Dagoba Seeds

another organic bar from Dagoba. this time around it's seeds: hemp, pumpkin and sunflower in dark chocolate with a touch of sea salt. the first thing i noticed here was the earthiness of the bar - the combination of seeds with sea salt complements the bitterness of the dark chocolate very well. the salt taste is very mild, coming in near the end, almost as an afterthought. the seeds don't add as much of a crunch as i had hoped, but they do add something to the texture (i always prefer a textured chocolate to a smooth). the dark chocolate itself is quite good, Dagoba just makes a good chocolate - smooth and creamy. these bars always take me awhile to finish, they're pretty hefty and super-rich, plus the flavors and ingredients are usually not things that i'm always craving but when i do have a hankerin' for some gourmet chocolate, Dagoba is at the top of my list.

rating: 6

Dagoba Mint and Roseberry

alright, more Dagoba bars. as i believe i've mentioned before, these organic chocolate bars are made here in oregon (ashland, to be exact). this time around i only sprang for two: roseberry and mint.

roseberry (pink) - this is a combination of raspberry and rosehips in dark chocolate, and what a nice combination it is. i'm a big fan of the actual dried raspberries in the bar, it adds a lovely texture and i like having something stick around after i've sucked all the chocolate away (yes, i do that. but only sometimes.). the rosehips are pretty mild here, they add just a hint of a floral accent. the Dagoba chocolate itself is pretty good as well. my only issue so far is that at times i feel like it coats my throat a little too much. which might just be a result of me sucking at it for too long, but whatever.

rating: 7

mint (green) - ok, this one i was really excited for, as the packaging claims it also has rosemary essence in it. say what? rosemary in my chocolate, say what? yeah, it's there. and it's pretty good. really, after tasting the bar on several different occasions, i've come to the conclusion that i actually taste the rosemary more than the mint, which is not an entirely bad thing. in fact i kind of like it. too often i feel that mint flavoring is too strong and overpowering, here it is more of an accent note. smooth.

rating: 8

Dagoba Organic Chocolates: lavender blueberry, chai, hazelnut

we carry these Dagoba Organic Chocolate bars at work. they come in a lot of interesting flavors that i just noticed the other day, so i thought, "why not start my magnificent candy reviewing career off right? $2.69 organic chocolate bars it is." then after i bought them i thought, "wow, i wish i still had $8." but when i got home and tried them i thought, "these are great! but i still could use $8." i picked the three that seemed most appealing to me:

lavender blueberry dark chocolate (purple) - this one is really good. i'm a big fan of lavender in chocolate and other sweets (cupcakes!) and this was the right amount - not too overwhelming. the blueberry is a great companion flavor, plus there are actual dried blueberries in the chocolate, which makes for a great texture.

rating: 7

chai milk chocolate (blue) - the front lists this bar as containing crystallized ginger and chai essence. i definitely taste the ginger, which i was worried about because normally i hate ginger, but i've come to realize that i can tolerate it when it's combined with chocolate. i might even go so far as to say that i enjoy it in chocolate. there's also a hint of clove in here, i assume that comes from the chai, and the chocolate has a little grittiness to it, which i think comes from the cloves. i like it.

rating: 8

hazelnut milk chocolate (yellow) - i was slightly disappointed with this one, mainly because i expected it to be my favorite. i love hazelnuts, and these hazelnuts are toasted, which is even better. plus there are rice crisps in here. it should be delicious, but there were definitely not enough rice crisps, as i didn't even really experience a crunch. i feel that if there are rice crisps involved the crunch factor should be at least a 6, not to mention nuts which should bump it up to 7. this bar weighed in at a lowly 2 on the crunch factor scale. i think the chai might have had more crunch. also, there really isn't much of a hazelnut taste at all, very subtle compared to the flavors in the other two. i don't know, maybe i'm too picky but i have yet to find a hazelnut chocolate that really excites me. and still i get my hopes up every time. sigh.

rating: 3

so, that's what i have to say about that. although i thought they were a little spendy, when i think about it, it's a pretty big bar and it's organic, and it's really good, so i think it's worth it as a treat. also it's named after that planet in star wars (i am aware that the planet is spelled with an "h" at the end, and i am also aware that it's not named after that planet, but i still like to think of it as such) i'm definitely going to get more of these, and when i do you'll be the first to know.