Seventy% » Reviews – milk bars

Red Star – Ocumare 55%

Alex Rast — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 23:36:07 +0000

Boldly introducing what other chocolate manufacturers seem to have shied away from, Red Star provides a truly elite-bean milk chocolate, and at gratifyingly high percentage. This is likely to mean extreme expectations, so the pressure is clearly upon Duffy to deliver with this chocolate. It’s a welcome sight, however, to see a chocolatier treating milk chocolate seriously, and maybe a model for others to follow; after all, it’s not all about dark chocolates.

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Domori – Javagrey

Alex Rast — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:35:34 +0000

Domori comes up with a new, “pure” milk chocolate suggesting a more serious approach to milk chocolate than in the past for them. To some extent obviously aimed to compete with Cluizel’s milk chocolates, and from a cocoa source that Cluizel made famous in the past. However, if past experience is any guide, there is a very big difference in sensory experience between a 45% milk chocolate as here and a 50% milk chocolate as the Cluizel (now long since replaced by the better-still Mangaro Lait): the one still feels like a “regular” milk chocolate, the other manifestly like a “dark milk” and thus it will be interesting to see what Domori’s interpretation of this will be. However regardless of result it’s nice to see another major elite chocolate maker taking milk chocolate seriously.

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Red Star Chocolate – Star of Peru

Alex Rast — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 23:53:40 +0000

Red Star confirms their intention to be a full-range chocolate manufacturer with a milk chocolate, to add to a fine collection of dark chocolates. Made from liquor at this point (hence the somewhat inaccurate “made from couverture designation – about as close as the categorisations get at this point), it might not be quite fully bean-to-bar, but such considerations are ultimately not particularly important – and one suspects that a bean-to-bar milk chocolate will soon be forthcoming. Here also with a reasonably high percentage Red Star puts themselves above other British manufacturers who tend to go for a lower – might that also be safer? – figure. Still, inevitably many who are drawn to this chocolate will be those who, while interested in a new and exciting manufacturer, don’t yet feel up to the challenge of high-percentage darks.

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Hotel Chocolat – Rabot Estate Dash of Milk 70%

Alex Rast — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 01:53:09 +0000

Verturing boldly into territory only Slitti has dared previously to tread, Hotel Chocolat makes an attempt to create an ultimate dark milk chocolate by marrying their own plantation bean to an ultra-percentage milk chocolate formulation. Ironically, this makes the milk chocolate version stronger than the dark (at 65%)! Does this suggest that the Rabot Estate beans are, perhaps, decidedly aggressive in a pure, high-percentage dark formulation? If so, then perhaps Hotel Chocolat has created an interesting new rôle for milk chocolate: a vehicle to display interesting origins that have some overly distracting side characteristics. Dark chocolate purists will probably be a bit disappointed, and whether this will be of interest to the milk chocolate lover is probably up for debate, but there’s no denying the original thinking.

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Zotter – Peru 40%

Alex Rast — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 20:56:08 +0000

Pairing a 40% milk chocolate with a 60% (the Nicaragua) in the same package would seem to be an odd way to make a comparison, if the objective is the comparison of origins. Perhaps, though, in the milk category, there is somewhat more room, for if the objective were solely the origin comparison, such bars would surely be best delivered in a dark format. Thus here Zotter appears to be aiming as much for a comparison of 2 different approaches to milk chocolate as of 2 different origins. Much here must depend on personal preference and interpretation. For some, once a chocolate has milk in it, it is a “milk chocolate” no matter what the percentage, and if furthermore they prefer strong intensity, they will surely gravitate towards the Nicaragua. Others, on the other hand, prefer a milder, distinctly milky chocolate even to put it in the milk chocolate category, and for them this bar has been targetted. In the Labooko series, Zotter seems to try to package one “fine” chocolate with one “emerging” chocolate; it seems clear this one was intended to be the “emerging” one. This seems to make fairly strong statements about where Zotter’s opinion lies on the interpretation of milk chocolate! Various chocolates from Peru have been appearing recently, in various guises, so this one may not have the originality factor of its Nicaragua stablemate, but it will offer a pleasing exercise in contrasts.

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Zotter – Nicaragua 60%

Alex Rast — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 20:42:18 +0000

Another in Zotter’s “Labooko” series comparing origins, this really pushes the limit of what can be called a “milk” chocolate with a 60% formulation. Is it fair to compare a 60% against a 40% (the corresponding Peru) in the same package? Common sense says perhaps not. Nevertheless, trying a “milk” chocolate at this extreme percentage does push the boundaries for organic chocolate, if not necessarily for the milk chocolate category as a whole (e.g. Slitti’s 70% or Bonnat’s 65%). It may be worth it just for that reason. Whether, or not, this should really be called a milk chocolate is a matter of personal interpretation, but it does seem that the category of “dark milk” is becoming established as something fairly accepted rather than freakish. It’s welcome, too, to see a very different origin, interpreted in a milk chocolate. On the whole, then, this is one of Zotter’s most interesting bars.

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Hachez – Wild Cocoa de Amazonas Milk

Alex Rast — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 23:32:58 +0000

A first attempt to produce a milk chocolate with “wild” cocoa, and Hachez have done a reasonably creditable job. Deviating from their usual mild, ultrasmooth style, here they produce a bar with plenty of flavour, if at some textural sacrifice. Unlike the dark bar, however, the gamble pays off, and while this chocolate may not be in the very first rank of milk chocolates, it’s still very much worth trying for its unique flavour

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Amano – Jembrana Milk

Seventy% — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:09:00 +0000

Having achieved spectacular success in mild milk chocolates with the Ocumare, Amano this time stumbles equally spectacularly with a chocolate that just never gets going. With a taste that hovers barely on the edge of perceptibility (which, it must be admitted, is the norm for 30%) Amano shows why greater percentages in milk chocolate are usually desirable. Here is a demonstration of how even the most careful processing isn’t always enough when the formulation is ill-matched. Could be interesting if the percentage were improved, but as it is it doesn’t generate much excitement.

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Amano – Ocumare Milk

Seventy% — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:04:00 +0000

Possibly the ultimate chocolate for lovers of mild milk chocolates. A bar with amazing complexities, although it must be said, all variations on a sweet theme. It’s perhaps too bad that Amano chose such a mild formulation for an all-Criollo milk chocolate, but still the results are outstanding. With milk chocolate of this level, Amano ought to try upping the percentage and it might become supreme.

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Slitti – Lattenero 70%

Seventy% — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 07:21:00 +0000

At a hefty 70%, Slitti’s darkest milk chocolate is an enticing exploration and ultimate test of just how far this high percentage milk chocolate trend can go. With essentially nothing to lose, Slitti succeeds and creates a bar whose flavor far outweighs any novelty value it holds.

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