Taza Chocolate

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

So I picked up a Taza bar at Diesel last night and it rang up as 6 or 7 dollars so I put it back and slowly backed away from the counter. Which I guess has been a common customer reaction according to the cashier/barista.


I'm a big fan of dark chocolate, and I'm willing to pay extra for local business and good quality, but I expected it to be 3 or 4 dollars max....can anyone give me a review, I mean is this chocolate worth the price?

ps. the couches/chairs at deisel are all ripped and gross, I emailed them I hadn't been in a while but it's started to gross me out like Someday did...

Comments

[rax.livejournal.com]

They're really good, but I still don't get them very often because, well, yeah. They are definitely better than the $3 bars I get elsewhere. I don't consider myself a serious chocolate taster, but I am vegan, so the selection I have available is a little limited, and I've tried much of it. I think the Taza bars are the best I've found in the area for my tastes; your mileage may vary. Split one with a friend and see what you think maybe?

...and I have noticed one or two of the couches at Diesel in particularly bad shape lately, though I wouldn't call it _gross_ really :)

[rifmeister.livejournal.com]

Most dark chocolate is vegan. There's a ton of it available at any large upscale grocery store (Whole Foods or Harvest).

[rax.livejournal.com]

And I've tried most of those bars. I miss milk chocolate. :) But thanks!

[rifmeister.livejournal.com]

Ah, sorry I misunderstood!

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Terra Nostra makes a sort of milk chocolate with rice milk. (I found it at Whole Foods.) I'm not vegan, but I've been avoiding dairy products for the last few years. I thought the texture was very like good milk chocolate. The taste was not as rich, but not bad. You might want to try it.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

They're one of the few that are both vegan AND don't contain soy products.

[sunspiral.livejournal.com]

Trader Joe's too.

[latvianchick.livejournal.com]

There was a very good article about them in the Art of Eating:

http://www.tazachocolate.com/documents/file/press_articles/20081001_Art_Of_Eating.pdf

Pdf, sorry. The publication doesn't actually post anything online; the only reason I could find it is that Taza scanned it. The article is excellent.

They also come to Davis Square farmers market and have samples, so you can go and try it. They also do tours / tastings in their production facility in Union Square.

Taza is priced as top-tier artisanal chocolate. Given that, the prices are not out of line.

Apologies for not actually telling you anything about the chocolate. Their style is unusual (you can read all about it in the article, or on Taza's website), so it's really a personal taste kind of thing. Plus, I'm sure you'll get plenty of opinions on lj.

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

thanks, maybe I'll try to get a free sample first. Personally, I have never found Godiva etc to be much better than dove...but those are more milk chocolates.....if Taza blows my socks off I might splurge on it once in a while.

[latvianchick.livejournal.com]

That's because Godiva is not much better than Dove. Godiva is all marketing, the product itself is really not great.

For a high-quality chocolate benchmark, get a Valrhona bar (not cheap, bur a more classic style than Taza); chocolate bars at Burdick are also excellent and very competitively priced.

[elusiveat.livejournal.com]

For a high-quality chocolate benchmark, get a Valrhona bar (not cheap, bur a more classic style than Taza); chocolate bars at Burdick are also excellent and very competitively priced.

Scharffen Berger is another excellent one.

My personal review of Taza is that I find it to be much more rich that most bar chocolates. I'm a chocolate addict, and find that a smaller quantity of Taza satisfies my cravings. I don't mind the gritty texture of Taza (which is due to the fact that it is stone ground), but some of my chocolate coinoisseur friends are put off by it.

[rifmeister.livejournal.com]

BTW, as someone who eats a lot of chocolate, including a lot of Taza and other brands, my personal far and away favorite in terms of price-to-performance is the Organic Fair Trade Extra Dark (80%). At $3/bar, I find it stacks up surprisingly well against high-end brands like Valrhona or Taza.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Where do you get it?

