Chocolate Tasting 2001

See also: Chocolate 00 Tasting 99 Tasting 98 Tasting Recipes

Smart money was on the French this year. Not only have they traditionally been the top placers, but one-half of the 2001 field came from the land of the parlez-vous. Just to make sure, we imported Phillipe, a French native, to bias the field. Philipe voted patriotically for the Bonnat, but nobody else liked them. Instead, the denizens of Poirot's land galloped into first, with three of four Belgium entrants placing in the top five.
The French were also the most expensive. The Bonnats ran about $6.85 at Dean and DeLuca's and Cluizel cost $5.29 at Draegers.
This year, in an attempt to reduce our choices, I limited it to 65% and above. I also recalibrated our scoring system: Taste was worth 60%, Texture 15%, and After-taste 25%. Again, most of the chocolates came from Oakville Grocery in the Stanford shopping center, with Draeger's, Dean and DeLuca's in Santa Helena and Trader Joe's providing most of the rest.

Chocolate Dark and Dastardly

% Chocolate	Name	Origin	Rank	Avg of 5 pts
72	Droste Extra Dark	Holland		2.6
70	El Rey Gran Samán	Venezuela		2.6
72	Gaston Total Eclipse	Belg	1	3.7
70	Bernard Castelain Macaibo	France	2	3.6
70	Chocolove Strong Dark	Belgium	3	3.1
77	Chocolove Extra Strong Dark	Belgium	5	3.2
71	Valrhona Noir Amer	France		3.1
70	Caley's Marching Chocolate	UK		2.7
70	Scharffen Berger	U.S.A.		3.1
70	Valrhona Guanaja	France		3.2
72	Michel Cluizel Chocoalt Amer Brut	France	4	3.3
70	Lindt Excellence	Switzerland		2.8
70	Fauchon Noir Amer	France		3.1
77	Bernard Castelain Intense	France		2.9
88	Michel Cluizel 1er Cru d'Hacienda	France		3.0
70	Swiss Noir	Swiss		2.6
75	Bonnat Madagascar	France		2.4
75	Bonnat Chuao	France		2.4
75	Bonnat Equateur	France		1.9
75	F'eo D'or	Germany		2.2
77	Swartenbroekx	Belgium		3.0
	Average			2.89

Again, Oakville Grocery in the Stanford Shopping Center had the best over-all selection, including the Gaston and the Cluizel. Dean and DeLuca's provided the Castelain and Whole Foods the Chocolove. The Chocolove is probably the best bet for your money: the Cluizel generally is the most expensive.