Lotte Eco Choco Foresta Milk

Sometimes I regret not choosing a ratings system based on numbers or numerical graphical units. If I had such a system, I could rate snacks such as this Lotte Eco Choco Foresta milk chocolate a little higher for being politically correct food. The main selling point of this chocolate is that it's Rain Forest Alliance certified. That means that it encompasses all of the practices that are in vogue with the environmentally aware set like sustainable farming and the protection of rain forests in Brazil where the cocoa is farmed. I'd like to give it more credit for that.



Unfortunately, I don't have a system where I can give this chocolate more credit for being an ecologically minded product. I have to rate it only based on being chocolate. I picked this bar up at the local 99 yen ($1.10) shop where I had been actively resisting it for some months. It's not that I have any issues with it per se, but a plain chocolate bar doesn't light my fire as much as many of the other options.

The bar is 50 grams (1.76 oz.) and has 291 calories. It's divided into 15 squares so it's 19 calories per square. The bar smells like chocolate, but there is also some odd smell that comes along with many varieties of Japanese chocolate. The scent seems like a chemical smell of some sort, but I really can't identify it. The bar is firm to the touch, but strangely soft in that it easily melts when it comes in contact with your fingers for brief periods of time. I wasn't even sampling this on a hot day.

The chocolate itself is okay. It's like most Japanese chocolate in that it is marginally bittersweet and has a decently deep chocolate flavor, though nothing too exciting. It also has the same odd coffee-aftertaste flavor that is so common with Japanese chocolate bars. If your options are only plain chocolate bars or you're in need of something to cook with, you're just as well off with this as a plain Morinaga, Meiji, or Ghana bar. If you really want a nice chocolate experience though, I'd still recommend the decadent plain Dars chocolates any day.