Taste test

Our national obsession with chocolate has precipitated a week in celebration of the stuff. Chocolate Week, which runs from 15-21 October, is pure chocolate indulgence with talks, tastings, demonstrations, launches of new chocolates, chocolate fountains and sculptures. What better excuse to do our very own chocolate taste test?

La Maison du Chocolat
www.lamaisonduchocolat.co.uk
Generally popular with the panellists, La Maison du Chocolat's range "melted in the mouth", tasting "like great chocolate should". 
There was a good balance of bitter and sweet flavours. The Faust, a rum-flavoured chocolate from the Initiation Gift Box, reminded more than one panellist of Christmas-fruity and boozy, but not too overpowering. Nice and fresh and a pleasant texture. Flavours are less adventurous than others, but well executed.
4/5

Demarquette
www.demarquette.com
These chocolates' sophisticated appearance belied an unremarkable interior. They suffered in this blind tasting. Tasting "like cheap chocolate icing", according to one panellist, while the outer shell left a bitter aftertaste that lingered unpleasantly.
The honey flavoured chocolate tasted "authentic" and was rich enough to make one more than enough. Overall, the consistency was too soft.
2/5

Melt
www.meltchocolates.com
A hit with the panel, these chocolates scored well for variety and their incredible freshness. The passionfruit and mango cube was instantly renamed the "sophisticated Jaffa Cake"-with a layer of intense fruit jelly that combined perfectly with a dark chocolate ganache.
Comments ranged from the unhelpful, but honest "yum" to the wishful "I could eat these all day". Some of the more intense flavours proved a little cloying, but overall this is a fantastic collection, with what one panellist summed up as "the perfect balance of strength and subtlety".
5/5

Rococo
www.rococochocolates.com
Rococo didn't score as highly as expected. In mitigation, the panel tasted two of the company's more unusual chocolates-the sea salt milk chocolate wafers and the salted caramel ravioli. The ravioli divided opinion. Some found the caramel centre far too sweet, although it did help to balance the "too-bitter, brackish" outer shell. But other panel members found the salt and caramel balance just right. The sea salt milk chocolate wafer is an interesting experiment that didn't quite work.
3/5

Green & Blacks
www.greenandblacks.com
The new 70 and 85 per cent cocoa chocolate bars appear to be designed with dieting chocoholics in mind: only a small amount is required for an intense chocolate hit. Our panel found the 70 per cent cocoa "bitter" but "satisfying", with an enduring aftertaste. One square is enough. As for the 85 per cent, our tasters found it too bitter and lacking a discernable flavour. Apologies to all you Green & Blacks connoisseurs out there, but this looks to be heading for the kitchen.
3/5

Paul A Young
www.payoung.net
A great selection of unusual flavours that were either loved or hated by the panel-no surprise that Young is the genius behind the Marmite Guinness Ganache.

His summer selection is inspired by in-season fruits and flowers including a cherry-flavoured truffle that was "bursting with flavour" and was much enjoyed even by those with a severe aversion to cherries. The Garden Mint truffle really did taste like mint just picked from the garden. Very fresh and good consistency.
5/5