Elizabeth Shaw Blackberry & Ginger Dark Chocolate

Trust me, even chocolate tasting and reviewing can seem tiresome sometimes, especially if bad chocolates keep coming your way. I've had quite a bad run in the last few weeks and I needed something of Elizabeth Shaw's level to restore my faith in the greatness of chocolate.

The brand has a (slightly convoluted) legacy of nearly 100 years, started by one Elizabeth around the 1930s. The chocolate lover and maker christened her brand Elizabeth Shaw combining her name and her husband's old employer (a chocolate manufacturer). In 1968, her company was sold to a famous Bristol factory that had opened in 1881. The company has changed many hands over the last century, and its 105-year old factory was shut and the facility moved to mainland Europe in 2006. It is currently owned by a Nowegian company called Imagine Capital.

I saw these beauties (this, and an Almond & Pear dark chocolate bar by the same brand) at Food Fantasy, a specialty foods store in Chembur, Mumbai and HAD to pick them up.The sophisticated card paper-like packaging material and classy design were unmissable. I especially like the satin ribbon embossing on the upper left of the pack. Pretty, no? And who could say nay to the very unusual flavour combination of blackberry and ginger?

Wrapped in silver foil, these aromatic dark chocolate (57% min.) bars are rich all the way. See their lovely, glossy finish? That's one way to determine the smoothness of a chocolate bar even without tasting it. They also smell absolutely gorgeous, and you can tell what will go into your mouth next will be of superior quality.

The chocolate itself is one of the richest I've tasted in a while. It is intense and so flavourful that even one square satisfies your taste buds. There are very tiny candied bits of blackberry almost indiscernible ginger granules that come together in a harmonious flavour. The melt-in-you-mouth chocolate derives sweetness from the blackberry and there is a warm aftertaste from the ginger. The taste lingers in your mouth long after you've eaten the chocolate. It is smooth as smooth can be, given ingredients like cocoa butter and butter fat. In short, it's BLOODY LOVELY, and worth the INR 300 you pay for a 100 g pack! Chocosophy highly recommends it not only for its quality but also for its support of responsible cocoa farming. Elizabeth Shaw sources its cocoa from the Quality Cocoa for a Better Life program.


RATING 5/5