TCL member RunnerNYC and myself paid a visit. The store is very nice. It is spacious, has an upscale design with an educational component. Something needed in NYC. Also, the staff were great, very accomodating people. All the products sold are made under the name "Pure Dark". They have several interesting products. But from our point of view the labels on the products did not provide enough information. No label of cocoa % yet the products come in 3 different %. If I remember correctly it is 50%, 57% and 65%. With the educational component and the name Pure Dark we expected to find origin chocolate also. They do not produce in this way. The chocolate is a blend of West African and South American beans (someone can correct me if I got this wrong) and all seem very sweet. To our disappointment the dark chocolates all contain milkfat. The bars aren't labeled or advertised as milk choc or dark milk and they seem to all be sold by the description 'dark chocolate'. Furthermore, the ingredient label also includes 'artificial ingredients' at the end. As RunnerNYC quickly noted, you'll also see on the packaging that it is a product of Mars. Apparently, two Mars employees started this division of the company. But all the products, as we understand it to be, are made at the Mars factory in NJ. Seems like a version of Hershey's Cacao Reserve. Not as exciting as having a small scale B2B producer open a store but still worth a visit.

I'm new to this group - Hi!Has anybody hear of this store Pure Dark? Looks pretty cool. http://www.gothamgal.com/gotham_gal/2008/10/pure-dark.html
updated by @chad: 03/11/26 06:20:34