The London Reviewer

Food review: Conscious Chocolate’s Best Ever Hint of Mint
by Conscious Chocolate, RRP £2.50 for 40g
Rating: **** (out of 5)
Review by: Chris Sparkes

This chocolate from Conscious was my first foray into the world of raw chocolate. Conscious’ website lists several benefits of this raw form, such as the ability to act as an antioxidant, nutrition from a range of minerals, and enzymes which nurture the heart, control appetite and promote a sense of well-being. These are all claimed to be present to a much greater extent in raw chocolate than its normal, more processed forms, though the site doesn’t offer direct evidence to substantiate these claims. Ten minutes of browsing around the Web did uncover a number of sites however, which do seem to back up these claims.

The product itself seems aimed at a self-aware market, the name ‘Conscious Chocolate’ seeming to imply a consciousness about the environment and health. Indeed, the bar comes packaged in environmentally-friendly recycled materials, and the packaging is of a plain, simple design that builds an image that this is a product to be taken seriously.

On opening the bar, a pleasing smell of mint can be detected. Breaking off a little of the bar reveals a soft texture, not as hard and crumbly as some high-cocoa content, processed dark chocolates, and it melts very quickly from a short contact with skin.

Biting into the bar, the flavour is very pleasing – some high-cocoa content bars can have a very bitter taste, but this tastes relatively sweet. The bar feels almost buttery in its soft smoothness, and as it melts easily in your mouth it releases a natural-tasting mint flavour that seems well judged – not overpoweringly strong, but not too weak either.

I hadn’t read about the apparent benefits of raw chocolate before eating this bar, and I sampled just a couple of pieces to start with. I was fairly hungry, having skipped breakfast, and was quite surprised to find that such a small amount really took the edge off of my appetite. About 15 minutes later, I also detected a definite buzz from a serotonin release, which was quite a surprise for me – I’ve never noticed that from chocolate before.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this chocolate. Downsides include, the soft, buttery texture may not be to everyone’s taste, and aficionados who enjoy the bitterness of conventional dark chocolates may find it a little sweet. Also, it costs around £2.50 for a 40g bar, making it considerably more expensive than most non-raw chocolate bars its size.

On the other hand, the manufacturer states the bar is sugar free (as it is sweetened with agave nectar, which is suitable for consumption by diabetics), pesticide-free, gluten free, and uses cholesterol-free coconut butter, making it suitable for the more health-conscious out there. The high cost may be justified by these things, and of course comes partly from the fact that the product is hand-made in small volumes. It’s not often that you can treat yourself with a clear conscience, so this alone may make Conscious’ Best Ever Hint of Mint a luxury worth affording.