As I raided my chocolate box, I discovered a bar of chocolate I'd bought to review squirrelled away at the bottom. It was a bar of 72% extra dark chocolate by Seed and Bean from before they redesigned their packaging.
Now was a very good time to review it and share my thoughts on this lavender bar, especially as I recently reviewed Rococo's equally-floral rose dark chocolate bar.
By means of a bit of background, Seed and Bean started back in 2005 making ethical chocolate, using bold and punchy organic ingredients. Chocolate is produced in small 45 litre batches in Corby, Northamptonshire.
Packaging
Right from the start you know this is a lavender flavour chocolate bar. Why? Just look at the packaging! It uses a lavender shade of purple as its base, with the Seed and Bean logo taking pride of place.
Other details to note from the front is that this bar is handmade in England and that it includes organic ingredients. The bar also carries certification labels to also show it uses Fairtrade ingredients, and it is vegan-friendly.
On the reverse of the packaging, you'll find the ingredients and nutritional information in English, French, Dutch, and Portuguese.
Seed and Bean 72% Lavender Extra Dark Chocolate ingredients:
Cocoa mass, cane sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla extract, lavender oil. Cocoa solids: 72% minimum.
The chocolate is made from Dominican Trinitario cocoa, and the lavender oil is sourced from France. Around 28% of the overall bar is made up of sugars.
Seed and Bean 72% Lavender Extra Dark Chocolate Review
Lavender essential oil is recommended to de-stress, relax and unwind, so is this a great excuse to curl up in front of the telly and nibble on this chocolate bar?
On peeling back the silvery plastic wrapper, the initial aroma was that of rich red fruit, like raspberries and cherries. It took me a back a bit as I was expecting full-on lavender. The aroma of the cocoa was also spiked with earthy, leathery notes.
It's worth noting here that the reverse of the paper wrapper contains a bit of background information on Seed and Bean, although the film wrapper was glued to this, so I didn't notice it until I went to pop the paper into the recycling bin.
This dark bar is made up of 12 segments, with a plant motif weaving in and around the Seed and Bean logo. My bar was scuffed and marked with blemishes over the face of it. A crisp snap makes the bar easy to portion, and I found one segment (somewhere around 14g) was a nice-sized pick-me-up.
The initial taste is very sweet, akin to a hit of sherbet. As that settles down, the lavender gently eases its way through, gently flowing with the flavours of the smooth, rich, and earthy cocoa. There's a hint of bitterness but the overall flavour profile never veers too close to the edge.
The cocoa qualities dominate the aftertaste with a gentle hum of lavender sitting in the background.
The lavender is very delicate in this bar. I could reel off a list of botanical bars where the fragrant oils have been over-zealously applied. This bar is not in the same league. Instead of a lavender flavoured chocolate, this is rich dark chocolate flavoured with a hint of lavender. And it works, really well in fact.
Seed and Bean 72% Lavender Extra Dark Chocolate Review
RRP: £2.95 | Seed and Bean | Shop now
A rich, flavoursome cocoa delicately flavoured with the gentlest hint of lavender. It's a well-balanced organic botanical bar that showcases its cocoa properties front and centre.
Where to Buy Online
You can buy the 72% lavender bar - in its new, jazzier packaging - from the Seed and Bean website directly (£2.95). Alternatively, you can pick up a bar at Ethical Superstore (£2.99) or an eight-pack on Amazon here°.
Do you have a favourite bar of Seed and Bean chocolate? Let me know what flavour your go-to bar is in the comments below.
