It was a hot and steamy afternoon. I had just gotten home from a “day job” stressed and a little bit rushed. As I tumbled through the door with bags and little people bumbling about, I noticed on my shelf, a sleek black package with my name on it. This package was the most amazing surprise on a day that really needed what was in it… it was filled with beautiful Labooko Chocolate bars by Zotter! Fantastic bean to bar chocolates that Hello Chocolate so thoughtfully sent to me to make my day!
Bean to bar chocolate tasting
You may have noticed that I am obsessed with flavours. Who wouldn’t be thrilled to taste chocolate! Find out How to Taste Chocolate – it is serious work! A hard job but someone has to do it – lucky me! If you’d like to give it a go, download our Chocolate Tasting Sheet as a guide.
About Hello Chocolate
Hello Chocolate curates and brings to Singapore some of the world’s best craft chocolates. They present you with a whole new world of flavours, chocolate bars and stories of chocolate makers to explore. They also have frequent sales, new releases and specials that you HAVE to know about if you are a chocolate lover, especially as their range changes from time to time.
Labooko by Zotter
Zotter produces world class chocolate that is organic, fair trade and produced in Austria. Their beans are sourced worldwide and special care is taken in finding their cacao. Of the many varieties of chocolate produced by Zotter, Labooko is pure, single origin chocolate (except perhaps their white chocolate). Each bar has a unique history and source which you can read about on the chocolate wrapper.
As I opened my bars of Labooko (and I say bars because there are two bars in each package, folded against each other like a book), a little slip of paper slid out. It read “ATTENTION do not eat but savour. If you would like to be a chocolate connoisseur, you should not munch the chocolate but savour it by letting it melt.” I took this advice as I tasted my way through five equally exquisite bars of bean to bar chocolate.
Again, the design on the wrapper of each bar was carefully thought out. Together they made a family of beautiful art that I was tempted to frame together and mount on my wall.
Now to taste!
All the bars of Labooko were equally delicious so I would encourage you to try the entire range so you can taste the subtle differences. The dark chocolate bars are vegan with the only ingredients being cacao, raw cane sugar, cocoa butter and sometimes salt. Here’s what I thought.
Labooko 75% Guatemalan
The Guatemalan Labooko bar of chocolate was eaten late at night. This has become the norm for me as I hide my amazing bars of chocolate from my kids! I also like to really relish the chocolate when it’s quiet and this bar had wonderful dark, smooth and astringent characteristics. It snapped of softly when I broke it. Placed on the tongue, it melted beautifully with a slight floral hint, it coated my taste buds with light bitterness and notes of woody oak.
Labooko 75% Ecuador
Perhaps you wouldn’t think that the same percentage of chocolate in a bar could taste so different. However, when the beans are from different parts of the world, trust me, they do! Much like coffee, each bar is influenced by the beans, regions and terrior they are grown in. This bar from Equador was a medium dark brown colour with nutty and milk chocolaty overtones. It was only slightly bitter with a milk fruity tinge that I couldn’t quite pinpoint. It was beautifully rich and luxurious to eat.
Labooko Fine White Chocolate
An unfortunate experience of gluttony over white chocolate when I was ten has turned me off this type of “chocolate” for years! The Labooko promised a very low sugar content with 40% milk, 40% cocoa butter and 20% sugar. It also had Bourbon vanilla from Madagascar as a flavouring. Tasting a bit like sweetened, condensed milk, I did enjoy tasting it. It wasn’t sickly sweet or overpowering though I am not sure if I’m converted to being a white chocolate lover just yet.
Labooko 90% Bolivia
Ah, some say the darker the better and this bar was fantastic! You can really taste the strong bitter notes and you are given an ample amount of time to really savour it. It melts slowly and deliciously. This bar is going to last me a while but I’m going to be enjoying every piece of it. I think it would pair well with a fruity cup of coffee.
Labooko 75% Madagascar
I saved this bar till last because Madagascar is a famous growing region for vanilla and we love vanilla. I was expecting a truly exotic bar of wonderfully flavourful chocolate. It had a hard snap and slow melt but gosh, of all the bars, this is the one I would like to keep on my desk at all times. There are so many flavours going on! Hints of citrus, berry notes, lightly astringent and really just a gorgeously flavoured bar of chocolate. This is my favourite of all the Labooko bars (though truth be told, I quite enjoyed all of them).
Thank you again, Hello Chocolate!
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We were not paid to write this story and our reviews are honest. The bars of Labooko by Zotter was gifted to us by Hello Chocolate under no obligation. Thank you so much Hello Chocolate!