John & Kira’s Gourmet Artisan Chocolates
Posted by Joanna Miller on Sugar Savvy.
When the opportunity arose to review some gourmet artisan chocolate truffles from John & Kira’s of Philadelphia, I expected to receive a small selection of three or four flavors, so I was pleasantly surprised when this big, beautiful box arrived at my door last week. I decided to assemble a small panel of friends/judges to lend their palates and opinions to the review; due to the freshness factor of these truffles (it is advised that they be consumed within 2 weeks of purchase), I needed help. When it comes to chocolate, I am a giver. I like to spread the joy.Having checked out the John & Kira’s website ahead of time, I was impressed and charmed by the company. John and Kira, a married couple, were first drawn to one another over their mutual love of great food and community. It also led to the creation of their own line of chocolates in 2001. They work with local growers and farmers to produce their confections and have helped to launch “Project Mintpatch” in which students from area elementary and high schools grow the mint that is used in their mint truffles. You can read much more information about it here.
While I love any company with a strong sense of community involvement and education, the reason I’m writing is to tell you what I thought of the chocolates. So here it is…
Shoot. I wanted to love these. I really did. Which is why it pains me to say that I did not love them, and nor did my fellow tasters. After sampling all ten flavors included in the 28-piece Spring Box, we concluded that these are chocolates for people who like the IDEA of fine chocolates more than they actually like eating chocolate. In other words, despite being enrobed in varying percentages of premium Valrhona Chocolate, not one of these delivered the powerful punch of intense, deep chocolate ganache that we craved. Being that these are described by the company itself as being ganache, we were surprised that the fillings were waxy, left a greasy film in our mouths, and, in some cases, the flavor infusions were mild to the point of non-detection.
Here is the run-down of flavors, accompanied by transcriptions of some of our comments:
Mut Vitz Coffee Whisky: “A little greasy…the whisky hit isn’t very strong. Maybe make it a double, next time?”
Glenn’s Raspberry: “Fruity, but no immediate fresh raspberry taste. It’s more a whisper of a raspberry aftertaste.”
Pistachi-oh!: “Again, greasy and not chocolatey. I do taste the cinnamon in there, which is nice.”
Lavender Honey: “Bland. I get a slight hit of lavender and honey, but the chocolate isn’t dark enough.”
Starry Night (Anise): “This is the best one so far. The anise taste is present yet not overpowering.”
Papohaku Farm Ginger: “Way too subtle. I’d take a Chocolove Ginger bar ($2.99) over this any day of the week.” 
Bergamot: “Not exactly bursting with flavor, and it doesn’t seem to be very dark chocolate, as it claims to be.”
Lingering Lemongrass: “Wait, the description says it’s ‘surprisingly aromatic?’ Ummm, not really.”
Glenn’s Strawberry: “This one actually tastes like what it’s supposed to. It’s nice, and I don’t typically enjoy berries in chocolate.”
Drew Elementary Garden Mint: The group forgot to taste this one because we were saving it for last – and then we forgot. For my part, I will say that while I do love minty mint chocolate a la York and Junior Mints, I appreciated the genuine yet subtle mint flavor here. It made me realize that the mint I’m used to eating in mint chocolate is a peppermint oil, and probably has little to do with fresh mint. This does indeed taste like mint straight from the garden. But dang, it would be so much better with a strong, non-greasy ganache.
Additional comments, with regard to all flavors:
“These have no punch.”
“It’s chocolate for people who don’t know what good chocolate is supposed to taste like.”
“There is way too much great chocolate in the world to waste money and calories on these.”
“It’s too bad, because they should be great. What’s the deal?”
Yes, they should be great. The ingredients list nothing beyond chocolate, cream, sugar, butter and the various natural additions belonging to the respective flavors. If you visit the website and click on each flavor name, you can learn about the cooperative in the highlands of Mexico where the coffee for the Mut Vitz chocolate is grown; Papohaku Farm, the source of their biodynamically grown ginger, etc.
Ultimately, they weren’t very, how shall I say…chocolatey. Ouch, I know. But it had to be said. I guess it’s sort of like deeming a hamburger not very meaty. Yeah, these are chocolates lite. Chocolates with training wheels. Props to them for keeping it real with the pure and high-quality ingredients, but I just can’t imagine that people who truly love chocolate made these. They are confections, not chocolates.
With that said, if you don’t love deep, dark, velvety chocolate, these might just be the ones for you. And you’ll be supporting the existence of small farms and growers in the process.
28-piece box: $39, available on johnandkira’s.com
Photos courtesy of johnandkiras.com
Type your comment here.When I received the fabulous figs, I was in
seventh heaven!!!! I grow a few figs
of my own(they were a gift from my late father);but I never had any thing like these before!!I shared a
few with a few friends, but saved the
majority for myself. Some of them said they are going to order your
chocolates, and next year order the figs. Thank you for making birthday gift to myself wonderful!!!Thank you
Sandy Prendergast