Wellington Chocolate Factory Choccie and an online tasting

Wellington Chocolate Factory are certified organic, bean to bar makers.  They pride themselves in paying a premium price for good quality cacao beans.  They produce award winning craft chocolate.  

We bought 5 of their bars to try.  We bought them off their website. Free shipping over $25.
The first was recommended to us, when we were after a vegan milk chocolate.

WELLINGTON CHOCOLATE FACTORY COCONUT MILK CHOCOLATE

$10 for  75g bar.
50% Cocoa. 
Beans are from the Dominion Republic Conacado cooperative, Trinitario Cacao beans.
Sweetened with Indonesian organic coconut blossom sugar.
Sugars are 4.9g per 18.7g serving size.
Silver Award Winner at the New Zealand Chocolate Awards 2018.
Wrapper Artwork by Simon Morse
The chocolate mold is gorgeous.

The fragrance is coconut rough.  This really melts in the mouth and is creamy and smooth.
It has a fresh coconut flavor with a slightly bitter chocolate.  
The aftertaste is coconut and a slight bitterness.
We really liked how it is not a super sweet chocolate.  The coconut is the prominent flavor.  We shared this with our lactose intolerant friend Trey.  He is not a fan of coconut, but he still liked this bar.

WELLINGTON CHOCOLATE FACTORY HIBISCUS AND BLACKBERRY DARK CHOCOLATE
This is was a limited edition, and was made to pair with the Palliser Estate Wine, The Griffin.  You can currently buy it from the Palliser Estate Wine website for $12.50 for the 75g bar. 
We were able to join Gabe from the Wellington Chocolate factory and Ben from the Palliser Wine Estate, for an online of this chocolate.  It was really enjoyable and we hope to do more of these.

65% Cocoa solids, Beans from Vanuatu
Sugars 5.9g per 18.75g serving size
Wrapper artwork by Cassandra Winter

The fragrance is a dark fruity chocolate and it reminds you of summer fields with long grass ready to be cut for hay and there is some blackberry bushes along the number 8 wire fence.

There is a nice snap, and the taste is this good strength fruitiness.  The chocolate itself has fruity notes anyway and the actual blackberry just enhances the flavor more.  There is also a hint of cinnamon.
The aftertaste is a slight bitter dark chocolate with a fruitiness undernote and a hint of spice.

Joni really loved this one and would have given it a Chocolate Gazette Rosette, but Johanan had another favorite.....

WELLINGTON CHOCOLATE FACTORY ORIGINAL MILK CHOCOLATE
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Wrapper artwork by Gina Kiel
$10 for a 75g block
48% Cocoa solids.  Beans from Dominican Republic
20% organic milk s
Sugars 7g per 18.75g serving size

The fragrance is a fruity cocoa.
There is a good snap for a milk chocolate and it has a firm bite.
The taste is a mild sweetness and milkiness at first.  Then the cocoa comes through, a rich chocolate flavor that is really nice.  The aftertaste is a slight cocoa, slight bitterness.

This was Johanan's favorite.
The chocolate flavor is really nice and comes through nicely for a milk chocolate. It is not too sweet.  We are really liking these darker milks.

WELLINGTON CHOCOLATE FACTORY COFFEE MILK CHOCOLATE
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$10  for a 75g bar
Wrapper Art by Jordan Debney
48% Cocoa, beans from Dominican Republic Conacado Cooperative, organic Trinitario Beans
Coffee is Havana Pacifica
18% organic milk solids

The fragrance is a fruity cocoa with a hint of coffee.
There is a bit of a snap and a slight melt in the mouth.
There is a medium strength ground coffee taste surrounded by a tangy and full dark milk chocolate.  There is a great balance in the coffee strength and chocolate.  You can taste both clearly.  The aftertaste is a slight sweetness with a background of coffee and tangy chocolate.
We like this one too!  We are liking them all!

WELLINGTON CHOCOLATE FACTORY SALTED CARAMEL MILK CHOCOLATE
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$10 for a 85g bar
Crunchy caramel brittle and a sprinkle of salt in a milk chocolate.
Cocoa 48%. Beans from Dominican Republic Conacado Cooperative, organic Trinitario beans
20%  milk solids
Wrapper artwork by Gina Kiel

The aroma is a slightly tangy chocolate.  There is lots of visible yummy bits.  There is a great snap and a nice crunchy texture.
The first taste to come through is the salt and caramel brittle, then the chocolate flavor comes through.  A nice cocoa, slightly fruity flavor, with a taste of slight saltiness still there.  The aftertaste is that same tangy saltiness.
This was Johanan's second favorite.

FINAL THOUGHTS
We liked them all!!
This was a really enjoyable tasting journey.  Really enjoyed the online tasting and want to do more of these.  It really helped us explore more of the flavor notes in chocolate.  We are just starting on this chocolate tasting adventure, and we think the flavor notes we are noticing are quite basic.  Ben made us more aware of other notes and mind journeys a chocolate can take you.
​We have plans to visit the Wairarapa and Wellington regions on a chocolate tour.  We will definitely visit the Palliser Wine Estate and grab the Griffin.  We are also planning to grab some other family members down that way and go and do the Wellington Chocolate factory, Chocolatier for a day tour.

Here are the final rankings for the chocolate tasted so far, we would happily buy any of them again.
Johanan's
1st Original Milk Chocolate
2nd Salted Caramel
3rd Hibiscus and Blackberry
4th Coffee Milk Chocolate
5th Coconut Milk Chocolate

Joni's
1st Hibiscus and Blackberry
2nd Coconut Milk 
3rd Salted Caramel
4th Original Milk Chocolate
5th Coffee Milk Chocolate