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It doesn't bother me if they used remelted chocolate, because it's possible to produce fantastic chocolate bars using ingredients from some of the European supp
by akamaka 11y ago
It doesn't bother me if they used remelted chocolate, because it's possible to produce fantastic chocolate bars using ingredients from some of the European suppliers. If the bars are labeled in a fairly ambiguous way, (for example simply saying "Madagascar") one shouldn't assume too much about the ingredients.
That being said, the PR coming out of Mast Brothers is unbelievably arrogant and off-putting. As a chocolate lover, I was excited to read their cookbook when I saw it at the bookstore, but I closed it after reading a few pages. The self-promotion and self-centered attitude was absolutely disgusting, considering that their product is only average among their peers. Producing the best chocolate requires deep respect for the bean as well as for the tastes of the consumer, and my impression is that the quality of their product will continue to be limited by their attitude.
In the big picture, Mast Brothers is still better than 99% of the chocolate out there, so I'll still buy it and enjoy from time to time.
- wavefunction 11y agoShouldn't you compare their chocolate against "their peers?" From what I've read of people more educated and passionate about chocolate their stuff isn't very good when compared against other "bean to bar" producers. If you know this and know that they have a well-established history of lying (I don't beat around the bush) then why support these lying fakers if you can buy better chocolate from legit operations?
- akamaka 11y agoI've had very good bars from Mast Brothers, but I'm in full agreement that they're not the best. I think it's important to point out that they are still much better than most, though. It's common to see people attack the worst of the premium brands while forgetting that they are still a lot better than most of the cheap alternatives, like when lovers of organic food complain about Whole Foods. In the big picture, Mast Brothers is still the good guys when compared to, say, Nestle.
- briandear 11y agoAs I live in France, Mast Brothers chocolate isn't all that compared to the stuff we get in normal grocery stores here for 3 euros a bar. I'd love to see how well Mast would do in blind tests against the Swiss, Belgians, Germans and French. My thinking is they'd get squashed like a grape. Mast is "good" if your benchmark is Dove or Hershey's. It's absolutely not $10 good. However, to each his or her own. Eat what you like! However, that being said, the Mast bros seem like such pretentious pr__ks that I'd rather just not eat chocolate than give them the money.
- akamaka 11y agoYeah, I mostly agree with you! I just wanted to point out that I have had really excellent bars from Mast Brothers, once in a while. I think it's unfair to call them outright scam artists. They just have a lot of room for improvement.