Mr C and I are on a bit of a health kick at the minute - nothing crazy, just trying to make better choices - and that means ditching the share bags of Cadburys for something a bit more refined and, dare I say it, grown up.

I’ve been perusing the dark chocolate aisles in awe and wonder, there’s such a wide selection, flavours, percentages and choices, it can be quite overwhelming!

The salted caramel is a particular favourite but I also liked the 70% cocoa. I was impressed by the percentage steps, 80%, 95%, etc and thought it would be an easy step up to 99%.

Tried the 99% last night and bluergh, it was disgusting! How do people eat this stuff? Bitter, dark, basically like eating a spoonful of cocoa powder.

It wasn’t until the light of day (having opened the packaging in movie mood lighting), that I saw the instructions.

Important: Tasting Advice

Excellence 99% is a unique chocolate that reveals all the strength and richness of cocoa beans. To fully appreciate all its flavours, we recommend that you progressively develop your palate through our range of high cocoa content chocolate bars, starting with Excellence 70%, then 85% and finally 99%.

The best way to experience Excellence 99% Cocoa is to break off a small piece and allow it to melt slowly in your mouth.

To taste the full bouquet of aromas, try accompanying your tasting with some coffee.

Who knew? Firstly, I hadn’t realised that chocolate could be such a connoisseur’s art, although I probably should have given the volume of choice in the shops. And I also didn’t realise that I had embarked upon such a journey without realising it. Fancy jumping right to the end of the path without taking the intervening steps! That is so like me.

But, for now, back to 70%, and I’ll enjoy that for a bit before moving up a percentage. The chocolate adventure is underway!