Trader Joe's recently started carrying Valrhona's
85% bar. I don't know if this is a new product,
but it's the first I've seen of it.

In the past couple years, I've bought three of
the Lindt Excellence 85% bars even though I
already knew I didn't like them, just because
Alex's descriptions made them sound so good
that I doubted my own memory.

Alex sometimes mentions that his preference is
for a deeply roasted chocolate, not the lighter
roasts characteristic of Valrhona and S-B.
So I thought an 85% Valrhona might be closer
to what I would like.

It was okay, but I don't prefer it over the
71%. Alex would call that "addicted to sugar",
but I think only a few people like Alex would
really think 71% is too sweet. I wouldn't
mind trying something halfway between the two.

But I have found a use for the 85% bar.
Recently, I've been eating lots of dried wild
blueberries from Trader Joe's (watch out --
they sell both wild and farmed dried blueberries,
the wild ones have all the flavor). I've found
that eating 85% chocolate with the dried berries
allows the berries to provide enough sweetness
for both. It's a nice combination, but I'll
have to explore a few other combinations such
as dried apricots, dates, and other berries.