Neococoa: Taster's Truffle Box

Neococoa is a company out of San Francisco, producing what they refer to as the "hearts of chocolate truffles." They hand make what would be the ganache center of a typical truffle, but without the hard chocolate coating.

I was intrigued by the idea of a naked truffle, so I ordered a five piece taster's box. Inside were one each of: crushed bittersweet nib, toasted coconut, almond butter topped with smoked sea salt, mocha cinnamon, and freshly zested lime.

All five of my truffles had a dense, almost chewy consistency. The ganache is just the right balance of bitter and sweet, with a delicious and rich chocolate aftertaste that lingers.

The toasted coconut featured a sprinkling of coconut on top, and a bit of cocoa on the bottom. This truffle was good, but nothing special. The almond butter truffle was topped with a pinch of smoked sea salt, and again cocoa on the bottom. I enjoyed the bit of salt with this truffle, but had a hard time making out the almond flavor. The mocha cinnamon truffle was coated in a cinnamon cocoa, which was delicious! The warmth of the cinnamon melded really well with the rich ganache center. Quite tasty! Next, the zested lime truffle was coated in cocoa, and was the only round truffle in the box. This one lasted the longest in my mouth, and had the silkiest texture. I really liked the mix of lime with the deep chocolate taste, and this was probably my favorite flavor combination out of the box. Finally, there was the crushed bittersweet nib. This truffle was my favorite. Although it is billed as a bittersweet truffle with cocoa nibs, the truffle was not overly bitter (as I had expected it would be). The texture of the melting truffle contrasted beautifully with the crunch of the cocoa nibs. As the lingering taste of chocolate dissipated, I was sad I didn't have another to enjoy.

Overall I enjoyed these truffles. I believe if I were to try these again I would leave out the coconut, and order extra bittersweet cocoa nib truffles. I'd also like to try the ginger root truffle (that is on their menu, but was not in this box) should I get the chance.

I ordered this box from Foodoro, $12/5 pieces.