Hotel Chocolat Taste Test

Today, I'm back with a mouth-watering review of probably the best posh chocolate around from Hotel Chocolat!
Millennium and Copthorne Hotels are the geniuses behind Hotel Chocolat boasting about 22 amazing hotels over Europe and many more worldwide!
I'd always wanted to stay in a super posh 5-star hotel and after seeing the great prices I think the next time my boyfriend and I need a super-romantic getaway, we'll look into the amazing London Hotels!
I'd be torn between the Millennium Hotel London Mayfair and the Millennium Bailey's Kensington for their amazing traditional furnished and super stylish luxury rooms. And if I ever get to win the lottery or go to China one day (and I will!) I'd love to stay at the amazing looking Grand Millennium Beijing! Chocolate is a common gift for most holidays, it's known to be used in religious ceremonies and drinks since 1900 AD. It's a special and treasured treat for us and comes in all forms. Dark, white, milk, flavoured in fruits... And we all have our favourites. Mine is a variety of all!
Chocolate is a treat I can say almost all us ladies enjoy. I enjoy it to the extent of possibly being a chocoholic. I think I have chocolate every day and if I don't it's because my sweet tooth has given me a craving for something like cake or pick n mix! But chocolate is definitely a weakness for me, which is why I was happy to review and pick my favourite Hotel Chocolat chocolate!

For this, I decided that I would share my luxury chocolates (somehow) with my boyfriend, for a fun chocolate tasting session, where he would give me his opinion and I would give him mine, so I could then blog both verdicts!
This way, we figured out our favourites and shared thoughts on each chocolate. It was a lot of fun and soon felt the sickliness of 5 different chocolates, but it didn't stop us eating the lot!

This was the exciting selection I was given. I was really happy with the variety as each chocolate was very different from the next.
They came in all sorts of packaging, style and shape and I knew I would enjoy trying each one for everything it was and more so there wouldn't be anything else to compare it to. It was every chocolate for itself.

Salted Caramels were the winner in my head when I saw the contents of chocolates and couldn't wait to try it!

I loved the packaging because it was easily put away for later enjoyment.

John and I both love caramel as much as each other and had never tried salted caramel so we were really eager to test these out. I don't really like liquid-like caramel, so I wasn't very impressed at first bite when the caramel came oozing out very quickly.

John tried his and he agreed too. But the chocolate shell was spot on for luxury chocolates. We both decided that although this was a good idea, the caramel wasn't thick enough and that we'd both like chocolate with caramel that stayed in the shell rather than bursting out at the bite. I also found the salt to pack in a punch right at the end and left the back of my tongue with a salty flavour I didn't enjoy. John and I felt that this wasn't our favourite and possibly bottom of the pile for us, unfortunately, as the only thing we liked was the shell and the packaging. I was quite disappointed but then felt that maybe it just wasn't our sort of chocolate.

As for the Smiley LICK, we both felt this was too much of simple milk chocolate for us, and that it wasn't a product we felt was very Hotel Chocolat and also very far away from their target market. Maybe as a kid's treat but it didn't impress us especially.

Eton Mess: as said on the packaging, is "a timeless classic with strawberry and vanilla chocolate, cookies, meringue and strawberry pieces". The first thing I loved about this was the packaging and the way it is made.

A cute slab of chocolate made with ridges on the back for easy and even square breaks. We both agreed that Eton Mess was creamy and the pieces really helped the chocolate have a unique texture to it that helped it be a thumbs up in our eyes. I loved the strawberry pieces the most with this chocolate because of the powerful flavour it lets through whilst eating this. I loved that strong flavour and the creaminess! John, on the other hand, preferred the cookie pieces inside. He loves it for the crunchiness and texture.

We both decided that this was a quality, and luxurious chocolate definitely perfect Hotel Chocolat product, but it wasn't our winner. This was definitely in the top 3 for us though!

Billionaire's Shortbread's fusion interested us quite a lot.

Smooth praline, cookie pieces and caramel in a little chocolate shell that wasn't fully closed to reveal the goodness inside. It just sounds like a teaser doesn't it?

I loved this for the fact that it was chocolate to enjoy in bites rather than as a whole. We were silenced in depicting flavours and feeling the crunchiness and smoothness flow through and work perfectly in harmony.

Although very sickly, John said they were nice enough to want another and then another. And then we decided that the size and packaging were perfect enough for two to share. As I agreed with him, we also agreed this was definitely a contender for our favourite and very suitable Hotel Chocolat material. A perfect name, and a perfect texture, flavour and style for Hotel Chocolat. But this wasn't our winner. Our second best. A simpler chocolate it was, and an unlikely winner but top for a reason the taste buds cannot deny...

Drops Gemstones.

Simple little drops of swirled together dark and white chocolate in a copper pan that disappeared before we'd even finished trying all the chocolates. These "pure chocolate fusions to melt on your tongue" definitely do what they claim to do, and even have a little mysteriousness within them!

So simple, yet so amazing, we loved these. Probably because of how moreish they were with their smooth melting flavour and the fusion of two very different chocolates.

Each drop tasting either of both or just one. John cheekily nibbled at the pack throughout the tasting session as this was the first thing we opened, and though I told him off he carried on reviewing them saying "they're so easy to eat and moreish though! Just pop them in your mouth and they're gone"! And I couldn't help but agree as I did the same thing.

I think the thing about the gemstones is that they are so easy to eat, the simplicity of the recipe and fusion, and the fact that there will probably be more people that enjoy this chocolate in unison than the others.

Everyone has their favourites and if the gemstones weren't a part of this the Billionaire's Shortbread would be my winner, as for chocolate-loving John too.

Our winner is definitely the Drops Gemstones. Undeniable, and just in our hearts as we agreed this is probably one we'd head to our local chocolatier and buy time and time again.

Do you like Hotel Chocolat?

What would be your favourite of the five?