Lindt Excellence Raspberry Intense

The newest addition by Lindt and Sprungli to the Excellence 100g chocolate block range is another fruit flavour: Raspberry.

Like its newly-reviewed relative Zest of Lime, Raspberry is simply chocolate and fruit - no slivered almonds as we've seen in some of the other blocks in this range. The 47% cocoa chocolate is on the lighter end of dark chocolate, making it accessible to most people (whereas darker grades tend to have a smaller market of chocolate aficionados). The raspberry in this block is pieces of freeze-dried fruit, making up 1% of the block.

The block itself has a pleasing warm reddish tinge to it, and is smooth on the top while the reverse is spotted with lots of little fruit pieces. It has a strong, jammy scent, slightly sweet but warm and pleasant. It actually smells a bit like Cadbury Cherry Ripe Burst, oddly enough.

Snapping the block open reveals pieces of freeze-dried raspberry dotted throughout the thin chocolate piece. They vary in colour from bright red to a darker shade, depending on the area of the berry they were taken from. There isn't as many big pieces as the bumpy reverse would lead you to believe.

Though the raspberry only takes up 1% of the block, it has a noticeable impact on the profile of the chocolate. From the start it's jammy and warm, gradually moving into the slight bitterness of the high cocoa percentage as the chocolate melts. The small raspberry pieces soften quickly, and when bitten add a burst of sweetness. They are a bit seedy so watch out for catching pieces in your teeth.

I really enjoyed this block. It reminds me a bit of a recipe I found once for raspberry chocolate brownies; there's that rich chocolate melt complemented by the burst of raspberry.

Score: 5 out of 5 jelly beans

Lindt Excellence Raspberry Intense is made in France. It contains milk and soy. It may contain sesame seeds, wheat and tree nuts.