Chocolate Lovers Dream

We recently went to Berlin with Jordan's parents, where we not only had a great time but also  I was happily surprised to find a shop dedicated to the Deutschland favorite aka Ritter Sport only blocks from our apartment-it was a true heaven.

Walls and walls of chocolate bars of different sizes and flavors, so sweet and yummy!

They had a museum to show how their chocolates are made (cocoa beans sourced from Nicaragua and Papua New Guinea).

and a really fancy chocolate bar, where you can create your own Ritter Sport with toppings galore. 

So after spending the evening inhaling the smells of sweet divinity (and of course buying a few bars, of which there were so many to choose from) I had a great idea.  Why not have a taste test of our own.  So, this week, Jordan's brother and sister (Ian and Alyssa) came to visit us, and we gave it a go.  

Jordan made a bracket, and we had 17 different Ritter Sport bars to taste test.  On the first night we tried one square of each (that's over an entire bar per person), rated them 1-5 and narrowed the bars down to our top 8.  On the second night we put the top 8 up against each other to find the best one.  

Here's what we tried, and what we thought.  Keep reading to find the winner!

-NUT CRESCENT COOKIE-

Rating: 4

Had a nutty chocolate smell, creamy nutty center filing with slight crunch of a cookie. 

-CARAMELISED ALMONDS-

Rating 3.15

Nutty and chunky looking...not as creamy smooth but crunchy.  Even without mulled wine, this bar is good for a Christmas market mood.   

-DARK CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT-

Rating: 2.5

Well this bar was really nutty, and looks just like the wrapping.  We weren't a fan of the whole nuts (crushed is better) and there were about three nuts per square.

-HONEY SALT ALMONDS-

Rating: 3.63

Almond is definitely better than hazelnut.  A bit of honey and a touch of salt make for a great touch to this bar of creamy milk chocolate.

-OLYMPIA-

Rating: 1.56

Not a winner; the greek yogurt was a little too sour, and the crunchy honeycomb and nuts didn't mix well with it.

-MILK CHOCOLATE WITH CORNFLAKES-

Rating: 4.21

This makes for a perfect round-the-clock breakfast bar.  The crispy flakes make it a good excuse to have this bar for breakfast; after all it is the first meal of the day?

-CARMEL NUTS-

Rating: 2.26

 

You can smell the caramel but not a good after taste and not a natural caramel flavor.  Unfortunately, the caramel was creamy, and not gooey.

-MARZIPAN-

Rating: 1

Okay I need to preface this one because I actually liked it...Although Ian spit it out and said he would much rather not have any chocolate at all than eat this bar.  It was a very strong marzipan taste in dark chocolate.  

-VANILLA MOUSE-

Rating: 3.3

Smooth, very sweet and stuffed with vanilla.  Not whipped enough to be a real mousse, just not convinced. 

-DARK CHOCOLATE 50% COCOA-

Rating: 3.25

This is one solid bar, and has some snap when you break it apart.  A little bitter but still smooth, break a tooth worthy, smooth bitter but still sweet.  It's a good mixture of chocolate from Papua New Guinea, Madagascar and West Africa.

-ALPINE MILK CHOCOLATE 30% COCOA-

Rating: 3.5

Very creamy, an ideal milk chocolate.  It does job well but nothing to write home about (Alyssa really liked it).

-STRAWBERRY MINT-

Rating: 1

If the wrapper was in English on ours, or I could have understood the German I would not have bought this bar.  Strawberrys + Mint tastes like medicine, or a Colgate childs toothpaste.  Freeze dried strawberries with a hint of mint does not go well.  Ian's quote after eating a square: "No wonder they lost WW2".  Not a taste we ever would want to have again. 

-MILK CHOCOLATE RASINS & HAZELNUTS-

Rating: 1.88

Chewy because of the raisin...but lots of raisins.

-YOGURT-

Rating: 2.58

Looks plain with a creamy filled yogurt flavor.  If you like plain yogurt you may like this bar, but it was a little sour/bitter for us. 

-COCONUT-

Rating: 3.89

It is a nice break from the usual Ritter sport varieties, and contains no nuts, just lots of crispy coconut pulp which gives the fine milk chocolate its exotic taste. 

-MILK CHOCOLATE WITH COCOA MOUSSE-

Rating: 5

This is the good stuff, and some of the best stuff too.  Having extra large pieces adds to the benefit because it's just so good.  You really have to try to it believe it- it's so creamy and you can taste the different types of chocolate. 

-MILK CHOCOLATE WITH BUTTER BISCUIT-

Rating: 3.9

It was good, crunchy and tasted like a cookie dipped in chocolate.  Not too special but wouldn't turn it down if it was on the table. 

After the first night of indulging, and narrowing it down to the top 8 bars, we gave our palates a rest and revisited them the next day.  Here was our top 8 (we switched the raisin one for the cornflake one because originally the raisin was up against another awful flavor.)

TOP 8:

Milk Chocolate with Cocoa Mousse

Nut Crescent Cookie

Coconut

Alpine Milk Chocolate 30% Cocoa

Milk Chocolate with Butter Biscuit

Milk Chocolate with Cornflakes

Honey Salt Almonds

Vanilla Mousse

From this we got our TOP 4:

 And then our TOP 2:

What was our conclusion? While we had a great time ranking the chocolate bar of Deutschland we decided the Milk Chocolate Cocoa Mousse was the winner.  Sweet, smooth, easy to break apart, and very easy to finish an entire 100 grams single handedly.  If you haven't tried the Milk Chocolate Cocoa Mousse you really should, it's pretty amazing.