Chocolate Review.

I've been on a "good chocolate" kick lately. I don't really know how to describe chocolate yet...but I'm trying to learn. There, you've been warned.

Santander Columbian Single Origin Dark Chocolate (70%)

The chocolate smells delicious, and would probably make a good Mexican-style drinking chocolate (that is, the kind you make with extremely hot water and chocolate...and maybe some sugar or hot pepper), although there is a bright kind of smell to it, too, that can get a little overwhelming after a bite or two. Some chocolate, when you smell it, settles into your stomach and spreads a feeling of contentment; this moves more up into your nose -- a little peppery, without smelling like pepper at all.

This is just on the edge of dark/too dark for me. With the first few nibbles, you're happy, but after that, the bitterness starts to get overwhelming. The chocolate gives a wooden snap! when broken, and doesn't really melt on your fingers or luxuriate on your tongue. It almost needs some kind of milk or cream to help balance the brightness and bitterness, although any more sugar and it'd just be bleah.

Not bad chocolate, but not my favorite. Say, three stars out of five.