[rifmeister.livejournal.com]

I get it at Harvest Co-op. I would happily bring you a bunch in exchange for ... oh, I dunno, a tent?

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

:) I'll let you know as soon as that closet is unsealed post-construction (end of june at the latest)

taste

[cthulhia]

I was put off on the tour when the chocolatier working with them was not using Taza chocolate because it is too coarse.

However, the texture doesn't bother me so much as the taste. It's too... bitter? There's a tang to it that... given a choice between Valrhona, Bonnat, Pralus and other brands in the same price range, I personally opt for most others. But I am a hardened chocolate snob.

The vanilla variant of the Tazo Mexican puck actually smooths out the flavor. Since it is a local product I still send it to my sister for yule and she loves it.

Re: taste

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

the tang is from, as I understand it, the lack of alkali. the so-called "dutch" process, or alkalinization removes that tang and makes for a smoother tasting chocolate. but it is in no way the traditional South American thing to do, which is what Taza is apparently going for.

Re: taste

[latvianchick.livejournal.com]

The tang, I believe, is because it's not conched (m00n below explained the process). It's simply a lot fruitier than other chocolates. Personally, I don't like it either. But I think they do very well what they set out to accomplish and price it fairly.

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

Apparently SB has started to be produced in the Illinois Hershey factory and is no longer quite as awesome. I unfortunately had no basis for comparison.

[latvianchick.livejournal.com]

I agree. SB used to be very good a long time ago (like, 6-7 years ago). Now I find it much too sweet.

[witzwurst.livejournal.com]

I took their tour last fall, and they claimed then that a few of their products were made at a (presumably Hershey-owned, but they didn't specify) factory in Pennsylvania -- specifically their milk chocolates, which they don't have the facilities to produce in Emeryville. But they were definitely still producing lots of chocolate there.

[pensivewombat.livejournal.com]

As the person above said, "Taza is priced as top-tier artisanal chocolate. Given that, the prices are not out of line."

They're excellent, but they don't appeal to all tastes. They have a unique texture and are not at all like Dove or Godiva. Their Mexican hot chocolate is TO DIE FOR. Their other chocolate is heavenly, if you ask me. :)

But yeah, i think you have to think of them as a treat. As someone who treats chocolate like it's something special to be savored and not scarfed, i'm more than willing to spend money on a bar of their chocolate and eat little bits over a few days.

[purgatori84.livejournal.com]

I love your username. So much.

[pensivewombat.livejournal.com]

Hahahaa thank you kindly :)

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

I really like Taza chocolate, and I buy them at the farmer's market or at 2-3 times a year open houses. Last December, I bought in volume, which was a lot cheaper per bar and made nice little gifts. but, yeah, as others have said, it's not like a lot of other high-end chocolate and you might want to try some first.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

When everyone else here says that their chocolate is "unique" I believe what they are referring to is "conching (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate#Conching)" which Taza doesn't do. Basically it's a process of refining the chocolate by grinding it using metal beads for about 3 days until the sugar and cocoa particles are smaller than the tongue can detect. Consequently Taza's chocolate has a somewhat gritty texture, but the chocolate itself has also been "worked" and heated only minimal amounts, so some say (including myself) that a lot more of the flavor is retained.

At any rate, they buy organic beans directly from the growers and process all of it basically by hand (with the help of some second hand candy making machinery) in Somerville. I very much doubt they're making much of a killing at this point and the chocolate is not only good, but one-of-a-kind. If you think about it, while $6 may seem like a lot for a bar of chocolate when compared to what you can get at the supermarket, it actually compares pretty well to, say, a very nice bottle of wine from a very small batch winery. And the grapes don't even have to be imported to make that (and it probably won't be certified organic either)!

Besides, it keeps me from eating too much of it ;-)

[jimmyfergus.livejournal.com]

I suppose I'm just conditioned to the conventional chocolate texture, but I found the Taza I had (one of the round things, with chilli in it), to be deeply unsatisfying. Akin to eating hot chocolate mix by the spoonful.

