Nibble Chocolate - Vegan Bonbons

Five years ago, I reviewed two chocolate bars from Nibble; now I have the chance to look at some of their truffles. Before, I had noted something of a discrepancy between the casual-sounding brand name and the more serious approach to the chocolate bars. With this box of truffles, though, I see more cohesion. The name and the bright colors imply fun and indulgence, while the classic look of the truffles and the vegan label bring in consciousness. Very California (Nibble, you'll remember, is based out of San Diego).

Given the focus on ingredients, I do want to make one note (I'll get the complaint out of my system, then I'll be done). On the front page of Nibble's website, there is a line saying that there truffles are made with just two ingredients plus the cacao and cane sugar, followed by ellipsis and a link to see more. Now, these are made with 72% Brazilian chocolate, cane sugar, coconut sugar, cashews, almonds, cacao butter, coconut oil, and the additional flavors (that is, spices or fruit or such) for each one. Even if you combine all the chocolate products into one ingredient and consider the coconut sugar and coconut oil one ingredient, how does that equal only two ingredients? Two ingredients plus ellipsis. Well, by that logic M&Ms only have two ingredients plus, as well. Maybe I'm missing something. 

While both coconut oil/sugar and cashews are on my avoid list, there is certainly an increasing amount of the population who appreciate a good vegan product. Vegan chocolate isn't as much of an issue because dark chocolate doesn't contain milk, and even if milk chocolate is your preference there are now a good amount of companies making vegan milk chocolate. Vegan truffles are, in my experience at least, still a little behind. The ingredient you have to sub, of course, is cream. So here we have the coconut and the nuts in place of the cream. Alter Eco already does their coconut oil truffles. But what does the addition of almonds and cashews do?

Dark - This is the classic style truffle, rolled in bitter cocoa powder. With all the coconut products I've been trying lately, I do begin to imagine I can taste a slight bitterness from the coconut. But it may just be my imagination. Overall this is classic cocoa flavor. The main difference is in the texture, which is much firmer than in your average truffle. The closest comparison I can make would be to some truffles I had ten years ago from the Momotombo Chocolate Factory (you can read that review back on Chocablog), though these probably aren't quite so dense. 

Raspberry - Sprinkled with red raspberry powder, this one has a good use of an earthy/couture duality. The dense ganache gives the earthy vibe, while red dots within it make for colorful little bursts of raspberry flavor. Either I'm warming up to raspberry after having it so much lately, or this was just a really great way to include it in a truffle. The chocolate is thick and rich but the raspberry is fun and whimsical, making for a satisfying combination. 

Coffee - Yes, those are coffee grinds on its top. So you have crunchiness from there but not from anything inside the ganache. This one feel creamier than the first two, though still rich. Creamy rich chocolate plus coffee is an easy win, and the very thick texture works well with these flavors. 

Pomegranate Sea Salt - Naturally, of course, this will be the one with salt on top. The salt flavor comes first, followed by a small fruity hit. As near as I can guess, the salt is only on the top, not anywhere on the inside; so this isn't as salty a chocolate as some (which is fine). What it is, though, is excellent salt, extremely flavorful. I haven't seen the combination of salted chocolate with pomegranate (or even any fruit, I think) before. The pomegranate, like I said, is a slight flavor. So this is more salted chocolate accented by pomegranate than the other way around. It's a unique approach. 

Oat Vanilla - Perhaps this oat-topped truffle is inspired by the current oat milk obsession. It has a definite oat taste, you know, that flavor that isn't quite sweet or earthy but somewhere in that range. The vanilla is there as the element of sweetness. If this were a drink, it would definitely be lovely. I have mixed feelings about it as a truffle, though. The taste is pretty nice, but it's just so dense and that makes these flavors feel heavy. If, however, you like to sit and savor slowly (maybe treating your truffle like a kind of lollipop), then it works. 

Chai - A sprinkle of dark spices form a band around this truffle's middle. There is rich chocolate flavor followed by a couple of beats of warm chai spices. In this case, the richness of the chocolate and even its thick creaminess pair well with the hefty spices. I could just be biased because I do love chai, but this one is quite nicely done. 

Lemon - I had been going in order, but I switched the last two chocolates because I figured that the Mexican truffle would be quite strong and I wouldn't be able to follow up with another after it. The Lemon truffle is topped with white snow that reminds me more of coconut than lemon. It quickly brings a sweet lemon flavor that is soft like lemon candy rather than a strong, citrus zing. Probably it is especially less harsh given that strong chocolate base. So this is one of the instances in which I find lemon surprisingly nice. 

Mexican - I was right to switch these two, as this is quite a strong one. The warm sprinkle of red-orange on its top is in fact quite a spicy topping. At first, I was going to call it medium-high spice level. Perhaps, though, it is stronger--and it increases rather than fades as the bite continues. I could taste the spices and the cinnamon and the chocolate, but I couldn't take a second bite. This definitely isn't a subtle use of chile; it's too strong for me. I do say that with some regret because the style of these truffles is perfect for these flavors. If you're into spice, enjoy. 

Overall, these are a nice batch of truffles. The vegan element is either a positive in itself if that's one of your aims or it gives them a unique, slightly rustic style. That style pairs well with the San Diego culture of a flavor choice like the Mexican truffle, which can even lead into the more standard flavors, as well. The Chai was my personal favorite and maybe the Raspberry and Pomegranate Sea Salt were the most interesting to try out. 

