The Anzac biscuit is generally made from rolled oats, flour, sugar, butter, golden syrup, baking soda, boiling water and sometimes coconut.  They can also be called soldiers biscuits as it is claimed soldiers were sent these in World War 1, because they lasted a long time.
Anzac stands for Australian and New Zealand  Army Corps.

We have eaten plenty of Anzac bikkies.  They are  especially good for dunking in hot drinks.  We were curious to try the Hogarth Anzac Biscuit Chocolate Bar.  Would it live up to our yummy bikkie expectations?

Hogarth Anzac Biscuit is a chocolate bar with Oat and Coconut in a dark milk chocolate, 53%.

The aroma is coconut and chocolate.
The taste is golden syrup, brown sugar, coconut, chocolate with hints of raisin. The chocolate part melts in the mouth.  It went very fast.  Very easy to eat, very yummy.  

Would we choose this over a real Anzac Biscuit that was homemade and still warm from the oven?  Yes.
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Cadbury released a new limited edition this week.  A Boysenberry ripple inspired by the TipTop ice cream.  
It is a marbled dairy milk and white chocolate with a vanilla creme and boysenberry jelly filling.

This does have the flavour of boysenberry ripple vanilla ice cream.  It is sweeter than the ice cream version and you would have to really search for any chocolate flavour, but it does taste quite yummy.

We always look forward to trying some bars from Ocho.  Ocho is a Dunedin based chocolate making company, that use good quality beans and  have some interesting flavours.  This time we stuck to some more traditional flavours:
70% Cacao Solomons
Short Black
Salted Caramel

OCHO 70% CACAO SOLOMONS
Single Origin, Solomon Islands Cacao beans, dark chocolate.

The fragrance is slightly raisin and dark chocolate.
The taste is strong and tastes just like it smells.  It is fruity and tastes like a chocolate covered raisins with nice full flavours and a hint of berry.

OCHO SHORT BLACK 
Coffee, cacao nib, vanilla and 70% Papua New Guinea Cacao beans.

It has a strong aroma of dark chocolate.
The first tasting notes are plum, dark fruity chocolate with coffee.  There is a nice crunch with the cacao nibs and the later flavour notes that come through are woody and slightly floral.  This bar is nice with good strong flavours.

OCHO SALTED CARAMEL
49% Papua New Guinea cacao beans, vanilla, chunks of salted caramel.

The fragrance is chocolatey and slightly coconut.
It has a nice crunch with the caramel brittle.  There is also a nice sweetness from the brittle.  The flavours are a nice blend of mild salty, fruity and wood.  It makes a tasteful combo.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Another enjoyable bite into Ocho chocolate.

Continuing on our theme of Hot Chocolatey Drinks, we bought a packet of Drinking Chocolate from the Wellington Chocolate Factory to try.

62% Cocoa. 
Ingredients: 
Paraguay, Manduvira Cooperative, Organic & Fairtrade Certified Turbinado cane sugar.
Peru, Organic & Fairtrade Certified premium cocoa powder.
250g pouch at $12.50

The colour of this chocolate drink mix is the best we have seen so far.  A rich red brown colour and the opened packet, sends  you wafts of dark chocolatey, plummy aromas.  
The taste is full cocoa and dark chocolate  undercurrents.  We needed a teaspoon of sugar for our tastes.  We tried it with water and milk and then milk only.  They were both nice and there was no preference over either.

This is a nice drinking chocolate.

Kako Chocolate are based in Paraparaumu.  They make a selection of very beautiful looking individual chocolates  in boxes and bags.   You can buy from their store, online, and they also have a subscription chocolate box service.   At the time of this tasting, you could subscribe to their email and if you spend over $40 you received some free goodies.

We bought their Kako Chocolate Artisan 12, and a pouch of Kako salted caramel cups in dark chocolate.  As our free goodies we also received some gingerbread fudge, Irish Coffee, and some Spiced Plum choccies.

KAKO CHOCOLATE ARTISAN 12
A box of 12 handcrafted, different flavoured, bon bon styled choccies.  
The box costs $30 so divided up equals $2.50 per choccie.
It is packaged with a cardboard sleeve with New Zealand scenery, and inside is tissue in a white cardboard box.

They look really pretty.

PASSIONFRUIT

Such a pretty chocolate.  White chocolate  shell, with  passionfruit curd type filling.  The filling is tangy and buttery.  We didn't pick up any white chocolate flavours, but the filling is really nice.

​PEANUT BUTTER

A milk chocolate shell with a smooth peanut butter filling.  Didn't pick up on the chocolate flavours, but the filling is a mild salty and sweet peanut.  Pleasant.

