Noirissime

This piece is not for those who think munching mindlessly on a sweet Hershey’s bar is eating Chocolate. Or for those who consider white to be a variety of chocolate.

This piece is for those who consider chocolate to be the greatest edible substance known to man, for those who consider that God gave human beings the sense of taste so that he could appreciate chocolate.

I recently came across Lindt Excellence Noirissime. The GRAND EMPORER of chocolates! 99% Cocoa! Yes, 99%. Pure Bliss. For those regions of the world where this particular brand is not available, I can only offer my empathy, for I was myself one of the deprived ones till a couple of months ago. No more!

The primary ingredients of most of the chocolates in the world are – cocoa, milk and sugar. A reduction in the amount of sugar makes a chocolate bitter; a reduction in the amount of milk makes it dark. Pure chocolate lovers like their chocolates as dark and as bitter as possible. Dark/ Bitter Chocolate is an acquired taste. Adding milk and sugar makes the taste more acceptable to the hoi-polloi. It’s like adding tomato-ketchup to a well-done sheek-kebab. There is nothing more reprehensible that the sight of a well-done sheek-kebab being drowned in mindless ketchup, where does the original taste remain? Correction, one thing more reprehensible is putting so much milk in a chocolate that it becomes white and still calling it a chocolate.

Back to my favourite chocolatiers! Lindt produces the best chocolates in the world, no doubt about that. OK, one of the best! Here’s quoting them directly from the back of the chocolate pack that I am currently consuming; and I absolutely endorse this statement. “The Master Chocolatiers from Lindt express all their passion for chocolate in the Excellence range. EXCELLENCE NOIRISSIME is a revolutionary innovation in chocolate which reveals the true taste and strength of exceptional cocoa beans.”

For years that I have spent in India and Australia, I have always found myself drawn to dark and bitter chocolates. Cadbury’s Dark is good, but too sweet. Nestle’s bitter is also decent enough, a bit less milk would have been better. Lindt’s own Excellence range with 70% and 85% cocoa is great. The best dark/ bitter chocolates I have tasted (I should say had tasted because now I am sold on Noirissime) were the Brazilian 80% cocoa chocolate that a friend got for me, I don’t recall the brand as I could not get them again.

So imagine my delight when I saw Lindt 99% displayed in a shop window. Went inside, bought it and, like an idiot, bit into the bar. Noirissime is, I repeat, not to be chomped on while on the run. Its heavenly taste is to be enjoyed at leisure. Sit back on your favourite couch, take a small piece of the chocolate, put it in your mouth (don’t bite or your whole mouth will turn bitter) and let the chocolate melt in your mouth and take control of your senses. Let me again rely on Lindt’s copy-writers to give you the appropriate tasting advise.

“EXCELLENCE NOIRISSIME 99% is a unique chocolate that reveals all the strength and richness of cocoa beans. To fully appreciate all its flavour, we recommend that you progressively develop your palate through our range of high cocoa content chocolate bars, starting with Excellence 70% cocoa, then 85% and finally 99% cocoa. To best experience Excellence 99% cocoa, taste a small piece and let it melt in your mouth. You can accompany your tasting with a coffee to help bring out the bouquet of cocoa aromas.”

So guys and gals, go ahead, search it out and enjoy!