About This Product:

Raaka Virgin Chocolate bars, hand made in Brooklyn, New York. The Vanilla Rooibos bar combines unroasted cocoa beans with vanilla rooibos tea, stone ground to perfection in small batches. Tasting notes: Cherry and toasted marshmallow.

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Taster’s Review:

I received this chocolate bar in my April Knoshbox (yes, it has been a while, I tend to horde my gourmet chocolates for times when I really need chocolate.  Like now!) and because this Virgin Chocolate Bar from Raaka Chocolate is also made with vanilla rooibos, I thought that I’d offer a product review on this confection right here on SororiTea Sisters, rather than my foodie blog.

The first thing I noticed about this is the packaging … I love the zentangle-ish wrapper!  Very cool!  The chocolate itself is a dark chocolate and it has a crisp “snap” to it when I break the bar.

Now, I’ve got to say that I’m not as fond of raw chocolate as I am of the “roasted” chocolate.  The roasting of the cacao beans seems to add a depth to the chocolate that I just don’t experience in the raw chocolate.  But that’s not to say I dislike the raw chocolate, I just prefer it to be made from roasted cacao.  Here the chocolate is dark (67%) and it has a bold, rich flavor that is both bitter and sweet.

I can taste the rooibos, and the rooibos offers a slightly fruity tone to the chocolate.  The tasting notes on the Raaka website suggest a “cherry” flavor, and I don’t know if I’m getting cherry, exactly.  I definitely taste the vanilla, and it enhances the overall “creaminess” to the bar, which I really like.  I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate, but, there is something to that creaminess of a milk chocolate bar that I do enjoy, and the vanilla notes here add that element without the milk.

When I allow the chocolate to melt over my palate, I notice more of the aforementioned cherry notes, as well as the toasted marshmallow notes as described on the website, so, I highly recommend savoring this bar like this:  breaking the bar into small, bite-size bits, and then putting the small piece on your tongue and allowing the warmth of your mouth to soften the chocolate.  That’s when you’ll really enjoy the fullness of flavor from this chocolate bar.

Overall, a really delightful chocolate experience.  Then again, when is chocolate NOT a delightful experience?  If you’re looking for a good raw chocolate bar … I think that this one from Raaka is my favorite of the raw chocolate bars that I’ve tasted thus far.