Paul A Young Fine Chocolates Selection

Visiting Paul A Young's Soho store was paramount to me when in London. From the shop, I had an Aztec-style hot chocolate made with quality chocolate and Muscovado sugar and a chosen spice of cardamom. I also bought a bar of his bean-to-bar Madagascar 63%, though I'm kicking myself for not buying a bar of Duffy's chocolate. And of course I couldn't have left without a few of Paul's fresh, handmade chocolates! The question is, would I pay £7 for 4 of his chocolates again? 

Cigar Leaf - it's Duffy's 70% Peruvian chocolate, Valrhona 40% milk chocolate, caramel and cigar leaves - the first taste was treacle, caramel, it was so lovely. Then: SPICE. Holy smokes. Where did that smoked spiciness come from! But that initial butterscotch flavour made it the best caramel I had ever had, made from Muscovado sugar [I think] and it just worked so well with the Peruvian chocolate. Duffy's Peruvian chocolate coating was exceptionally fruity. The spicy sensation from the tobacco leaves wasn't one I liked too much as I'm not keen on spices in chocolate, but that caramel killed me

nb: Does Paul do just a Muscovado caramel encased in a single origin chocolate?

Rum & Raisin - with 40% Valrhona milk chocolate, Appleton Estate Rum, and raisin. It had a luscious texture. I could feel the rum on the tongue, and the taste was superb. The singular raisin placed on top of the ganache was very juicy

Passion Fruit - a winner of 4 GOLD International Chocolate Awards. The chocolate coating was so distinct, quite tannic, fruity, with wood notes, I thought Peruvian or maybe Madagascan. Later I found out it was Pacari's 70% Peruvian! I favoured this passion fruit chocolate over Dark Sugars'. The passionfruit curd, made with Valrhona 35% white chocolate, had a smooth texture; its flavour was sophisticated and rich. Using Peruvian chocolate for the coating really added another dimension to this chocolate

55% Venezuelan Milk Truffle - Duffy's 55% Ocumare Venezuelan milk chocolate. It had such a lovely texture, tasted very milky and kinda toasty. It tasted exceedingly high quality, quite literally putting all other non-flavoured truffles to shame

These chocolates are the best chocolates I have ever had, hands down. Paying £7 for 4 chocolates was truly worth it. If only I could afford to have Paul A Young chocolates whenever I fancied