82% Extra Dark Chocolate Bar

I totally quit eating milk chocolate decades ago. Thus, I have eaten nothing except at least 70% cacao, sometimes up into the 90%s percentiles of cacao. This is my first time having Scharffen Berger cacao products. The bars are good, even great!! Two orders of 82% cacao (6 bars total) were initially purchased as an eating experiment. The taste of these bars was perfect; not too bitter at all. Just right to me!! Also, these Scharffen Berger bars were very smooth to eat. Very smooth. These bars almost invited me to suck them away to nothingness without even chewing them. That is a good thing, LOL. I shall definitely purchase these 82% bars again, as well as expanding out to trying other bars. "Ganz gut!!"

We have been buying this chocolate by the box for over 20 years. We were pleasantly surprised when Hershey bought the company 17 years back, moved the factory from Berkeley to Chicago and was able to maintain consistent quality.

This chocolate has been remarkable for the intense flavors of Caribbean beans, fresh vanilla and a consistent melting butter mouth feel.

About a year ago, new owners moved the factory back to the West Coast, changed packaging colors, but product is not the same. Intense cacao flavor is gone. Mouthfeel is chalky, like you sometimes get with 90% cocoa—except this product is sold as 82%.

There has to be someone around who can duplicate the recipe for the real thing. Meanwhile this is not the same product the Berkeley guys and then Hershey sold for over 20 years.

I have been eating ScharffenBerger 82% chocolate for at least ten years. I have always considered it "food" rather than "candy" because It is so pure. However in the past year, the nature of the 82% chocolate has changed. For me, it now tastes as if the oil content has become higher--the chocolate is creamier and less bitter than it used to be. I now feel as if I am eating "fat" (ugh). The new version does not hit the back of the mouth in the same way the older version did, so I know this is a real difference. Maybe you using a a different bean or a different vanilla, but I much prefer the older version of the 82% bar. Thank you for taking this into consideration.