Ritter Sport – 74% Intense Dark Chocolate

I’m realizing that when it comes to snack foods or candies, something about seeing numbers feels weird to me. Like it’s trying to turn what I believe to be magical and artistic to numbers and science. Even though yes, technically it all is and baking for example is more a science than an art, some things I like to keep the curtain unmolested and left alone. We don’t always need to see how the sausage is made.

The iconic cubes are a bit smaller here, and the bar is 5 x 5 cubes. The total size and weight aren’t far off, just that it’s smaller individual pieces than the usual 4 x 4. The standard cubes are just the right size, and these smaller ones while not that much smaller, do make it a bit easier to leave in the mouth, similar to how you’d do with a hard candy.

This smells very rich in dark, chocolate flavour. The taste is that of a strong dark chocolate, and has that distinct smoky bitter taste that I love in a good dark chocolate. This particular one is made from Peruvian cacao, not that I’m sophisticated or experienced enough to tell the difference between the difference beans. What I can tell you is that like most higher percent dark chocolate, you get the most mileage out of it by simply letting it sit in your mouth and dissolve, letting the flavour slowly coat your mouth.

The texture is less melty and somewhat more brittle as you would expect from dark chocolate. In terms of mouthfeel, this also leave your mouth feel a bit coated afterwards, similar to how your mouth feels when you have higher percent chocolates. Like an almost, chalky or astringent sensation. I also noticed little bits of what I imagine are tiny nibs or bits of cacao that were ground down and use in the chocolate. I don’t mind it, but the little bits can leave a bit of grit in your mouth if you let it just melt, so some people may not enjoy that.

If I were to compare this to some other dark chocolate flavours, I’d say this is not too far off from the general expectation of something this percent. Really the only difference I can tell is that there’s a bit of grit from the nibs but some people enjoy that, while others don’t. I don’t mind it at all, and I enjoy this whether or not it has them. Overall I liked this and I would consider getting this again.