I started a bar of this yesterday and finished it today. This has been the only chocolate I’ve eaten in these two days (in order to focus specifically on it), and every time I visited the bar I reached the same conclusions: not so good.

Something about this bar just…. Well, it just doesn’t fare too well on my tongue. It seemed to me like Theo was perhaps a bit too gentle on the roast, as evidenced by the light-as-a-feather aroma, which although is actually quite fantastic is at the same time fruity and highly acidic…almost like a Domori bar. There’s a very similar transfer of flavor, which mind you, tastes somewhat flat and repressed — as if the flavor notes couldn’t fully emerge and were subdued by the ferment. By this, I mean the chocolate tastes like green tree branches, must, and alcohol, ala Domori (in some occasions), but unlike Domori, Theo doesn’t quite deliver the same experience and flavor development. There are cranberries and raisin components to the flavor, though, but again they just seem subdued and not fully developed.

In fact, this chocolate comes off as flat and actually quite thin both in texture and in flavor. It’s a weird experience quite unlike any I’ve ever encountered. I don’t know what to make of it.

The only other Theo chocolate I’ve tried so far have been the Ghana and Ivory Coast bars and I found them with very favorable esteem. But frustratingly this bar is such a polar opposite! So I’m wondering (before I post an official review) if anyone has had a similar experience with this bar. Alex, have you?

Agreed, it’s not offensive, per se, but it’s definitely flat and rather mild, actually. I was able to finish the entire bar effortlessly due in large part to my desire to fully understand it, but aside from that, it *can* be eaten without objection I believe. I must admit, though, considering the stats of the chocolate I was expecting more bang; but unfortunately all I got was a subtle fizzle.