Seed and Bean

Organic and Fairtrade Seed and Bean are on a mission to create the most ethical, sustainable and delicious British chocolate. With 5 Great Taste Awards and 2 from the Academy of Chocolate, you get the impression that they must be doing something right. Also with them sending me four of their chocolate bars to taste and review showed the clear confidence they have in their chocolate; I think it was safe to presume I was not going to be disappointed

After a recent rebranding their lively and attractive packaging design really catches the eye, especially compared to their previous minimalism. In addition to this, new flavours had been launched; three of which I have here (Ginger Dark, Sea Salt Lime Milk and Raspberry White)

Just Ginger Dark

58% cocoa solids

The light and warm ginger aroma juxtaposed the spicy sensation in taste. The ginger flavour was actually quite sweet, but this was probably due to the fairly low cocoa solids. It had a long melt with the ginger giving it a grainy texture; often finding myself being left with a shaving of stem ginger. I liked the fact that it was quite med-low cocoa solids because any darker and the ginger could have lost its warm, spicy impact. I don't particularly like ginger and chocolate together but I have a feeling the Dominican Republic Trinitario bean chocolate alone is quite incredible

Cornish Sea Salt & Lime Milk 
37% cocoa solids
Such a beautiful, dark muscovado sugar colour with a very creamy, less-acidic-than-lemon (lime) aroma which I likened to lemon curd. It was smooth and soft melting which was no surprise as it did look ever so silky and incredibly creamy! The sparks of sea salt livened up the already very magical chocolate and delicately enhanced further sweet notes. A beautifully soft finish complemented the luxuriously smooth texture and this chocolate left me feeling very overwhelmed

I must admit that when I saw lime was in conjunction with sea salt I thought it was going to undermine the effect salt has with chocolate, but how wrong could I have been. This chocolate was sublime

Raspberry & Vanilla Creamy White
30% cocoa solids
This one had the potential to be very sickly. The darker colouring of the chocolate surprised me, and so did the aroma as it wasn't as sweet as expected. It actually almost hinted a dark chocolate aroma with its slight earthiness. The raspberry tasted cool and although it wasn't immensely tarty I still appreciated this being raspberry opposed to the more mellow and sweeter strawberry. Its grainy texture was no surprise as the ingredients stated 'raspberry powder', but I think freeze dried raspberries would have worked better

There's no doubting that this was a very creamy tasting white chocolate and the raspberry and vanilla pairing was well balanced; tasting very much like a summer dessert. Unlike most white chocolate, the word that comes to mind when tasting this chocolate is creamy, not sugary

Lemon & Poppy Seeds Creamy White
30% cocoa solids 
This chocolate looked and sounded great, and winning a Great Taste Award; I was fairly excited. The warm, creamy, lemon aroma was as expected. It wasn't zesty but very creamy. The white chocolate alone was smoother than the previous but the poppy seeds gave it a quirkier texture. The seeds didn't add to the flavour but their texture allowed for a distraction away from naturally clingy white chocolate, however this chocolate didn't feel particularly clingy. The creaminess really did remind me of lemon meringue, but I can't help but wonder what a more zesty lemon would have been like

Seed and Bean's great flavours, textures and overall high quality chocolate really make £2.49 for 85g seem like nothing. I was impressed with each of these chocolates and look forward to trying more from their range