“Bariloche is the chocolate capital of Argentina.” These magic words enticed me to visit to Bariloche. (Turns out Bariloche has plenty of other sights to offer, but chocolate is what initially sparked my interest.)
I devised a great scheme to eat as much chocolate as possible: I would buy chocolate from each shop and conduct a taste test. However, once I actually arrived in Bariloche all I had to do was walk down a few blocks to see that with the sheer number of shops I would get either sick or go broke (probably both) if I sampled from each one. So, we bought chocolate from four shops (Mamushka, Benroth, Turista, and Reyes) and conducted our very own double blind taste test.
Here are the results.
Overall Results
Milk Chocolate
Mamushka won hands down for best milk chocolate. Tourista was second best followed by Benroth and Reyes tying for third.
Dark Chocolate
In the quest for “Best Dark Chocolate in Bariloche” Kimberly and I had completely opposite opinions. I liked Mamushka and Tourista a lot and didn’t like Benroth at all. Kimberly favored Benroth followed by Tourista and Mamuska.
Other Flavors
At Reyes we enjoyed the peppermint in white chocolate. Benroth had an amazing coconut cream. From Mamushka a flavor with honey and almond was to die for. If you enjoy citrus Mamushka also had an excellent orange and lemon cream.
Tasting Notes
Here are our complete tasting notes:
Milk
Mamushka
Elizabeth: Smooth and creamy. Less sweet than [Turista]. Very milky. Like what milk chocolate should taste like. The creamist of them.
Kimberly: The best of the three. Good flavor, very smooth. Not too sweet. Much better texture.
Turista
E: Very smooth and creamy. Extra sweet. Good for sugar lovers.
K: Sweet, but not too sweet. Better flavor than [Benroth]. Still not an amazing texture.
King
E: Extremely sweet. A little dark. Smooth; but mostly burning sweet.
K: Very sweet, not much complexity in the flavor. Good compared to Nestle.
Benroth
E: Tastes a little old. Crumbly texture. More milky less sweet than the others.
K: Texture is pretty good, though not amazing. It’s smoother than cheap chocolate. The flavor is interesting — there’s something fruity in it. It’s good, but not amazing.
Dark
Benroth
E: Very crumbly. Dark and rich. Hints of alcholol burns a little but not in sugary sort of way.
K: Very dark, but not too bitter. Good flavor. Interesting but kind of weird texture; not really creamy or smooth. Overall, pretty good.
Turista
E: Very smooth. Not super dark, but rich. Hints of peanut or vanilla? Extra smooth but bizarre flavor. The creamist of them.
K: Creamier texture, very cocoa-y. Kind of a weird flavor somewhere in there. In the end very good, though.
Mamushka
E: Richest I’ve tasted. More like what I’m used to dark chocolate tasting like. Very sweet. Slightly alchcoholic.
K: Tastes like black licorice. Can’t get past that.
In case you’re ever in Bariloche, all of these shops can be found on Mitre street.
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Dark chocolate is my favorite kind of chocolate. Chocolates have some natural antioxidants too…`
i love to eat dark chocolate because it is very tasty and it is full of antioxidants too**,