Nibble Chocolate: 85% Cocoa

Ah. Perhaps it is a good thing that I got two bars from Nibble Chocolate instead of just one: if I had chosen just one, it probably would have been this one instead of the other and yet I think that I like the other more than this one. (The other is, of course, their 77% Cocoa--you can read that review here.) You see, I often enjoy chocolate in the 80% range because when it's well done, it provides depth of flavor without too much sweetness. 

But when I tasted this chocolate, I said, oh, that's right, it's cocoa grown in Venezuela--and I think I tend to prefer chocolate grown in other places than Venezuela. Like the 77% bar, this is also Criollo cacao, though the origin can make a big difference in flavor even for cocoa beans of the same variety. The flavor notes on this one are "Coconut, soft fruity, with delicate nuts and coffee notes." (Side note: the 77% used organic cocoa; this one does not, which is a little disappointing. The sugar is still organic, though.)

The first touch of this chocolate's flavor is bitter, deep and dry bitterness, too. Then you get some of the sting and the chocolate begins to melt in what I would find a tad too dusty of a manner. It mellows out a bit around halfway, becoming richer and more tender--and more pleasant. I agree with the soft fruity description; it isn't as zingy or citrusy as other chocolates. The finish is quite nice: as the chocolate melts, it becomes more and more mellow. 

If, of course, you have a second piece, the initial bitterness is much less. It doesn't sting so much and so you can move much more quickly into enjoying the rich chocolate flavor without the distraction of the dry bitterness. It's still quite dark chocolate, though, and not normally the type of 80% range chocolate I like best. There is nothing of sweetness in this chocolate, so just know your chocolate tastes before you choose this one and pick a lower percentage if you know you'll be happier with that choice. 

For myself, I'm a little torn on this chocolate bar. I didn't like it much at first, but it's growing on me. It's definitely better done than some of the other high percentage chocolates I've tried--but not as good as others. Granted, the chocolate bar I tried may have been starting to get old: besides the light bloom that you can see in the picture, the texture was also a little harder than it ought to have been, which may have been more a product of age than of initial quality. So maybe I didn't try it under ideal circumstances. 

Nibble Chocolate has something good going here. They obviously pay attention to the cocoa beans that they're using, making sure that good quality ingredients are leading to a good quality product. A few adjustments, though, would make them even better--smaller square sizes for one (I mean the nine squares that the bar breaks into, not the size of the bar itself). I would try more of their range, although I'd probably not choose this particular bar again; it just isn't quite my style. 

Nibble Chocolate: 77% Cocoa

When you make a company, you have to put some serious thought into the name. And then some more thought. And then some more. Because I keep feeling disappointed that I like the current chocolate in question but would feel weird talking about the company to someone. "Nibble makes great chocolate." Nibble? That sounds like the name of a baby bear in a children's story. 

Granted, at first I thought that maybe the name was a good idea: often, good quality chocolate has a very elevated and prim style and so there is sometimes the need for good quality chocolate that is also casual. Maybe you name a company Nibble Chocolate because you want it to be casual.

But that doesn't exactly seem to be the case here. Though it's all tastefully placed, the card box is filled with little details about the chocolate. It's 77% cocoa, made with just organic cane sugar and organic Criollo beans grown in Peru; the chocolate is all made in small batches, and the flavor notes are "Caramel, smokey, nuts, biscuit, dried fruit with underlying malt notes." The company, by the way, is based out of San Diego; I bought this and one other Nibble bar at Rust General Store in the Historic Downton District (I'll review that one next time and then I'll be done with my San Diego chocolate finds). 

So what do you think? Nibble gives a lot of focus to the refined chocolate tasting style by listing the kind of cocoa, how it was made, and what the flavor notes are. So can you do all that and still be a casual company? Or was the name Nibble not intended to mean that the company offers a casual chocolate experience, anyway? Because then there's this:

When you open up the card box, it folds out around the chocolate bar. And there is a little note on the flap about taking your time to "nibble" the chocolate instead of eating it quickly. Now, you all know that I eat chocolate slowly (often slow enough that most of it goes into flourless chocolate cakes and brownies instead of directly into my mouth). But I don't really like to be told how to eat my chocolate--not by the packaging, anyway. If I'm reading an article on chocolate tasting, that's fine--but a note snuck into a flap on the box just strikes me as kind of weird. And I wouldn't consider a casual chocolate company to have such a note. So I would therefore not call Nibble a casual chocolate company--so I have concluded that I don't like the company's name. 

But I've probably spent way too much time on the matter. Because the fact remains that this is good bar of chocolate. It's quite gorgeous to look upon, one square divided into nine smaller squares, dark and shiny. And it smells divine. I only wonder why a company that wants you to "nibble" their chocolate would make such thick, fat squares; I prefer smaller squares that I can set in my mouth to slowly melt. But I guess fatter squares are easier to gnaw on, if you want to gnaw on your chocolate. I settled for dividing each square into two bites. 

It tastes first dark with red and rich flavors. Then the sugar comes in to add some sweetness, making it taste like a more refined version of Abuelita hot chocolate (when you just eat the chocolate pieces instead of melting them in milk); it's that chocolate and sugar pairing that made me think of the comparison. It develops into a more silvery tone and ends with some tenderness edged in bitterness and a sprinkle of sugar. Sometimes the chocolate gets a tad grainy in texture, but that's much better than being a tad plasticy. To me, there is something organic about the way the cocoa and the sugar come together in this bar and the way that the richness and the sweetness play off of each other. 

I'm always happy to find another quality organic, bean to bar chocolate because it is all too true that the mere fact of being organic and bean to bar does not mean that the chocolate will taste great. This one passes the taste test. My other bar from Nibble is in the 80% range, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle the darker side (especially since chocolate in the 80's is often my favorite).