Showcasing Hogarth Chocolate Makers

Hogarth Chocolate Makers are located in Nelson, New Zealand.  They are bean to bar, small batch chocolate makers that use organic and fairtrade cacao beans.
An info sheet came with their chocolate describing how they make their chocolate.  They hand sort their beans, roast, winnow, grind and after grinding and conching, they pour their chocolate into blocks, wrapped and store it for at least a month before tempering and molding.  All their chocolate is hand wrapped and the artwork on the packaging is a depiction of Karl’s journey  from sailor to chocolate maker, and the voyage the cacao takes to reach New Zealand.

We wanted to try Hogarth's Chocolate because of their original flavours and because we had been hearing good things about their chocolate.  We wanted to try it all!

Hogarth Chocolate Awards

​As well as the bars, we bought their Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Log.

100g
Ingredients: Ingredients: Cacao, roasted Nelson hazelnuts, organic sugar, milk powder, organic cocoa butter, non-GMO sunflower lecithin & organic vanilla bean paste.

This is so smooth and melt in the mouth. It is quite a soft texture.  It is very sweet and the flavors of hazelnut and chocolate are definitely there.  If you like Nutella you would LOVE this spread on your toast!  We sliced it up to try and eat it bit by bit.... but it was gone within the day.

Hogarth Chocolate Bars

BUTTERED TOAST AND SEA SALT

Gold Winner of the NZ Chocolate Awards and the Supreme winner in 2018.
Ingredients: Cocoa solids 48%, organic sugar, Vogels bread 12% (water, wheat flour, mixed grains 24%, milk solids 13%, pink Himalayan salt, non gmo sunflower lecithin. 
70g bar
28.8g sugar per 100g

There is a soft snap.  The aroma really is of chocolate, bread and butter.
The first taste is rye, and it is toasted!  That is very clever.  
The texture is smooth and there is a slight glugginess, from the bread we are guessing.
It is sweet and slightly salty, slightly buttery in taste.  It is a bit like eating  a chocolate Weetbix in flavour.  A prominent rye flavour on a chocolate foundation.
This is a very nice bar.

ESPRESSO
Italian Roast
Smooth dark Chocolate with real coffee

Silver Winner in the NZ Chocolate Awards 2020
Ingredients: 68% Organic Trinitario Cocoa Beans from Oko Caribe, Dominican Republic, Organic Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Pomeroy's Italian Styled Blend Coffee Beans.
70g

This has a good snap and a fruity dark aroma with faint coffee.
This tastes prominently of a fruity and earthy dark chocolate.  A slight coffee  flavor comes early and then blends into the chocolate.  We think the earthiness in the chocolate might come from the coffee beans.

GIANDUIA
Dark Hazelnut

Ingredients: 45% Cacao, New Zealand Hazelnuts (30%), Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter.
70g
Sugar 26.4g per 100g
The aroma is sweet and fruity with faint hazelnut.
There is a soft snap and in the mouth it is smooth and creamy.
There is a fruity dark chocolate taste with a hazelnut flavour that is fresh and nice.  There is also some honey notes to the chocolate.
This bar is beautiful.  It received a Chocolate Gazette Rosette from us.

SARSAPARILLA & ORANGE
Sarsaparilla flavoured chocolate with candied orange pieces

Ingredients: Cocoa solids 68%, organic sugar, sarsaparilla root, liquorice root, ginger root, orange oil, candied orange.
70g

The aroma of this is slightly citrusy and a fruity dark chocolate.
There is a good snap.  The taste is slightly aniseed or licorice, with a solid citrus and a hint of ginger.  The fruity dark chocolate is also spicy almost peppery.  The sarsapirilla flavours go really well with this chocolate.  We appreciate citrus peel over orange oils or essences.
This bar is so flavorsome yet all the flavours are really well balanced.   Johanan isn't that keen on citrus and chocolate, but Joni loved it.  We shared this with Big Bruce, and he loved it as well.

MANUKA HONEY & CACAO NIBS
​Dark Chocolate with Manuka Honey and crunchy nibs

Ingredients: Cocoa solids 66%, organic sugar, manuka honey 5%.
Sugars: 34.g per 100g
 70g

Awards:
Gold NZ Chocolate Awards 2018
Gold International Chocolate Awards (Asia-Pacific) 2018
Silver International Chocolate Awards (World Final) 2018

There is an aroma of honey and a slight dark chocolate fragrance.  There is a good snap.
The taste is fruity chocolate with honey.  The honey is lovely, sweet, and blends well with the fruity chocolate.  The nibs add a nice crunch, but they are not too hard.  The nibs also add a slight earthiness to the taste.

This is a really nice bar.

KUMARA
Smooth Milk Chocolate With Sweet Potato Flavour

Ingredients: Cacao 46%, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Milk Solids, Kumara Crisps from Proper Crisps
Sugars 38.5g per 100g
 70g

There is a good snap, even for a milk chocolate, and you can smell the kumara crisps.
You can taste the Kumara crisp foremost and the kumara adds a grassy, hay note to the chocolate.  There is sweetness, and only slight chocolate flavour.  

This is different.  Not sure we'd try it again, but glad we got to try it once.

MAPLE AND WALNUT
Maple white chocolate with walnut pieces

Awards:
Gold NZ Chocolate Awards 2020
Category Winner NZ Chocolate Awards 2020

Ingredients: Organic & Fairtrade Sugar, Organic & Fairtrade Cocoa Butter, Milk Solids, Walnut Pieces, Maple Oil, Organic Vanilla Bean Paste.
Cacao 34%
Sugars 46.1g per 100g
70g

This smells amazing.  Fragrance of walnut and slight maple and white chocolate.  Texture is smooth and creamy with a melting white chocolate and a soft crunch from the walnut bits.  The taste is a mixture of walnut and white chocolate that has an undertone of maple.  This takes Joni straight back to her Nanas, her cookie tins full of home baked slices and biscuits.  It reminds us of eating a pecan pie.

This is a delightful bar.

PERU
Single Origin 66%
​

Awards:
Silver Academy of Chocolate 2017
Gold International Chocolate Awards 2017
Gold NZ Chocolate Awards 2017

Ingredients: 
66% Criollo cacao from the Norandino Cooperative of Piura, Peru, Organic Sugar, Organic Cacao Butter.
Sugars34g per 100g
70g

The aroma is slightly floral chocolate
The first notes you get from tasting the chocolate is raisin and then honey.  The honey notes are so prominent, it had us checking the ingredients again to see if there was honey in there.  This bar is amazing for its flavor.  This is Joni's favourite single origin so far.

FINAL THOUGHTS
We enjoyed this exploration into Hogarth chocolate very much.  We enjoyed the original flavours, and we definitely got some memorable chocolate that has become new favourites.

Here is our individual rankings:
​Joni's Choice from left to right, top to bottom

Johanans rankings left to right, top to bottom