Whittakers have brought out a limited edition for the holiday season.  The Gingerbread Block has spiced gingerbread pieces in their 33% creamy milk chocolate.

The packaging is a cute arts and crafts style.  There is also a "to and from" label printed on the packaging, so it can be gifted.

The chocolate block has nice chunks of gingerbread that give a good hit of ginger and spices.  The gingerbread flavour is the most prominent.  The creamy milk chocolate adds the sweetness and mild chocolate flavours.  It reminded us of a ginger cookie dunked in a glass of milk.  We liked it.

Arriba Nacional Cacao beans from Hacienda Victoria, an estate in Ecuador.
An 85% bar with only 15% sugar.

We were surprised we had not yet tasted this bar.  I think we may have previously been put off by the high percentage.  We made a mistake!  This was such an interesting tasting experience.  We are calling it the Contradictory Bar.  Why?
It has a strong chocolate flavour, but it's surprisingly sweet.  Definitely not bitter.
It starts with mild earthy flavours with a bit of custard mixed in, then suddenly it turns into a tangy fruit chocolate.  As you are starting to process the change, it goes mellow again into something mildly nutty in flavour and like a smooth peanut butter texture.

The packaging artwork perfectly depicts the flavour ride you go on with this bar.  Waves of different flavours coming and going.  We are very glad we tried it.

Trice Chocolate is based in Wellington, and they make ethically sourced, vegan craft chocolate.  We saw them at the Chocolate and Coffee festival and bought 4 of their bars.

PECAN CARAMEL BRITTLE
Ingredients include, 69% chocolate made from beans sourced from Reserva Zorzal, Dominican Republic, pecans, rosemary, salt and vegan butter.
Nice and thick chocolate and big bits of brittle.  The brittle has a nice salty sweet flavour and you can taste the nuts too.  We tasted the rosemary flavour before realising it was part of the ingredients.   The rosemary is not strong and it is a nice compliment to the other flavours.  The chocolate itself is fruity like raisins and there is also a floral note to it.  The different flavours come and go in this bar and we really enjoyed it.

COCONUT OAT WHITE
Ingredients include, 38% Cocoa made from cacao butter sourced from Peru, coconut, oat milk powder.
Silky sweet.  You can taste the coconut, it is the foremost flavour.  You can also taste the oat milk powder next, followed by a mild white chocolate taste.  This has a nice texture.
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COCONUT OAT MILK CHOCOLATE
Ingredients include 47% cocoa made from cacao beans from Reserva Zorzal, Dominican Republic, coconut milk powder.
The fruity chocolate goes really well with the coconut milk flavours.  We really enjoyed this.

OAT MILK BLUEBERRY
Ingredients include 42% cocoa made from cacao beans sourced from Reserva Zorzal, Dominican Republic, oat milk powder and dried blueberries.
Nice firm texture that turns creamy with oat and chocolate flavours.  When you eat the blueberries, the combined taste is like eating a museli bar.

FINAL THOUGHTS
We really enjoyed these bars from Trice Chocolates.  If you want good vegan chocolate, we would definitely recommend Trice Chocolates.

Makana Confections are hand made.  They have two factories, one is the Bay of Islands, the other in Marlborough.  We meet them at the Chocolate and Coffee festival and bought their Truffle Medley box.

The truffles are quite small.  There are 4 different flavours.

CHERRY ARMAGNAC TRUFFLE
Dark chocolate, cherry flavour and Armagnac Brandy.
This was nice and fruity with natural flavours.  

LEMON TRUFFLE
A nip of lemon in white chocolate.
This was Joni's favourite.  Nice citrus peel lemon flavour that went well with the sweetness of the white chocolate.

CLASSIC VANILLA TRUFFLE
Milk chocolate, vanilla and pure New Zealand Cream.
This was Johanan's favourite.  You can taste the chocolate, it has a nice vanilla flavour and it is sweet.

ORANGE CREAM TRUFFLE
Milk Chocolate, fresh cream, Grand Marnier truffle centre, chocolate hail sprinkles.
Not too strong and orange peel taste.  Pleasant.

FINAL THOUGHTS
These are nice little bites.  We like our choccies a bit bigger.  They are quite sweet, but the flavours are nice.
We actually really enjoyed a sample we had from their booth at the Chocolate and Coffee festival.  It was the Pinot Noir.  That was really nice.

This was on our list as a booth to visit at the Chocolate and Coffee festival.  We were curious about Be Happy chocolate as they make chocolate using raw cacao beans.  Our only other try of raw chocolate was from Australia in mid summer and we don't think it travelled well as all the chocolate had a slight rancid taste that we didn't like.

