’s also no internal cellophane wrapping – it’s so simple and elegant. To me this is the epitome of how a chocolate bar should be packaged.

And that regularity continues inside with the mould. Pralus offers an irregular mould featuring their brand, Artisan du Chocolat have a design with the squares being incredibly defined and Devnaa put their logo on the squares too. But with Patrick Roger they’re the simple rectangular fashion with just enough indentation to make a snap possible.

At first I thought the aroma was heading towards the Artisan du Chocolat Jamaica 72% but it held back from being as powerful. Although there is a good degree of acidity that comes across on the nose, it is very mild aromatically and reminds me of an Amedei bar – although I can’t remember which one (I do try an awlful lot!).

I’ve now tried this bar when it’s been cool – about 15c and warmer about 20c as it is now and I hate to say it that I actually prefer it a touch warmer – there seems to be a much lighter and sweeter flavour to it which offers hints of warm real ale, hazelnuts and damson. But it’s this cane sugar flavour that will please most people that prefer a slightly less dark bar of chocolate.

Under cooler conditions this bar had a very crisp snap, whilst now it’s obviously a touch duller. But whatever condition you try it (within reason) I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Sometimes we take chocolate too seriously so here’s a little run down of some of my favourite, or not, chocolate makers and chocolatiers and what I think of them – all in five words or fewer.

If I’ve missed any out, or you’ve got some good descriptions of chocolate makers in five words or fewer then share them in the comments below!

When I saw that this new chocolate brand had its roots in an online florist I was a bit sceptical. But I thought that my background is economics and online marketing and I run a chocolate blog, why can’t they produce highly desirable chocolates? What I actually learned from the experience is that there’s a world of difference between writing about chocolate and creating chocolate.

I loved the concept: chocolates delivered to a loved one with the cost of chocolate included and very much falling into the chocolate gifts category. It looked like they’d tried to simplify the process of chocolate gift buying as well as to make Belgian chocolates more accessible to the masses.

If you look at the packaging it’s absolutely perfect for this mail order chocolate gift market. The box is bright and sturdy. It’d be attractive to the core target audience, which I’d say are females anywhere from 16 upwards. The bags of truffles are securely located within the box which has great benefits for protecting them through the postal service and are easy to remove so you’re ready to enjoy them.

I was a little put off with the plastic tie at the top of the bags of truffles, I’m just so used to wonderful pieces of ribbon to secure and present chocolates (see Melt, Brownie Points & Paul A. Young). And this is the first indication about quality issues. At this stage I started to get a feel of the commoditisation of chocolate. It just came across (and I could be wrong) that the with their 21 years of running an online florists that they’ve got a great deal of experience of in online retailing with saying and doing the right things with how to encourage people to buy and getting the products to their customers in the right way but not as much experience with creating top quality chocolates. If the passion in the marketing of the chocolates was displayed in equal measures with the quality of the chocolates then they’d be on to a sure-fire winner.

Well, the very nice Jenny and her team noticed that I mentioned their launch and sent over a box with a bag each of “choc truffles” and ” “cocoa truffles” and so I grabbed hold of the “choc truffles” first and cast my eye over them. Well the first think that came to mind was that they had a very strong resemblance to the My Chocolate Bar Rum & Cola chocolate truffles that I just adored. Unfortunately the flavour of these truffles didn’t quite match any of those from My Chocolate Bar. Now, I don’t like to be overly critical, but there was hardly any chocolate taste to them. The flavours that I got were mainly of sugar and vegetable fats. And that came over in the texture too. Now I know that Belgian chocolates are supposed to be fatty and creamy but true Belgian chocolates wouldn’t last more than a few days – these are “good” until the middle of February next year.

Visually they didn’t look to great either. It seemed that the creamy filling was just rolled in cast-off pieces of extra-milky Flake shards. I know they didn’t say the truffles were handmade, but it just didn’t show any love or affection had gone in to them. The sun is shining and my bad back is receding and I really want to be positive – just I can’t.

Hoping that the other bag of truffles was going to make up for the other’s shortfalls I moved over and opened that bag too. Being a big fan of dusty truffles had high hopes. Alas they were to be dashed. The aroma may have been fine, but there was a slightly (but not excessively so) dry texture, although the flavour wasn’t as one dimensional as the others. Here they had an intense sugary taste, but not much else. There may have been slight kirsch notes, but not enough chocolate came through. They were just a couple of notches too sweet.

These truffles could have been so good. The execution of the experience up until the tasting was absolutely perfect for their aim of offering good quality chocolates by post, but the flavour was just too commercialised for my taste. I know others love confectionary with high levels of sugar and fats; it’s just that I don’t. I also know that not everyone has the same taste as me. I know that they’ll be a good proportion of their target audience that like super-sweet confectionary and will be over-joyed with these. Just give me a selection box of Pierre Hermé – I’ll pay the difference!