Personally, I like Green & Black's Milk, which is much darker than most milks, not so heavy and cloying.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

The round ones with chili in them ARE hot chocolate mix (http://www.tazachocolate.com/store/Products/AlmMexDisc) (though I and, I suspect, some of the guys who work at Taza, like to eat it as-is). The sugar crystals in these are especially large because they are meant to be dissolved in milk or water.

[jimmyfergus.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I missed that. I'm not the most observant...

[m00n.livejournal.com]

To be fair, TAZA doesn't really market them that way, but chocolates sold in that shape (round disks) and consistency (gritty and sugary) with scores on top dividing them into six or eight equal pieces do tend to be intended for drinking.

[pensivewombat.livejournal.com]

As said above: that IS hot chocolate. And i am one of those who eats it by itself - personally, i freakin' love it :)

To each their own though.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of Taza who doesn't buy the bars all *that* often, but as others have noted, they do tend to last (I've still got some in my chocolate cabinet).

I'm also a chocolate snob and I love how much of the real fruity chocolate-ness can be tasted in Taza.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, fruit is the word I like for Taza.

It's like eating a fresh summer tomato -- there are all of these different flavors.

I like ketchup (aka processed rich chocolate) sometimes, too, but the experience of eating the tomato is indescribable.

Go for a factory tour

[madscientist01.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed going to the open house at Taza. They did a great job explaining the process and why it is so unique. I also got the chance to try as much as I wanted of all the flavors/types of chocolate they make, which made me feel much better about ponying up the money for something I know I like. I signed up on their mailing list and they don't spam me, except to occasional notice about an open house (I think there have been 2 or 3 since I signed up within the past year). I recommend trying them before buying them!

Never tried them...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Now I'm curious to see if they are really worth $7!

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

This is the new $5 milkshake. Methinks there's a Diesel "attitude premium" being added on here.

[turil.livejournal.com]

They even out their prices by charging a higher price for the whole pucks/bars, and offering tons of the stuff for free as samples at the farmers' markets.

I think the stuff is the most amazing chocolate ever, personally.

And they deliver their chocolate, including to the farmer's markets, by bike and bike trailer. Which is cool.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

I dislike Taza bars; I especially don't like the texture. But they're local (made in Somerville) so popular. Taste and texture-wise I like the Endangered Species bars. I think at least some of them are vegan--though I guess that could depend on how strictly you define that. (The bar that's currently in my cupboard--dark chocolate with raspberries--notes that it's produced on equipment that also processes milk-containing products, but there aren't any non-vegan items in the actual ingredient list.) $2.50 for a 3 oz bar at Stop and Shop, and about the same at Whole Foods I think.

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

I get my premium chocolates at Cardullo's in Harvard Square — they mark them up quite a bit, but they have a huge selection, and I've been enjoying training my palate bar by bar. Each one lasts me a few weeks, so it's not too expensive, over time.

ps. the couches/chairs at deisel are all ripped and gross, I emailed them

They removed the worst-ripped of the squishy black chairs to their loffice (is that what you call an office in a loft?) a while ago, so they seem to be aware of the issue. The lighter brown couches and chairs look fine to me.

I did see signs up saying that they would be remodeling their bathrooms in June, which is a better use of their resources, IMHO.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Do check out expiration dates with Cardullo's high-end chocolates. I'm not sure why (likely it just moves slowly), but I've seen lots there that were well-aged to say the least. For straight-up chocolate it likely doesn't matter as much, but some of the Zotter filled chocolates (in varieties I know and like) went from sublime delights to rather wretched after holding up Cardullan dust bunnies for a year.

[elements.livejournal.com]

One thing I've found with Taza is that you have to chew it differently because of its texture. Chew it and let it linger in your mouth a bit. Let it heat up with the heat of your mouth. THEN it morphs from being kind of weird and grainy to being utterly divine - if it's what you're in the mood for.