Chocolate Snob

Visited the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-Op this evening to purchase my favorite tea, Honest Tea First Nation Peppermint. I decided to buy a bar of chocolate (you never know, the world could end tomorrow), and I remembered reading the above comic, with Cecilia sharing her favorite chocolate: "high-end single-origin 70% dark cacao."

If you've been to the Sac Co-Op, you know that they have approximately 50 combinations of brands/flavors of chocolate bars to choose from. The display takes up about 1/6 of the aisle. Some labels displayed the amount of cacao, some didn't. The displayed amounts ranged from 50%-88%. I noticed that the higher the amount of cacao, the darker the chocolate.

Suddenly I realized I was becoming a chocolate snob, and I smiled an uncontrollable embarrassed smile.

I purchased two of the bars with the highest cacao content: Endangered Species Chocolate's Extreme Dark Chocolate bar (88%) and Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker's Extra Dark Chocolate bar (82%). I got in my car and started eating the Endangered Species bar, and loved it. Finished it off when I got home, then tried the Scharffen Berger bar, which seems a bit a lot more acidic.

I can understand why chocolate becomes an obsession for people. And I don't have a problem. I can quit anytime.

UPDATE: The Schaffen Berger Chocalate Maker company is from Berkeley and they have factory tours. Sounds like a fun road trip. Edangered Species Chocolate is based out of Indianapolis, IN. Honest Tea is based out of Bethesda, MD.