Caro Chocolate

I know what you’re thinking, this is meant to be an online treasure trove of #menswear ‘content’. Moody shots of suits and shoes. And the occasional witty remark.

Well, I see this more as a living well website. The focus is British yes, and I guess men’s clothing plays a large part in that, but it’s not the only party in town.

That said, more hard hitting menswear coverage next week, plus some new stuff…

So chocolate. Day 3 of Lent. Oops. But, as I persuade myself, a little of what you fancy, ah you know the rest.

Now, Dairy Milk is a wonder, to be consumed in silence and in semi secret. This on the other hand is a loud and proud let’s shout about it affair. 

It’s from Caro, which I guess is my local lifestyle store in sunny Bruton. Made in conjunction with Somerset confectioner ‘The Chocolate Society’. 

The plan initially was to talk about this a couple of weeks ago, then someone (me), ended up eating a significant chunk before I had chance to photograph. That meant we had to dispatch the intern (also me) over to pick up some more. 

Now, going back to what we said about that chocolate secret, I’m a little bit funny about chocolate, particularly artisan chocolate. The problem is that some of it is great, some of it, well I would just rather have a square of Dairy Milk and that hasn’t cost me the best part of a score for a bar. 

This on the other hand is very, very good. From the start, it’s a winner.

The packaging is good, just heavy enough cardboard, well designed and pleasingly printed labels, with just enough information.

Good packaging isn’t enough alone. The key to any product, particularly collaborative product is that whilst all the elements must work together, the main element must sing. 

In this case it’s the chocolate, dark & milk. Both are exceptional, deep, rich, not overly sweet with an ever so slight bitter note. If I had been given either plain, I would have been quite happy. What elevates this into the realm of stockpile, is that I can’t imagine why you would ever eat each plain knowing the combinations available. 

The Juniper & Raspberry dark chocolate manage to help you forget any garage forecourt, chocolate encased fruit nightmares, with a hint of 5pm on a Friday juniper’d gin and just enough tang from the raspberries to keep things fresh.

The Pine, Black Pepper & Cracked Almonds? Well, that’s Aesop chocolate. It smells like a new antipodean skincare wonder, but tastes like a good afternoon spent in a tiny hilltop bar in Andalusia with a snifter of extremely dry fino.