Be Happy are based in Martinborough and as well as using ethically sourced, raw cacao beans, their ingredients are vegan, organic,  dairy free and refined sugar free.  We bought 3 of their bars to try.

DARK CHOCOLATE WITH BRAZIL NUT AND CACAO NIBS 65.5% 
Ingredients: raw Peruvian cacao, Sri Lankan coconut blossom nectar, New Zealand meadow honey, Brazil nuts, iodised salt

You can taste the different flavours of raw nuts, honey and some wood flavor notes.  The chocolate leaves a buttery slightly fatty feel in your mouth.  It is a pleasant bar and a lot better than our previous experience of raw chocolate.

M*LK CHOCOLATE 52%
Ingredients: raw Peruvian cacao, cashew nuts, Sri Lankan coconut blossom nectar, New Zealand meadow honey, coconut milk, pink Himalayan mineral salt.

This is coconutty and tangy.  It tastes healthy.  It has the same fatty feel in your mouth. 

VEGAN M*LK WITH GOOEY CARAMEL 40%
Ingredients: raw Peruvian cacao, coconut milk, coconut sugar, cashew nuts, coconut nectar, pure maple syrup, pink Himalayan mineral salt.

Tastes of coconut and tangy chocolate.  There is sweetness from the caramel, but it is not overly sweet.  This does have a dark chocolate taste which combined with the caramel is very nice.  We really enjoyed this one and is our favourite raw chocolate to date.

FINAL THOUGHTS
We think raw and roasted cacao have taste and mouth feel differences, as with any food.  We think we do get more flavour notes and layers to roasted cacao, but the raw cacao was nice.  Be Happy was much nicer than the previous raw chocolate we had tried, and we really liked the Gooey Caramel bar.

Chocolate Brown is a Chocolaterie in Warkworth and Paraparaumu.  They specalise in chocolate pralines, truffles and novelties, all handmade using Barry Callebaut couverture with New Zealand butter and cream.
We did our Wellington chocolate tour just before the opened up in Paraparaumu so we were pleased to see them at the Chocolate and Coffee festival.  We bought their Chocolatiers Favourites 8 box.

CAPPUCCINO
White chocolate and espresso in white chocolate.  This was nice with a real cappuccino coffee flavour.

MACADAMIA GINGER
​Macadamia and gingerbread spiced praline in 72% dark chocolate, topped with sugared ginger.
Not overly strong in ginger.  This was a pleasant choccie.

STRAWBERRY DAIQUIRI
Strawberry and vodka infused with white chocolate ganache.
This tasted a bit like a strawberry lollipop.  It was nice.

PLUM
Dark Chocolate with Doris Plum fruit and gin infusion.
Joni's favourite.  Very nice plum flavour, really yummy.

WHISKEY WALNUT CARAMEL
Firm caramel with whiskey and toasted walnuts in 72% dark chocolate.
Little bit of a whiskey bite, with nice flavours with the walnut.  Very nice.

ESPRESSO
Dark 53% chocolate ganache with hot pressed espresso, in milk chocolate, finished with a coffee bean.
This was Johanan's favourite.  Chocolate flavours as well as real coffee, really nice.

LEMON CELLO
White ganache with limoncello liqueur in white chocolate with yellow sugar crystals.
There is not an overly strong lemon flavour with a slight alcoholic bite.  The was a nice surprise.
We ate it before we realised we didn't get a photo of it.

GINGERBREAD
A hint of European gingerbread, wrapped in white chocolate with red sparkle deco.
This did taste like a creamy gingerbread.  Very nice.

FINAL THOUGHTS
These were really yummy.  We think this is the yummiest choccie selection box we have tried to date.   Other flavours we would like to try from Chocolate Brown: Whiskey fig, Margarita, Salted Caramel, Port Prune, Red velvet rose.

Valura Chocolate is a family run business which make small batches of ethically sourced, bean to bar, craft chocolate.  They were another booth we visited at the Chocolate and Coffee festival.  They sold on the day little sample bars of each big bar they make, so we bought one of each.

SEMULIKI FOREST UGANDA 70%
There was a nice dark chocolate richness to this.  We found the flavour notes a bit hard to describe.  Slightly woody, a bit of a marmite tang.  It was nice though.
Chocolate Maker notes are: Earthy, nutty with hints of fig and red bean paste.

