Lindt Excellence Caramel with a Touch of Sea Salt

This bar was bought from the French market which explains the French packaging. The dark chocolate was of 47% cocoa and within had 5% caramel and 0.3% sea salt

The aroma was rich. With crème brûlée, chocolate, vanilla, butter caramel, almond and malt coming to mind. The taste started with chocolate and slowly the caramel came through, and when crunching the caramel its flavour was lovely. I'm not keen on crunchy toffee/caramel in chocolate but it did taste good

The sea salt, how I long for, came without warning. It was a nice touch. Salt that sparks up unexpectedly and does not overpower nor result in a salty/briny taste, in any dish, is desirable. The caramel was pretty sweet, but I liked its dark taste

Lindt Excellence 90% Dark Chocolate

Lindt use a "high percentage of flavour beans" and source mainly from Ghana. This 90% cocoa chocolate is an unknown bean blend, and the ingredients is as follows: cocoa paste, cocoa butter, low fat cocoa, sugar, natural Bourbon vanilla beans

I do enjoy Lindt Excellence (also their Creation range!) but I wasn't too sure how I'd feel about this 90% bar. The added vanilla suggested that the beans weren't so flavoursome, but the 'natural Bourbon vanilla' sounded promising 

It was jet black in colour, suggesting over-roasted beans? The aroma was sweet and soft, with the vanilla and cocoa overtones. I liked it, but there were no real subtleties

The chocolate had a sharp snap. When in the mouth, the bitter cocoa was first tasted and persisted. The dusty melt was not enjoyable but the cooling feel was fairly pleasant. There was a vanilla sweetness but the blunt bitterness overpowered 

I understand that this is no fruitful cacao (flavour beans), but for a "premium" and well established brand, who do offer such great chocolate, it's disappointing that I found the taste (and texture) to be so disruptive. I would have liked more cocoa butter. It tasted of cocoa, not chocolate. Though the aroma was lovely

This 90% cocoa chocolate isn't so much "high quality" chocolate, just excellent marketing

Lindt Excellence White Touch of Vanilla

The Madagascan vanilla aroma was calm, soft and gentle yet distinct. Silently thanking Lindt for not making the vanilla too overwhelming, the "touch" was perfect. The elegant paperboard packaging of Lindt's Excellence range is something also to admire

I loved seeing that the vanilla was all natural, and the taste certainly reflected upon it. A soft, but firm bite leads you into the smooth texture, and right away an unmistakeable white chocolate flavour is initiated. The melt was quite long, allowing the vanilla to develop. Further with the taste, I did sense a 'touch' too much sugar, but I only noticed this after many pieces

You will always find Lindt chocolate on supermarket shelves. So, if you are craving white chocolate you really have no excuse not to choose this one! Lindt chocolatiers take pride in using fine 'aromatic' cocoa beans, so to choose a cheap white chocolate, filled with artificial flavourings and being immersed with too much sugar, over this sophisticated Lindt Excellence would almost seem a sin

Lindt Excellence Strawberry Intense

The strawberry aroma was intense and I'm glad that Lindt use real strawberries opposed to just flavourings. The strawberry pieces provided a fun texture with bursts of extra flavour, which overall enhanced that strawberry overtone

Although it's referred to as 'fine' white chocolate, I imagine it does taste fine but with this dominating strawberry flavour I really could not experience the white chocolate as much as I was hoping to. But then again, I guess that's why this chocolate doesn't taste too sickly; it's perfectly balanced. I think if the white chocolate had any more influence it would just be far too sweet

I enjoyed the overall texture: the smooth, creamy melt of the Lindt chocolate counterpointing the light crunches of the strawberry pieces. The aroma, to begin with, was pleasant but eventually almost became too much. And the taste? I did really enjoy it, well I had no reason not to enjoy it! Obviously couldn't have too much of it though because it was very sweet

I think that many people tend to avoid this chocolate combination because they feel that white chocolate is packed with sugars and too much vanilla with an artificial strawberry flavouring, resulting in an overly sickening sweetness. However, this particular chocolate is an exception. The white chocolate is light tasting, and the strawberry flavour is natural. I probably wouldn't buy this Strawberry Intense again, but I'd be interested to taste other of Lindt's fruity chocolate

Lindt Excellence A Touch of Sea Salt

I'm ashamed to say it, but this was my first time trying salt in chocolate

Lindt's salted dark chocolate was of 47% cocoa solids with a minuscule 0.3% fleur de sel (sea salt)

I love Lindt Excellence's cardboard sleeve packaging and the design upon it. The contrast of dark colours against the white looks sharp, elegant and impressive

This dark chocolate wasn't as intense as some of the Lindt Excellence chocolates, i.e. 70-99%. I liked the fact that it was only of 47% as it could do wonders for a sweet craving without having to revert to milk chocolate. However, butterfat being enlisted on the ingredients may make this a milk chocolate

The aroma wasn't as potent as the higher cocoa percentages of Lindt. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but I much prefer my chocolate to have an intense and intricate aroma to allow for a dynamic experience (as they say you taste predominately with your nose)

The salt crystals within accumulate and accentuate the sweetness of the chocolate allowing itself (the salt) to delicately come through, resulting in a subtle savouriness against a dominating sweetness. When taking the first bite I didn't notice the salt, but then it softly touched me quite suddenly. The feel of the crystals were what really made this chocolate live up to Lindt's prestige. The best way to experience the salt crystal texture is by allowing the chocolate to melt slightly (or completely), and feel them with your tongue and then bite

Overall, the salt flavour wasn't as clear cut and defined as I was expecting, but the chocolate resulted in a flavour that was delightfully enhanced by the sea salt which I really enjoyed. This bar was certainly made sweeter by the touches of salt. I would recommend this bar for sure! However, i'm not completely satisfied that this bar is dark chocolate, with that butterfat included... but never mind, I liked it nonetheless