Posted to rec.food.chocolate
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REVIEW: Meiji 72%
Try a company www.michton.com . Michton Ltd is a company based don is
Swansea which makes wonderful tasting chocolates and they export to the
Far East.
Mark Thorson wrote:
> I was in my favorite Oriental supermarket this morning,
> and I happened to notice a new (for me) product, a
> selection of Meiji dark chocolate bars. The lowest
> cocoa content was 72%. I believe the others were
> 85% and 99%.
>
> For anyone unfamiliar with Meiji, they are the largest
> candy company in Japan, with a local market dominance
> far surpassing that of any candymaker in any other
> country. They market a very diverse product line,
> mostly gimmicky confections with lots of artificial
> coloring and flavoring. So, it was a surprise to see
> an attempt to appeal to the serious chocolate consumer
> from them (similar business model to the recent
> "Special Dark" offerings from Hershey, except that
> the maximum cocoa content in that line is only 60%).
>
> I was surprised how good this bar was. It had good
> snap, similar in that way to Villars. It was fruity,
> but not to the extent of a Valrhona Le Noir Amer 71%
> or Chocovic Guaranda 71% (my two current staples).
> For that reason, I don't think Alex would like it
> very much, because he prefers more overroasted
> chocolates.
>
> I noticed some trace of a flavor I couldn't put my
> finger on, which at first faintly suggested coffee.
> The ingredients list consisted of normal chocolate
> ingredients except for the last ingredient, which
> was listed as "artificial flavor". I don't know
> what that might be, but if I recall correctly
> benzoic acid is sometimes used as a flavor
> additive to impart a burnt note. That might
> be it.
>
> Overall, I quite like it, and at only $1.99
> for a 70 gram bar, it's competitively priced.
> The bar is thinner than most bars in this category
> (and the center pieces are thinner than those
> along the edge) making it rather wide so it has
> the feel of a 80-100 gram bar, sort of like
> what Villars does with their bar shape.
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