The Chocolate Traveler Tabasco Spicy Chocolate

As this little tin had been sitting in my chocolate stash for quite a while, I decided it was time to finally approach it. When I first saw it, I assumed it to be made by the Tabasco hot sauce company itself. Cases like this can be interesting: you’re usually guaranteed to get a good showcase of the product, but the setting (here, chocolate) often comes up short since it isn’t what the company normally deals with. A look at the back, however, reveals that this is in fact made by old friends The Chocolate Traveler, whom I had mixed feelings about last year.

Given their branching into the flavors of different regions, it’s fitting for them to take on a Tabasco chocolate. (Not to say that Tabasco sauce is limited to a certain region — it’s just one of those bold flavors that speaks for itself).

The format is the same as before: eight wedges of chocolate inside a circular tin. Reaching for the first piece, I half-expected the flavor to have mellowed out during the time I’d had it waiting. The surface is just barely starting to bloom, but otherwise looks fine; only tasting would tell if my sample was good anymore.

The Tabasco flavor starts warming and pinching your taste buds slowly until it hits you in full. The difference from other spiced chocolates I’ve had is that at the same time the extreme of spice gets to you, so does the peak of chocolate flavor. That’s kind of awesome. It is a strong spice (a bit above average, I’d say), but not overwhelming given that the chocolate is also there. It is, however, still too hot for me to particularly enjoy munching on; not being overly fond of the sugary dark chocolate itself doesn’t help.

For those who adore Tabasco sauce (and I know it has many devoted followers), it’s perfect, quite well-executed. I wouldn’t recommend it for those who can’t take much spice, but then, you can already tell that from a Tabasco-logo-emblazoned tin you have to look twice at to realize it’s chocolate.

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