Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Velvet Bitter


Today I am going to review a Japanese chocolate that I have greatly enjoyed here in Thailand. It is somewhat difficult to find high quality Dark chocolate in Thailand and when I came upon Bitter Velvet I was delighted.

Due to the decline of the population of children, confectioners in Japan have been forced to change their marketing of chocolates by stressing quality and by drawing consumer’s attention to the richness of the ingredients. And Velvet Bitter is certainly a rich chocolate. It is part of Japanese candy maker Morinaga’s chocolate product line. According to a manager of Morinaga’s the bitter chocolate covered by a harder layer of dark chocolate is made for chocolate lovers who like to indulge themselves while relaxing at home. And I must agree.

I have taken great delight in relaxing on the couch with one of these small bits of dark chocolate. It lives up to its name. It has a very velvety texture that feels wonderful to on the tongue. The bitter sweet flavor of the chocolate is intense and has a very small hint of fruitiness.

Needless to say I am a fan! The only problem is that I have only been able to find the one package I bought at the store. I went back a week later and they had no more. I’m keeping my eyes open for more Velvet Bitter and I suggest you do so as well.

2 comments:

brian said...

Interesting. Do they use cocoa solid percentage in marketing in Thailand or Japan? It used to be unheard of here in the states except for imported chocolates, but using % in marketing is starting to appear in more mainstream markets here in the states. The coating on the candy here looks pretty light, so I was wondering what % it was.

Cocoa Nut said...

Brian,
Thanks for your comment! As far as I can tell they don't market the cocoa % very much here. Milk chocolate is the chocolate most Thais prefer. On the back of some chocolate packaging there will an ingredients sticker that you can read, but of course you have to be able to read Thai! Fortunately I can, but I don't have the original packaging that the packets of bite sized chocolates came in. I have looked for it at several locations here, but have been unable to find Velvet Bitter again. The flavor is stronger than you'd expect from the color, I agree the coating is lighter than expected.