Rain Republic triple-single-origin Guatemalan Chocolate - 10 Pack

$1.50 an ounce or $24 a pound.
Lindt 90% Cocoa bars are 3.5 ounces and can frequently be purchased on sale for $1.50 (Less than 50 cents an ounce) but, if you think these taste 3 times better, go for it.

Isn’t a typical bar of chocolate around 3oz?

How does this compare to say, Neuhaus?

did you read it? it wasn’t that interesting.
i did find this page very informative if you are interested in mexican/guatemalan chocolate

by “typical” do you mean Hershey’s? what is typical?

Nice to hear from you and I’m glad you are still interested. It took us 5 years to get this formula so… the chocolate arrives the first week of Jan! Weather permitting. Its awesome. Not too hot but not understated either. It will be on our website and I have some dried chile for you too.

I found it to be an interesting read - may not have been super relevant but it was interesting none the less

The 70% Cocoa Green & Blacks Organic is my standard around the house chocolate - I can find it regularly for $2.50 at my local grocery stops. I sometimes will pick up a Lindt 85% when they are one sale for $1.50. Can someone who likes good dark chocolate tell me how the Rain Republic stack up? At $1.50 an ounce for the Rain vs $0.83 an ounce for the Organic Green & Blacks… it needs to be some darn amazing chocolate.

http://www.amazon.com/Lindt-Excellence-Chocolate-3-5-Ounce-Packages/dp/B000HQNBSU/ref=pd_sim_gro_8
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Blacks-Organic-Chocolate-3-5-Ounce/dp/B000LKV7Q0

What are the rainrepublic rep’s comments on the this chocolate’s condition–and the implications for future orders–and, as well, the failure to make good fully in some manner?

Both failures are disturbing to a potential buyer.

Very much looking forwards to trying out this Guatemalan chocolate.

I am in again. Would go for 2 but just tapped out, I loved it last time around in fact I rationed it so I still have a bar left.

I was basically informed that they were having a very hard time keeping any stock in the US, stores were not buying their chocolate, which is why they couldn’t replace my bars. They blamed the heat during shipping (i live in the northeast and it was april.) If that’s their excuse, they’ll never be able to sell their stuff south of the mason-dixon line.

edit: This also doesn’t take into account that only 2 of my 3 boxes were lousy. plus the few (about 5 bars) they sent to replace my over a dozen messed up bars were packed with freezer packs and were still messed up.

Here’s photos. You can see the graininess and pockets of air in the chocolate. This is not heat-bloom, I’ve eaten bloomed chocolate before. This was mis-blended.

http://twitpic.com/3l71id/full
http://twitpic.com/3l70fy/full

I got one last time. I thought it was very good, but not amazing. The flavor is great, but the chocolate feels a little waxy at first and is very slow to melt in your mouth. Still, I ate most of it out of hand, savoring a square at a time, and liked it a lot. I also used some in baking (cookies) and it was excellent there.

I just finished the last bar of this a week ago. I have been storing it in a cabinet at room temperature since the previous woot in April, and it held up great. If anything, the bars that had been sitting around for a while suffered from the waxiness problem less than the early ones (or maybe I just got used to it).

I’ll probably go in for another batch. Those cookies were really good…

Another note, regarding their “recyclable” packaging:

These come in a pretty cardboard box, which has a mylar packet inside. You can recycle the box, but not the mylar. A paper wrapper instead of the cardboard would have been less wasteful in the end, though.

A paper wrapper would probably also be less effective at keeping the chocolate fresh too though, no?

Waiting for Josh to address the mis-blending/replacement issue before going in for 3 - bad batches happen, but being unable or unwilling to replace them is unacceptable. I hope this gets resolved soon, as the 2 boxes I had last time were excellent!

Also, WD: I admire the transparency, but please don’t put nutrition facts for chocolate, cheese, or salumi on the front page, it makes us feel like pigs. =P

I don’t mean to be a nay-sayer, but having ordered these last time, and compared them with a pretty wide variety of high-end chocolate, these bars are just very… meh. Kind of bland, not very flavorful, on the relative scale of things. I ended up cooking with some of them, which they worked fine for, but for the price I’d rather buy some good Ghirardelli chocolate chips for that purpose instead.

Those pictures aren’t quite as attractive as the Woot pictures. Thanks for the info - it has definitely given me pause to see what Rain Republic has to say. They chimed in quite a bit last time.

Hey Guys, the packet inside is not mylar, rather it is poilypro and gets recycled like any plastic.

This is not everyday chocolate, but if you want something special, I think it’s great. Also great for gifting. Now, I’m Lindt lover myself, but this stuff is even better last time it came around. Of course I’m not comparing it to the truffles, only the bars. If you want melt in your mouth go with Lindt truffles. If you want complex, interesting flavors (which pair great with a nice pinot noir!), grab some of these.