Starbucks and Ghirardelli Dark
They have Starbucks in Kroger now. Did I talk about this already? It seems kinda familiar. Oh well. I shop at Kroger and I see the stuff Starbucks has. I noticed they had chocolate so I bought some to try. Summary: its dreadful.
I tried the milk chocolate and it was horrible. It was incredibly bland and terribly sweet. Looking at the ingredient list, I saw why: Sugar, cocoa butter, milk, unsweetened chocolate, vanilla, etc. I’m glad the got to the chocolate eventually. It was so overly sweet it reminded me of one of the worst chocolate bars I ever had, The Wonka Bar. Blech!
Then I tried the dark chocolate. Equally bad. Extremely bland, had an overtone of coffee, and a very bitter aftertaste. Double Blech.
I will say this, they at least list vanilla and not vanillin, which was nice to see. Aside from that, they totally blew it. Maybe people who drink alot of coffee or smoke heavily don’t notice how bad the chocolate it.
I also tried their Vanilla Caramel (covered with milk chocolate) which was really not so bad. I think the thing here is that if the caramel is the main feature, you pick a light chocolate that does not over power the caramel. The ultrabland Starbucks chocolate is perfect, so it works here.
Lastly, I tried the Ghirardelli 60% cacao squares. I was sure I had tried these before but can’t remember for certain.
These were very good, not too bitter (well, its only 60% which I think makes it more semi-sweet than bittersweet). They had that nice “tart” taste that I like in good dark chocolate. I noticed they list “milk fat” in the ingredients, which I thought was odd for a dark chocolate. Maybe that mellows the flavor.
That’s it for this week. Look at that, another Chocolate Friday post ON friday. :)
January 27th, 2006 10:34
Yay for Chocolate Friday! Boo for shi&&y chocolate!
January 27th, 2006 10:47
Woohoo it’s FRIIIday, it’s Chocolate FRIIday. Thanks for the warning on the Starbucks bars. Glad Ghirardelli came through, though. They’re one of my favourite brands.
See you at FBF :D
January 27th, 2006 14:04
I had a big brick of Ghirardelli after the Chicago Marathon, it was a great day.
January 27th, 2006 14:55
Who ever said chocolate is just chocolate,,, lol, we never stop learning from you.. Hope you are all caught up on your sleep.
Heather
January 27th, 2006 18:10
Next Friday you should post about Starbucks coffee liqueur. Oh wait, that’s coffee and alcohol not chocolate. Never mind :)
January 27th, 2006 18:42
I wanted to let everyone know that Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate brownies totally suck. Bland, not much chocolate taste. I even threw them out which is like unheard of when it comes to me and chocolate. I even eat the cheap holiday chocolate!
January 28th, 2006 17:56
Hey I’m linked here from Rockstar mommy’s blog. I LOVE chocolate, so this is a dream finding this :D Since you like Ghiradelli chocolate, have you tried the chocolate caramel squares? Talk about heavenly ;)
January 28th, 2006 18:55
Kroger must be an East Coast - Midwest store. There was a giant one in North Carolina when I lived there and I loved it, but I haven’t seen any west of Colorado. We have Starbucks in our Albertson’s stores - maybe they’re part the same conglomerate.
Anyway, now I know to stay away from the milk chocolate. Thanks for saving me some money.
February 1st, 2006 17:50
I LOVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEE chocolate. it just so happens that i’m a chocoholic! nice website! send me a comment at mine!
ciao