HAITI 70%
This was a sweeter bar with slight banana and orangey notes.  It ended with a bit of honey flavour.  We really liked this one!
Chocolate Maker notes: Fruitiness, Caramel, Vanilla, Blueberry

PANAMA 70% 
This was a slow burn, but then came in flavour notes of apple, jasmine and slight honey notes.  This was our favourite of them all!
Chocolate Maker notes: Earthy, coffee

The rest of the chocolate used Dominican Republic cacao beans with flavoured inclusions.

LYCHEE
We could taste the lychee and slight caramel notes.  It was almost like a bit like a lollipop, boiled sweet flavour note with a bit of musk at the end.  This was nice.

PLUM
Nice plum.  This had the same caramel notes that come in strong and dark with some honey notes at the end.

RASPBERRY
Strong hit of raspberry first off.  Nice combo with this chocolate, brought out the fruity notes of the chocolate.

PEPPERMINT
Flavoured with peppermint oil.  Not our favourite flavour anyways, but we are not sure this suited the Dominican Republic chocolate fruitiness.

FINAL THOUGHTS
We really like Valura Chocolate.  We are going to buy the bigger bars of Haiti and Panama.  They are definitely in the running to be our favourite single origin bars from those regions.

Mestiza Chocolate is the bonbon creation company of chocolatier Maria Rogers.  Based in Auckland, we visited their booth at the Chocolate and Coffee festival and bought a 3 bonbon box to try.

Mestiza chocolate uses natural flavours in their fillings, and use sustainable chocolate from Belgium and France including single origin cacao from Cuba, Mexico, Ghana and Madagascar.

STRAWBERRY GANACHE
Ghanian Milk Chocolate 40%, filled with Strawberry Ganache
​This had nice chocolate and a nice sweet and tangy strawberry filling.

​SALTED ENROBED CARAMEL
Buttery Soft Caramel enrobed in Dark Chocolate 54.5%  sprinkled with Sea Salt Coarse.
Nice toffee flavoured caramel that is slightly chewy.  The salt is also a nice addition.

WHITE CAPPUCCINO GANACHE
White Chocolate filled with Milk Chocolate Gananche infused with Roasted Coffee.
This was Johanan's favourite.  The coffee has an instant coffee flavour.  It is a nice flavour combo with the white chocolate.

FINAL THOUGHTS
We enjoyed these.  The packaging was pretty.  The chocolate moulds were quite traditional.  We liked the chocolate used as we could taste it and it wasn't just a sweet shell to hold the fillings.  The fillings were also nice and were nice flavour combos with the chosen chocolate casings. 

Fruney was another booth we visited at the Auckland Chocolate and Coffee festival.  They are based in Hamilton and the handcrafted confectionary goodies are crafted by the Reviakin family.
We bought 3 of their chocolate bars: 

CARAMEL CHOCOLATE PECAN NECTARINE

This bar is made with Belgium couverture, topped with freeze dried nectarines and pecans.
The caramel chocolate is pleasant.  The pecans is a nice combo with the chocolate.  The nectarines add a tang rather than a nectarine flavour, though you can find the flavour if you are searching for it.
This bar was ok.

WHITE CHOCOLATE COOKIES CREAM

Made with Belgium white chocolate that is 28% cocoa.  It tastes a bit like Whittakers white chocolate.  You can taste the cookies too.  A bit sweet for Joni, but it was Johanans favourite of  the 3.

WHITE CHOCOLATE MATCHA PLUM

Made with Belgium white chocolate, Japanese Matcha, freeze dried plum and some dark chocolate.
It is really nice to be able to taste the matcha even though it is only 3%.  The freeze dried plums are nice and it is all a nice combo.  It is sweet but the plum and matcha tone that down a bit.  This was Joni's favourite.

These were very pretty bars that do make your mouth water when you see the yummies on top.  We found we liked the bars with the ingredients mixed into the chocolate more than just floating on top.  Final thoughts was they were pleasant tasting bars that would be nice gifts.  We also liked the windows in the packaging.

She Universe was a booth we visited at the Chocolate and Coffee festival in Auckland.  We tried various samples and bought a Hazelnut Heaven chocolate bar.

She Universe is based in Christchurch and make their own chocolate and also use the chocolate made by their local Trade Aid shop.

The samples we tried at the booth were a really nice hot chocolate from their hot chocolate mix range.  Also various chocolate snaps which are bit like chocolate bark with various yummies in them.  Also some chocolate rolled cacao beans which were really nice!  We hadn't tried straight cacao beans before.

Here is the Hazelnut Heaven bar we bought.

This bar was really yummy.  Strong hazelnut flavoured ganache type filling with some yummy crispy bits.  We enjoyed our introduction to She Universe and liked all of their offerings.