Excellence 85% cacao

Excellence 85% cacao asks for patience, because this is the sort of dark chocolate that reveals itself in small squares rather than in a big sweet hit. By our assessment, its best quality is the balance between high cocoa content and still-readable chocolate flavour; it is intense, but not so extreme that the bar becomes a punishment. The downside is just as practical: 85% means a firm bite, restrained sugar, and a finish that can lean dry. In use it works best as a slow piece of chocolate beside coffee, after dinner, or whenever sweetness is not the point. It sits between everyday dark bars and the very severe ones at the top of the cocoa scale. Excellence 85% cacao is the sort of bar that makes sense once a person already likes dark chocolate.