I picked up this assortment of Amedei tasting squares while I was in Italy. Even though I bought them in the country where they’re made, they were not cheap. Guess that’s par for the course when you make the world’s most expensive chocolate.
Each tasting square was about an inch and a quarter square and probably about 1/16th of an inch thick. Each was stamped with the word “Amedei” on a diagonal.
The Toscano Brown was a luscious looking light brown milk chocolate. The label promised, “chocolate of supreme finesse with scents of butter and vanilla. Delicate, extremely agreeable flavor.”
It had a smooth, thick melt with a buttery, light hazelnut undertone. Agreeable indeed!
The Toscano Black 63% was supposed to have “intense chocolaty aroma and rich, flowery flavour, with strong overtones of hazelnut.”
Mine had developed the barest hint of bloom, but it still tasted excellent. It had a sharp and snappy break. It tasted earthy and woodsy but lacked any acrid unpleasantness.
And now, the trio of 70% squares: The Toscano Black 70% claimed “fragrance of flowers and tobacco with an elegant flavour.” To me, it tasted deep, yet smooth with a lightly bitter edge. It had a few caramel hints and strong notes of roasted coffee beans.
The Trinidad’s label claimed, “Refined aroma with a pleasant impact on the taste buds,” which isn’t very descriptive. I found it surprisingly sweet and mellow for its cacao percentage, and quite enjoyably so.
The Ecuador (“extremely intense fragrance with a strong scent of cocoa”) was sweet as well, but with more of a woodsy edge. It was my least favorite of the bunch, with an off-putting hint of papery-ness.
The Trinidad and Toscano 70%s were my favorite. The only one that I didn’t care for was the Ecuador. It gets an O, while the rest get OMs!
I’ve found, through experience, that expensive stuff does NOT equate to quality. So the phrase “you get what you pay for” is not always true. If I pay TOO much, I’ve found I actually get less than what I pay for – and I usually end up paying even more in the long run to make up for the mistake. I’m therefore not terribly surprised with the O and OM reviews. There seems to be a balance point between price, quality, and quantity that is really hard to achieve in any industry. If a business hits that sweet spot though, they get the ZOMG factor from customers.