Chocolate Review: Divine 70% with Raspberries

Yet another discovery made at one of my new favorite stores, Cost Plus World Market. I've been discovering brands of chocolate left and right since moving to Texas, and Divine Chocolate  is amongst those that I've never seen before. It was actually hard to decide to purchase some since the packaging is so appalling with its gaudy symbols, making me think of dollar store wrapping paper and poker cards, but we shouldn't judge a chocolate by its wrapper, should we? Eventually I convinced myself to pick up a bar of their 70% dark chocolate with raspberries.

Terrible packaging aside, the bar itself looks pretty plain, almost exactly what you would think of if asked to visualize the stereotypical symbolization of a chocolate bar. It's divided up into tiny squares marked with horizontal and vertical lines meeting at an angle, making for the blandest of aesthetics, and it lacks a good shine, but it still has a crisp snap and appreciable amount of raspberry pieces, as indicated by the rough and bumpy underside.

The aroma is potent enough with its tones of mild chocolate, raisins, and assertively fruity raspberries, but the chocolate itself is lackluster. It is very mild and simplistic in tasting only of ordinary sweetened chocolate, but the vice is somewhat made up for by the deliciously tangy raspberries that dominate the show and intensifies at the finish. Mouthfeel-wise it is somewhat lumpy, but still pleasurably thick and gooey nonetheless. After many tastings, I have come of opinion that the thickly formed chocolates tend to provide a more satisfying texture, like Green & Black's, as opposed to the thinness of confections such as Lindt's.

I came for the chocolate and received instead a dominating berry, so my overall impression is that of being neither pleased nor disappointed. The chocolate is disappointing for sure, but the fruit makes up for it in a way. I'd rate it as roughly equal to Endangered Species' 72% raspberries, though might go for ES' offering for the sake of better chocolate and brand loyalty. All in all I am too unstimulated by this to be able to give it a recommendation, so satisfy your palate elsewhere.