Darker than Black, Special Addendum: Meiji The Chocolate 深遠なる旨味 Matcha
Just when I thought I was out etc etc.
I was all done with Darker than Black, and after a visit to Christkindlmarket our apartment is loaded down with non-chocolate desserts, gingerbread and marzipan and cookies and caramels. We are set for sugar into the new year. But then, we got a letter from our friend 房野和寿 in response to a postcard we had sent around Thanksgiving, and in the letter she included this chocolate. With such thoughtful provenance, I knew I had to write about it.
I especially like the name "The Chocolate." In one of those stereotypes that is also true, Japanese people who don't speak English have trouble with articles, since Japanese doesn't have any equivalent. Someone in marketing probably knew that "the" is more specific than "a," which is more specific than neither, and developed the name. This isn't just chocolate. It is the chocolate.
And it is.
深遠なる旨味 is pronounced shin'en naru umami and means "profound flavor."
This chocolate is delicious.
Matcha flavor is getting more popular in America, but a lot of the time it's overly sweetened to remove any hint of the bitter matcha taste. Very occasionally someone actually adds matcha to something without ruining it--Vosges makes a good matcha chocolate--but mostly it's just a bit of flavor and a lot of sugar. This happens in Japan too, with desserts like matcha parfaits, but they definitely know how to use matcha without feeling love me they have to disguise the flavor and this chocolate is a perfect example.
As I sit here writing this, is he aftertaste of the chocolate is still coating my mouth and that aftertaste is mostly matcha. There's just enough cacao to remind me that I didn't just mix up a cup of matcha and drink it. When I ate the chocolate, the matcha was almost stronger than the cacao itself. This would have been the perfect chocolate to actually have with matcha, just sweet enough to cut through the matcha's bitterness without being overly cloying like some wagashi are. Maybe I should order more and try that. There are plenty of flavors, too.
That packaging. さすが日本.
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schoolpsychnerd's Opinion
And that's it, the real end. And what an end to go out on.
I was all done with Darker than Black, and after a visit to Christkindlmarket our apartment is loaded down with non-chocolate desserts, gingerbread and marzipan and cookies and caramels. We are set for sugar into the new year. But then, we got a letter from our friend 房野和寿 in response to a postcard we had sent around Thanksgiving, and in the letter she included this chocolate. With such thoughtful provenance, I knew I had to write about it.
I especially like the name "The Chocolate." In one of those stereotypes that is also true, Japanese people who don't speak English have trouble with articles, since Japanese doesn't have any equivalent. Someone in marketing probably knew that "the" is more specific than "a," which is more specific than neither, and developed the name. This isn't just chocolate. It is the chocolate.
And it is.
深遠なる旨味 is pronounced shin'en naru umami and means "profound flavor."
<
Bean to delicious bar.
Bean to delicious bar.
This chocolate is delicious.
Matcha flavor is getting more popular in America, but a lot of the time it's overly sweetened to remove any hint of the bitter matcha taste. Very occasionally someone actually adds matcha to something without ruining it--Vosges makes a good matcha chocolate--but mostly it's just a bit of flavor and a lot of sugar. This happens in Japan too, with desserts like matcha parfaits, but they definitely know how to use matcha without feeling love me they have to disguise the flavor and this chocolate is a perfect example.
As I sit here writing this, is he aftertaste of the chocolate is still coating my mouth and that aftertaste is mostly matcha. There's just enough cacao to remind me that I didn't just mix up a cup of matcha and drink it. When I ate the chocolate, the matcha was almost stronger than the cacao itself. This would have been the perfect chocolate to actually have with matcha, just sweet enough to cut through the matcha's bitterness without being overly cloying like some wagashi are. Maybe I should order more and try that. There are plenty of flavors, too.
That packaging. さすが日本.
schoolpsychnerd's OpinionI found the webpage, so maybe we can do that!
I love matcha in chocolate, though most bars don't fully embrace the astringency and bitterness of matcha. They use it for green color and then dump some sugar in it to make ti taste sweeter. Probably because this bar is made in Japan, it assumes moreso that people know what they are getting when they buy matcha chocolate. It was delicious and cured all my medical complaints, cleared up my skin, and my crops are now thriving. It somehow used the chocolate's bitterness to highlight the unique character of matcha. 20/10 would buy all the time.
And that's it, the real end. And what an end to go out on.
no subject
Despite generally preferring milk chocolate to dark, I've always loved the taste of bitter things, and matcha is no exception. When you first wrote about matcha chocolate, I wasn't surprised that it didn't really impress you, because the two don't spring to my mind as companions. But if this really has the taste of matcha... well, I'm going to have to keep my eyes open for this bar so I can see for myself. An experiment is meaningless if it can't be replicated, after all!
no subject
I'm kind of a matcha purist, in that while I seek out matcha-flavored things, I usually don't think much of the matcha flavor itself, probably fueled by knowing how to make matcha myself. This was an exception.