Manufacturer: Lindt
Cocoa Content: 99%
Manufacturer Website
Rating: B+

Last, but certainly not least, we come to the big bad 99% Cocoa dark chocolate bar from Lindt. This one is not for the faint of heart. This is as close to eating pure unsweetened chocolate as you can get. The bar itself is fairly thin, and the squares it is divided into are rather small compared to your standard dark chocolate bar. This is for good reason as a little bit really does go a long way here.

The Lindt Excellence 99% Cocoa bar is dark ebony, nearly black, in color. There is a strong bitterness that hits the palate almost immediately. After a moment, the bitterness subsides enough to notice the rich, deep chocolate flavor. There are roasted coffee notes, along with earthiness, nuts and a hint of tofu flavors. Chewing the Lindt 99% bar opens up more earthiness and some tobacco notes. The mouthfeel is smooth and rather thick. The finish is that of a strong dark espresso with some peat and coffee grounds. The finish lingers for a good long while. I could still detect bitter coffee notes more than 20 minutes later.

The Lindt Excellence 99% Cocoa Dark Chocolate is an interesting novelty. It is well worth it for serious chocolate tasters to give this a try. It is a good match for scotch and espresso if you're looking for something to savor. For my tastes, however, this is just a little too potent to want to try more than once every great while. Chocolates on the 85%-90% range tend to show as much of the rich chocolate flavor that the 99% does without overloading the palate.