Atelier Isabelle Dark 53% cacao

Rich cocoa is the prominent flavor of this bar. It has a crisp snap when broken. Simple but tasty. 7.2

The design on this bar is of a familiar style for followers of this blog.  Atelier Isabelle Costa Rica has a dramatic view of the Golden Gate Bridge, while this bar's playful scene is of decorating the tree. Both have bright foil wrapping and colorful prints with highlights of glitter.

Dandelion Venezuela Mantauano 70% cacao

After tasting many nice, but unexciting, bars of chocolate, it was a pleasure to taste this bar and be greeted by a nice mix of flavors. Cherry is at the front, with a surprising tomato note in the background. Very low bitterness, but there is a sweet aftertaste. 9.0

Thomas Haas Bold 83% cacao

The label calls this bar "bold" and that label does apply.  When allowed to melt in the mouth, the bar is fairly bitter, which is to be expected, and has a persistent aftertaste that is not altogether pleasant. When chewed, some fruit notes appear and the aftertaste improves. I would therefore recommend chewing, and having a more pleasant experience. 7.0

ThomasHaas.com

Safeway Select Dark Chocolate 78% Cacao

Not very bitter for a fairly high cacao content bar. Not complex, but that is a good feature. Clean, simple chocolate. 7.3

Dolfin Dominican Republic 88% cacao

Before even tasting this bar I expected that it would be bracing, from my prior experience with high cacao content bars from The Dominican Republic (most recently Kilwins Dominican Republic 80% cacao). However I was surprised that while clearly robust, it was less bitter than expected. The bar has a rick cocoa flavor with some bitterness, but that contributes more to the aftertaste. I notice some walnut notes in the background. 8.3

www.dolfin.be

Cacao Prieto Dominican Republic 72% cacao

This bar is mellow, as might be expected for a 72% cacao bar, but it has character, as would be expected from a bar of Dominican Republic origin. Some light bitterness, and faint fruit notes. Enjoyable. 8.6

I purchased this bar from Miette store in the Ferry Building.

www.cacaoprieto.com

Kilwins Dominican Republic 80% cacao

An assertive chocolate, fairly bitter but not disruptive. Earthy flavors dominate, with a long aftertaste. 8.0

This is the second bar that I picked up at the Baltimore Kilwins store. The Kilwins Dark was pleasant but not interesting, whereas this bar is less comfortable but more intriguing, challenging, and — as I said above, assertive. Kilwins has put a nice design on the surface of the bar, shown here. Each of the symbols represent the locations of the single origin bars that they make: Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Ivory Coast, Mexico and this bar, Dominican Republic.