{"id":5240,"date":"2021-09-01T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/?p=5240"},"modified":"2021-08-30T19:48:40","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T23:48:40","slug":"chocolate-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/chocolate-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Chocolate Mini Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n<p>Well, this is the last <a href=\"\/blog\/tag\/2021-dc-pen-show\/\">2021 DC Pen Show<\/a> post. I&#8217;ve milked it for all it&#8217;s worth. But, it&#8217;s been fun taking a more in-depth look at my haul. I haven&#8217;t really done that before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brandon Lee of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.modernchocolatier.com\/\">Modern Chocolatier<\/a> is a bit of a fixture at the DC Pen Show, typically seen next to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ryankrusac\/\">Ryan Krusac<\/a>&#8216;s table. This year, however, he was up near the entrance, which made it easier to make multiple visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brandon had 20 flavors with him, and I ended up getting all but 2 \u2014 Curry Lime and Habanero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1080\" height=\"705\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210810_112459-1.jpg?resize=1080%2C705&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"My DC Pen Show chocolate haul\" class=\"wp-image-5380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210810_112459-1.jpg?w=1080&amp;ssl=1 1080w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210810_112459-1.jpg?resize=300%2C196&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210810_112459-1.jpg?resize=150%2C98&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210810_112459-1.jpg?resize=768%2C501&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption>I always forget to take photos of chocolates. I&#8217;m too eager to eat them. There are actually six not pictured, we&#8217;d already finished the fifth box of 4. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While it will be a year (assuming COVID stop the world again) before I can have more, I&#8217;d like to share my thoughts on the various flavors. And it will serve as a good reminder for me to get my favorites next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m listing these in alphabetical order, for ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Apple Pie<\/strong>: I don&#8217;t know how he did it, but this was really apple pie in a chocolate! It was absolutely fantastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Birthday Cake<\/strong>: This reminded me of a funfetti cake pop in the best way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough<\/strong>: I didn&#8217;t exactly get Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, but it <em>was<\/em> really yummy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>French Roast<\/strong>: This was the perfect mix of chocolate and coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Honey-Dark Chocolate<\/strong>: It was yummy. A bit on the &#8220;standard&#8221; side in comparison to some of the showstoppers, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Lime Pie<\/strong>: It was great. Tangy without being too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lemon Ginger<\/strong>: I loved this one. It was herbally and sweeter than expected, but in a good way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Make-a-Mark<\/strong>: It was good. A bead heavy on the bourbon for my taste, but I&#8217;m very sensitive to liquor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Orange Cardamom<\/strong>: Another winner. This was surprising. It was delicious, and kind of &#8220;healthy&#8221; tasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Passionfruit<\/strong>: I don&#8217;t have words for this one beyond <strong>WOW!<\/strong> It was amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Raspberry\/Basil<\/strong>: Another unique one. Perhaps the best word to describe it is fresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Salted Caramel<\/strong>: It was good, but a bit too much salt on the top for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Salted Maple<\/strong>: <strong>YES!!<\/strong> This is the perfect balance between salt and sweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Scotch<\/strong>: Well, it&#8217;s <em>definitely<\/em> scotch. Too much scotch for me. I swear fumes went up my nose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Single Origin Ghana-Milk<\/strong>: This was so smooth. A perfect milk chocolate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Single Origin Madagascar-Dark<\/strong>: Definitely a dark chocolate, but not bitter. I wasn&#8217;t wowed by this one, most likely because I&#8217;m not a major dark chocolate fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Stout-Dark Chocolate<\/strong>: I didn&#8217;t taste the stout in this one, but that&#8217;s not a bad thing in my book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Strawberry Lemonade<\/strong>: Very nice. I really got, and enjoyed, the lemonade, but I didn&#8217;t really taste the strawberry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there we go. A mini review on the 18 flavors I tried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Assuming he still has them next year, I&#8217;ll be getting at least two each of the Key Lime Pie, Lemon Ginger, Orange Cardamom, Passionfruit, Raspberry\/Basil, and Salted Maple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Did you get any chocolates from Brandon? Which were your favorites? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for sticking with me through my 2021 DC Pen Show content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love Brandon&#8217;s chocolates, and proved it by buying quite a bit from him this year. So, I want to share my thoughts on the various flavors.<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/chocolate-review\/\">Keep Reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Chocolate Mini Reviews<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[195,197],"class_list":["post-5240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-2021-dc-pen-show","tag-chocolate","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/chocolate-IGSm.jpg?fit=288%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Z77k-1mw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5149,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2021-dc-pen-show\/","url_meta":{"origin":5240,"position":0},"title":"2021 DC Pen Show, Part 1","author":"Rachel","date":"August 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Finally, a big pen show! Read on to find out about my experience at three of the four days of the DC Pen Show and what I bought.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pen Shows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pen Shows","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/pen-shows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210807_100201.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210807_100201.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210807_100201.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5207,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/nib-mini-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":5240,"position":1},"title":"Nib Mini Reviews","author":"Rachel","date":"August 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Mini reviews of the nibs I picked up at the 2021 DC Pen Show. 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Find out which brands, and what I got from them.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Fountain Pens&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Fountain Pens","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/fountain-pens\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Zek Pens blue and turquoise","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/zek-blue-cutout-scaled.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/zek-blue-cutout-scaled.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/zek-blue-cutout-scaled.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/zek-blue-cutout-scaled.png?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/zek-blue-cutout-scaled.png?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/zek-blue-cutout-scaled.png?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5209,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/pen-mini-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":5240,"position":3},"title":"Pen Mini Reviews","author":"Rachel","date":"August 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm reviewing the pens I picked up at the 2021 DC Pen Show. 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Enjoy!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Fountain Pens&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Fountain Pens","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/fountain-pens\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Iron Feather Creative Art Deco Nibs top finial","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210815_195041.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210815_195041.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210815_195041.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210815_195041.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20210815_195041.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":170,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2017-dc-pen-show-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":5240,"position":4},"title":"2017 DC Pen Show #4","author":"Rachel","date":"August 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Alright, this is it, the final installment in my 2017 DC Pen Show series. 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