I subtly asked Kym from Brownie Points Bakery if she could send a box of her brownies over just to see if they’re as good as others have thought. I haven’t asked for anything in a good while as I’ve still got a huge stock of chocolate to review, but I’ve just got a “thing” for brownies so I gave into temptation and sent her a tweet. And I’m so glad I did and if you wanted a quick description of them then I’d call these comical ninja brownies. At first the chocolate flavour is subtle and then it pounces on you from nowhere and gives you a good tickle of delight. I want them all to myself.

For me how you package and display chocolate, cake and the such-like is crucial for its enjoyment. It just gets you in the mood to enjoy it. With these brownies you’ve got a wonderfuly simple box wrapped in a lovely, branded ribbon. But it goes further than that. You also have the brownies wrapped in light-blue and white ginham (I’ll let Kym off that they’re Manchester City colours) and cut into 6 fantastically thick and substantial pieces – I suppose they’re about an inch and a half wide and long and just under an inch deep. For me these have to be the perfect dimensions as it allows for a crunchy top and a soft centre.

As I’ve mentioned, the chocolate flavour was slight at first. There was no instant chocolate “hit”. Instead it seemed to catch up to speed with the second bite. Now I’m not sure if I’d prefer it to be intense or not? I suppose with this mellow flavour then it encourages you to eat more. And being a Friday night I’m really not worried about the calories! In fact with it being quite hot now (will the weather make up its mind?) i think something this gentle is perfect.

I also liked the texture as it wasn’t overly gooey. Dark chocolate, gooey brownies, I feel, should be reserved for winter. Summer should see slightly moist brownies that still offer a good deal of resistance and often served with the finest vanilla ice cream. Also the pecans that are present gave it a very welcomed bit of crunch too – as well as extending the flavours available.

I’m now on to my third brownie and typically I’d be feeling overwhelmed and thinking that I’ve had enough of the chocolate flavour (that can happen occassionaly), but not here … I’m pretty sure I could finish them all off (bar the one I just gave my wife – who loved them too) – I think it must be that top note of cocoa that gives it the edge as they just so addictive.

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Seeing as the nights are drawing in and the weather is terrible and we’re almost in September it seems like a good idea to roll out the first Christmas chocolate review. It doesn’t seem like yesterday that I was sweltering in London whilst I visited the Hotel Chocolat Christmas press event. But alas, those days have long gone. So I’m sat here in my warm hoody looking out of the window onto a dark, rain-sodden vista wondering how long it’ll be until I have to put the heating on? Well I can forget about that for a moment as I have before me some great novelty Christmas chocolates from the company that puts the fun into Christmas – well not grammatically, but in a cocoa sense.

These chocolate Christmas dinners are outstanding value. So they may be £6.50 for a 110g box that includes 5 chocolate turkeys and 5 chocolate Christmas puddings, but they are actually very good indeed. I normally have a problem with the actual taste of novelty chocolates as was seen with Fifi’s Boobies Au Chocolat, but Hotel Chocolat seem to have added another dimension with their “house” chocolate. Gone is the sort of honey flavour that seemed to characterise much of their milk chocolate novelty or basic range, such as the Vintage Milk Chocolate Buttons etc., and in has come a very mild, but delightful classic milk chocolate flavour that simply won’t disappoint.

I know that extended their range of gourmet chocolates with their single estate and single origin Purist bars, but they’ve never lost site on the importance of novelty chocolates. They’ve not lost their imagination, and I can tell that from looking at their other Christmas chocolates that should be added to their site in the next 6 weeks or so (I would say).

The detail of the chocolates is pretty dam good. You can easily make out what they’re supposed to be and I’m sure that most kids and even wives or girlfriends would find them entertaining and cute at the same time.

Another aspect I loved was the texture. Quite often novelty chocolates can be dry and brittle. These Christmas novelty chocolates had a very good texture – they were thick and had a very solid snap as I bit into them. But the biggest judge of the quality is that they’ve almost all gone. They are incredibly moreish be suitable as stocking fillers for anyone – young or old!

With Christmas chocolates I’m going to do quick ratings as things like nutritional information etc. aren’t really all that important and it’s more about the fun of them than any gourmet characteristics. So on that note, I’m going to give these Hotel Chocolat Chocolate Christmas Dinners an 75% because they do taste very good, are reasonably priced and I know the target audience will absolutely love them!

You will be able to buy them direct from Hotel Chocolat nearer to Christmas.