COOL MINT CREAM

Dark chocolate shell with mint creme filling.  This was a little bit toothpasty.  It was our least liked.  Joni thought it was ok, Johanan didn't like it.

​DARK RASPBERRY

Dark chocolate raspberry.  There is a good raspberry hit and you also get the dark chocolate flavour.  This is a nice choccie.

GOLDEN ORANGE

A dark chocolate shell with a dark ganache filling with a medium strength orange hit.  It really melts in the mouth.  The orange flavour is a bit like an orange hard sweet.

VANILLA BEAN

A white chocolate shell with a vanilla creme filling.  This tastes like vanilla custard.  It is really yummy.

SALTED CARAMEL

Dark chocolate shell with caramel filling with a hint of Marlborough salt.  It tastes like vanilla icecream and is a little bit buttery too.  The dark chocolate flavour also comes through.

GOOEY CARAMEL

A dark chocolate shell with caramel filling.  This tastes butterscotchy and you can taste the chocolate.  The caramel is nice and buttery.  This is yummy.

​GINGERBREAD CREAM

A dark chocolate shell with a gingery filling.   This tastes like a gingerbread cookie with a nice medium strength ginger spice.

​ROSE CARAMEL

A dark chocolate shell with rose caramel.  The rose flavour is nice, not too strong, and the caramel is quite buttery.  There is also a good chocolate taste.

VANILLA CARAMEL

Milk chocolate shell and flavoured with our favourite vanilla, Heilala.   Smooth and melty.  Nice vanilla flavour.  It tastes a bit like vanilla icecream.

​LEMON CURD

A white chocolate shell with lemon curd filling.  Nice lemon zest and buttery curd flavour and you can taste the white chocolate too.  Very nice.

Artisan 12 final thoughts:
Johanan liked the vanillas and caramels.  Joni liked the curds and vanillas.  This is a pretty box of choccies and they look gorgeous.  We also really liked the flavours.  Really nice.

KAKO CHOCOLATE SALTED CARAMEL CUPS IN RICH DARK CHOCOLATE

A pouch of 90g or 8 choccies for $12
Dark chocolate cups with caramel infused with vanilla and salted with Marlborough sea salt.
The flavours are butter, vanilla and slight salt and chocolate.  These are yum.

THE FREE GIFTS
IRISH COFFEE

Yum, melty filling that tastes like coffee and chocolate.  These are nice.

​SPICED PLUM

The dark chocolate was a little waxy, but you can taste it.  The filling tastes a bit like xmas tarts.  There is a spice in there we can't pinpoint.... maybe cardamon?  It is almost a savoury spice.  

GINGERBREAD FUDGE - not a chocolate, but they were included with our free gifts.

A good ginger hit.  Definitely more a gingerbread taste rather than a ginger crunch flavour.

We really enjoyed our dive into Kako Chocolate.  There seems a lot of care put into producing their goodies.  We enjoyed the look and the taste.

T2 is a Melbourne, Australia Tea company that also does online sales in New Zealand and also is stocked in various stores and cafes across New Zealand.   Their brews consist of good quality tea and are very flavoursome.  I am the only Chocolate Gazetter to drink tea, so I am tasting and writing about T2's chocolate teas all by myself.  
Chocolate Gazetter Reporter: Joni

I bought the T2 Poppin Praline and the gorgeously packaged T2 La Chocolaterie 4 pack.

La Chocolaterie 4 pack packaging looks like a Chocolaterie Tea Shop.  It opens out and contains some beautifully packaged different chocolate teas.
​

Each little box contains 35g of tea.
The flavours are:
Choc Pear Pudding
Crazy Good Cocoa
Hot Jam Brownie
Terrific Toffee

T2 Choc Pear Pudding

Ingredients include:
Black tea, 9.5% cocoa nibs, apple, brittle pieces, hazelnuts, flavourings, and chocolate drops

It has a fragrance of chocolate and fruit and when it brews you can smell the pudding.  It tastes a bit like a trifle, a bit berryish and has slightly alcoholic vibes.  It is a nice tea to have in the afternoon.

Crazy Good Cocoa

Ingredients include:
Sustainably sourced Solomon Islands 100% cocoa husks 

The fragrance is cocoa.  When it is brewed it smells like a hot chocolate.  The taste is like a watery cocoa, but there is definitely flavour there as well.  I liked this one alot.

​Hot Jam Brownie

Ingredients include: Black tea, cocoa husks, carob fruit pieces, flavourings, sweet blackberry leaves, chocolate drops, and raspberry.

