Reviewed: Pralus single-source Grand Crus chocolate

Just as we have single-estate tea and coffee, single-source chocolate comes from one particular area and has subtly different flavours depending on the terroir.  A great way to explore this is via the French chocolatier-of-the-gods Pralus  Pyramide des Tropiques, a n award-winning (Grand Prix d'Excellence International du Chocolat 1996 and 1997) stack of ten 50 gram squares individually wrapped in bright crepe paper and tied with raffia.  No plastic!  It's so pretty, and unusual, that I had it just sitting on my shelf a while before I could bring myself to open it.

This is dark chocolate, with each bar being 75% cocoa, with the remainder being sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla and non-GMO soy lecithin.

The Pyramide has chocolate from Indonesia, Jamaica, Sao Tome, Trinidad, Venezuela, Vanuatu, Ghana, Madagascar, Golumbia and Ecuador.  Each one genuinely does have a subtly different flavour, and the stack provides enough to let you develop a good chocolate palate.  The language describing each - as is often the case with wine - can sound unflattering.  Do you want chocolate from Indonesia with a "woody aroma with wild mushrooms"?  Well, speaking as somebody nibbling at a broken piece of it right now, yes, woody mushroom aroma is surprisingly agreeable with chocolate this good.  The Jamaican chocolate really does have fruity overtones compared to conventional chocolate.  The Madagascar really does taste oddly minty.  And so on.

Because it's so high quality, and so rich, it'll last you a long time.  You're going to have a hard time eating even a single bar in one sitting.  An excellent option if you're trying to watch the waistline but can't keep your hands off the sweets.

We've lauded London's Monmouth Coffee Company as a great place to get an ethical cup, and you can get the Pyramide (as well as a variety of other goodies from Pralus) at their shops.  Not sure what their price is, but the going rate is around £35 plus shipping.

[Gabrielle Taylor]

See also: Monmouth's ethical coffees