{"product_id":"meiji-black-chocolate","title":"Meiji Black Chocolate — Mild Japanese Dark Bar, 50g","description":"\u003cp\u003eMeiji's dark bar, and the honest thing to say first is that \"Black\" oversells it. It is bittersweet rather than bitter, the cocoa is there without the sharp edge of a high-cocoa bar, and it snaps crisp, sharper still straight from the fridge. Buy it if you find most milk chocolate too sweet but do not actually want a bitter bar; if you want something genuinely bitter, this is the wrong one and a 70% or higher is what you are after. It was the 14th best-selling chocolate in Japan on the national purchase-volume ranking for January to March 2025, and the ranked pack is this 50 g bar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: 明治ブラックチョコレート\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt was not one of the Meiji bars whose cocoa was cut back in 2024.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt does contain vegetable fat, third on the ingredient list, where the milk bar has none. Both are still full chocolate, but it is a difference you could otherwise only find by reading a Japanese label, so we would rather say it than let you discover it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChill it and it snaps cleanly, and that crispness is one of the things people mention most about it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJapanese bakers use it two ways, in place of the milk bar, or together with it. Meiji's own recipe notes say it cuts the sweetness and deepens the colour.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens, and one thing the label does not settle:\u003c\/strong\u003e it names a flavouring without saying what that flavouring is made from, so this is not a bar we can call vegetarian.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere is no cocoa percentage for this bar, none has ever been published, so any figure you see quoted for it is a guess. It is also not the same thing as Meiji's Chocolate Effect range, which is the genuinely high-cocoa line and is sold separately. It is an eating bar, not a couverture: the kind made to be melted and re-set at controlled temperatures. Fine for melting into cakes; not a chocolatier's coating chocolate. One thing that surprises label-readers: it carries slightly more fat and slightly more energy than the milk bar, not less. One practical thing before you order: Meiji's own storage limit is below 28 °C, and a Sydney summer runs well above that, so it is worth thinking about when you order rather than after it arrives.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48322043838690,"sku":"SH-SNK-0062","price":3.29,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-black-chocolate-50g-front.webp?v=1789351862","url":"https:\/\/shintop.com.au\/products\/meiji-black-chocolate","provider":"Shintop Trading Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}