The fragrance is berry and chocolate and when brewed it smells like a milky hot chocolate.  The taste is berry and tea with an underlying chocolate flavour that gets stronger as you sip.  This is very flavoursome and like an after dinner dessert tea.

Terrific Toffee

Ingredients include: black tea, nougat bits, almonds, honey, cocoa butter and flavourings.

The fragrance is butterscotch and when brewed it smells like vanilla custard.  The taste is vanilla and caramel as well as the tea.  This is a tea I'd like in a morning tea break.

I really enjoyed this collection.  It felt quite decadent and luxurious.  I adore the packaging.

The other chocolate tea was a 120g box of Poppin' Praline.

Ingredients include: Black tea, cocoa beans, cocoa husks, almonds, brittle pieces, and flavourings.

The fragrance is toffee and hazelnut.  When brewed it smells a bit like a xmas tart.  It tastes of almond and is slightly fruity and sweet.  I enjoyed this one too.

I really like these chocolate teas.  As I am the only one drinking them, they are lasting a while.  I feel like drinking different flavours at different times and they really are full on flavour.  I would happily buy these again.

We bought another round of Ocho chocolate.  This month we wanted to focus more on hot drinks as the weather cools down, so we dug into the Ocho Drinking chocolate.  
​

Crafted in Dunedin, Ocho's drinking chocolate is made from their Papua New Guinea sourced beans.  It is 50% single origin cocoa.
This is exactly what it tastes like.  The fragrance hits you first, of a full fruity chocolate, just like you would get from a chocolate bar.  The flavour is also fruity chocolate, with raisin with a slight spice and honey note.   We can taste why this was a bronze award winner.  Very nice.

On a side note, we also appreciated the bendy top for the inner packaging, that allows you to roll down the bag and seal it off.  It was a nice practical touch.

We really want to try the Papua New Guinea Bar now.  The hot chocolate drink did not disappoint. 

The Wellington Chocolate Factory bought out 2 new flavours, so it was a great opportunity to try them and a couple of other bars we haven't tried yet.

We bought:  Wellington Chocolate Factory
Vanuatu 70% Dark Chocolate
Peru  70% Dark Chocolate
​The 120 Years Wellington Cable Car Limited Edition Salted Caramel bar
The Duck Island Collaboration Ambrosia Milk Chocolate

WELLINGTON CHOCOLATE FACTORY VANUATU DARK CHOCOLATE

70% 
Origins: Vanuatu, Larevat farm, Amelinado cacao beans.

Fragrance is like dark chocolate covered raisins.
The taste does have notes of raisin but also an earthiness.  There is almost a marmite tang flavour note, that along with the dried fruity, earthiness is quite yummy.
We liked it.  Big Bruce said it was too strong for him.

WELLINGTON CHOCOLATE FACTORY PERU DARK CHOCOLATE

 Very Cute Artwork by Simon Morse
70%
Origins: Peru, Norandino Cooperative, organic Piura Bianco Criollo Cocoa beans.

The fragrance is dark and plummy. 
There is a strong dark chocolate flavour, rich in fruitiness and plum notes.  Joni's favourite single origin comes from Peru, and this bar doesn't disappoint.  We thought this bar would be gorgeous as a chocolate mousse.  We will make it some time and share the results.

WELLILNGTON CHOCOLATE FACTORY 120 YEARS WELLINGTON CABLE CAR SPECIAL EDITION 
Salted Caramel 70%
​

Artwork by Shane Wilson
House blended chocolate topped with salted, brittle caramel
70%
The fragrance is dried fruits and dark chocolate.
There is a lovely saltiness from the brittle.  There are notes of honey and raisin and blended with the brittle it makes a very yummy mouthful.

WELLINGTON CHOCOLATE FACTORY DUCK ISLAND ICECREAM COLLABORATION
Ambrosia Milk Chocolate 50% Cacao

Artwork by Lara Brock
Yoghurt and Cherry Milk chocolate, made with Vanuatu cocoa, topped with Great Day Mallow vanilla and raspberry marshmallows.

We really enjoyed our Duck Island chocolate icecream, ( it was a knock out round winner), so we were excited for this one.

The fragrance is marshmallowy, chocolatey, and salty.
The taste is sweet notes of berry and honey, and it has yoghurt tang flavours.  It really is like eating a chocolate and berry yoghurt icecream in a chocolate bar form.  Wellington chocolate factory are so clever in doing this in their bars.  We remembered their Scapegrace bar and how it was really like eating a chocolate gin and tonic.  They have done the same with the captured yoghurt icecream experience.

We loved this one.  The whole family did, and it was gone so quickly.  It was a Chocolate Gazette Rosette Winner for us!