This one's been on my radar for a while. At first, I thought it was some sort of April Fool's joke, but no, avocado dark chocolate is very much a thing.
Appealing to trendy millennials, this bar combines all the delight of smashed avocado with a 71% dark chocolate base.
But does the unusual flavour combination work? Is it a marriage made in heaven? There's only one way to find out!
Packaging
Love Cocoa has nailed the box art, with white outlines of avocados and peach circles representing the stones set atop an avocado green background.
Gold foiled print embellishes the logo, Union flag, and the 'one bar = one tree' messaging at the bottom. On that note, Love Cocoa's campaign is to plant one tree for every bar purchased. In 2020, the company sought to plant half a million trees to help combat deforestation in the chocolate industry, particularly in West Africa.
Love Cocoa's website reckons my purchase of this bar has led to the planting of a tree in Northern Cameroon. I hereby name this tree Dave!
The rear of the box is awash with loads of text, which is great to see, and is sprinkled with a dash of gold-foiled print for extra impact.
There's some text that cements Love Cocoa's Britishness ("handmade with love in Great Britain" reads the box) with the obligatory mention of John Cadbury, founder of Cadbury (although Love Cocoa is a entirely separate company set up by his great-great-great grandson, James).
I particularly like the pairing suggestions for this bar, with Love Cocoa recommending this dark chocolate be served along with a Margarita cocktail or a mug of hot fruity tea.
There's also symbols explaining this slave-free, vegan-friendly, single-origin dark chocolate is free from palm oil.
The ingredients and nutritional information sits towards the bottom of the box, printed in English and German.
Love Cocoa Avocado 71% Dark Chocolate bar ingredients:
Colombian dark chocolate (cocoa mass, raw cane sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier (soya lecithin) flavouring (natural vanilla)), avocado pulp powder (2%), natural avocado flavouring oil (<1%). Cocoa solids: 71% minimum.
This bar contains 28% sugars and is made on machinery that processes milk, tree nuts (including almonds and hazelnuts), peanuts and wheat.
Love Cocoa Avocado Dark Chocolate Review
The box opens as normal, but you can also pull it apart at the side to reveal more about Love Cocoa's 'one bar = one tree' campaign.
The bar itself is sealed inside a compostable film wrapper, making this plastic-free packaging.
I like the chunky nature of this 75g chocolate bar. The custom geometric mould together with its width makes this bar appear generous in size. Disappointingly, the dusty, scuffed and splattered finish masks the mirror-like shine to the bar. Scuffs and dust litter the top half of the bar but there's a raised grainy residue that covers the lower half of the bar. There's also a small blob of what looks like sugary syrup on the 'LC' logo on the bar.
The aroma is especially lively, with top notes of apricot and pineapple mixed with a heady undertone of dark cocoa notes.
As the chocolate begins to melt, it releases dark and bitter cocoa notes, with a helping of chocolate brownie notes in the forefront. You'll forgive the bitterness as a curious, powerful fruity aspect develops in the flavour. I wouldn't say it tastes like avocado per se, but instead it adds hints of stone fruit and berry flavours into the mix. There's subtle vegetal notes in the background too. Overall, the avocado isn't so much a flavour in its own right, but instead acts as a flavour enhancer.
There's a very slight grittiness to the texture, which I think comes from the avocado pulp powder.
The aftertaste is a mix of stone fruit and mild cocoa notes.
Despite my initial preconceptions, this bar is very enjoyable indeed. The avocado doesn't hijack the flavour nor does it present an unpalatable flavour. Instead, it acts as an enhancer to the deep, dark, rich cocoa, introducing bag loads of fruitiness to a base of bitter dark chocolate. It's cleverly done, and very enjoyable to eat.
I can also confirm it makes a great mug of hot chocolate when blended with hot milk in a Hot Chocolate Shaker. The flecks of pulp powder float around but don't distract too much. You are, however, rewarded with a rich and fruity hot chocolate. Curiously, the flavour in the hot chocolate switches around, so the green vegetal notes sit up front and the stone fruit and berry notes sit further back.
Love Cocoa Avocado Dark Chocolate Review
RRP: £4.50 | Love Cocoa | Shop now
I expected to be revolted by this preposterous combination but it turns out that avocado and dark chocolate really are good friends. The avocado in this bar adds berry and stone fruit notes to the rich dark chocolate, so works in harmony with the cocoa rather than hijacking the overall flavour. The only disappointment is the finish to the bar. Nevertheless, this is a bar you ought to try if you like curiosities in life.
Where to Buy Online
You can find this bar, along with others, on the Love Cocoa website here (£4.50).
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I purchased my bar along with a collection of bars from other makers at Treat Me Good here (£3.95).
Have you ever thought to combine your love of smashed avocados with chocolate? Let me know what you think about the combo in the comments below.
