It’s always fun to come home to a big package from FedEx, especially when it’s something you didn’t have to pay for and it contains chocolate treats. This time the sender was Chuao Chocolatier and based solely on their packaging, they appeared to be a fairly upscale brand. As we all know though, packaging is probably the least important part of eating chocolate – we all know it’s about the taste.
The samples they sent me were from the ChocoPod line, which are small individually wrapped chocolates, shaped like cacao pods. Aside from banana, all of the flavors are made with Dark Chocolate and all of the flavors except Candela are filled with a gel-like filling.
- Banana Brown Sugar Caramel: I had high expectations for this flavor, as it is the most “normal” flavor of the bunch, but unfortunately, I found it overly sweet. The milk chocolate taste was good, the banana was good as well, reminding me of a slightly under ripe banana, but this flavor was almost sickly sweet. I didn’t notice much Caramel or Brown Sugar taste in this, despite its name.
- Candela – Spicy Macadamia Praline: This flavor was my favorite of the bunch. This seemed to have almost a raisin taste to me, but there are none listed in the ingredients.
I checked the package twice just to be sure, but I swear that I tasted raisins in it, and so did my co-taster. I’m not sure where the raisin taste comes from, but I enjoyed the flavor quite a bit. I am not a huge fan of spicy food in general, but I didn’t mind it in this flavor. It’s very faint and adds to the flavor of the chocolate, instead of making me want to drink a gallon of water. - Picante – Spicy Cabernet Caramel: The spice in this flavor is more prevalent than the other spice-based flavor, Candela. This variety includes actual Cabernet as the last ingredient on the list, and the wine taste is pretty unique in my opinion. I’m not a huge fan of wine, but it goes nicely with the dark chocolate here. The spice is definitely more prevalent than the other spice flavor, Candela. Overall, not bad, just not for me.
- Modena – Strawberry and Balsamic Caramel: Wow. What a unique combination of flavors, especially for chocolate. I’ve never been a fan of balsamic vinegar, and I’m not really a fan of it here either. I’d have to say this is my least favorite out of the ChocoPod flavors. The tartness of vinegar, combined with the sweetness of chocolate, just put me off. Perhaps this might be more palatable to someone who normally enjoys balsamic vinegar, but as I don’t, I found it to be a pretty weird combination.
- Passion – Passion Fruit and Caramel: Not a bad flavor, though I generally don’t eat passion fruit. The fruit flavor was very prominent and strong, and seemed to go well with the caramel and dark chocolate. Even though I wasn’t a huge fan of this, someone that likes the fruit will probably love this flavor.
Overall, the ChocoPod flavors weren’t exactly a hit in my book, but they might appeal to some of you that are into more exotic flavors with your chocolate. They just didn’t do it for me. According to their website, ChocoPods are only available in select places in California, so most of you will have to order them online if you want to try them
