Tirol Chocolate – Bitter Orange
Every Christmas, I get excited. Not for any relgious reasons, or because I get some time off (as nice as that is). My reasons are a bit more childish. I love the general atmosphere and that festive spirit when Christmas comes around. Something about that season, and all the stuff that goes on sale during and after that holiday season just brings me back to a happier time. I can’t help but associate the Christmas season with great fun and awesome seasonal product releases. Boxing day is when people go to Best Buy or other electronic stores to get big deals on big ticket items, while I go to my local grocery store or pharmacy to stock up on Christmas candies and chocolates going on sale.
There are a few things I can always count on when it comes to Christmas snacks and foods – chocolate mint, chocolate oranges, and candy cane ice cream. Just like how chocolate egg laying bunnies became associate with Easter, I came to associate chocolate mint and oranges to Christmas. It just so happens I like a lot of Christmas themed candies because I love chocolate mint, and that makes me love the season all the more. Chocolate oranges are a different story. I am very picky with my chocolate orange products. For example, Terry’s chocolate orange? Doesn’t do it for me. My favourite part of that experience is the smashy-smashy part. Good fun! While I can’t recall off the top of my head what chocolate orange products I really liked, I can say for certain that it has to be dark chocolate. This is where today’s product comes in.
This one is apparently 75% cacao which I am totally down for. I find anything between 60% to 85% dark chocolate is my jam, whether it’s solid or filled with something else. Opening the bag, I get a nice aroma of dark chocolate with that sharp smell of orange rinds. Smells like Christmas in summer. I feel like I need to go hang a stocking by the fireplace and put on an elf hat before I continue with this.
If it wasn’t already super obvious from my previous reviews, one thing I really love about Tirol is the packaging. I love the sheer variety of packages and wrappers they crank out, and how they all catch the eye so well. Kudos to their art department. This one has a nice clean contrast of the black and orange, and catches the eye. Sometimes I feel bad for tearing the wrapper because it’s so pretty.
The cross-section of this chocolate is absolutely gorgeous. It’s got a nice liquid centre which is likely orange syrup, and has a nice vibrant looking orange filling covered in a dark chocolate shell. There should be no ambiguity as to what this experience will be like. The only question is going to be if it’s good or not. Well, here I go.
This is exactly what I expected, and in this case that’s a good thing. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this tastes exactly like another chocolate I had last holiday season. I want to say it reminds me of a chocolate from a gift box from Godiva or Lindt. In this specific case, it’s meant as a compliment. It’s very well balanced, with the slight bitterness of the dark chocolate balancing against the sweet orange rind flavour. Make no mistake, that orange flavour is strong. Had the shell been milk chocolate or something sweeter, this experience would be too sweet for me. As it is though, it’s great. So great in fact that I had to pop a second one right after. For review purposes of course. The things I do for science…
This was actually one of the better Tirol’s I’ve had so far. While it’s not as unique or interesting as some of their other flavours like the matcha mochi, this one does a classic flavour combination well, and I would absolutely buy this again. If you’re a fan of dark chocolate, or chocolate orange as a flavour combination, I highly recommend trying to find this wherever you can. Like with a lot of Tirol varieties, this is a limited release. Don’t let this one slip away.
