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Taza Chocolate ~ Dominican Republic - 60%

Taza Chocolate

The premier bean-to-bar chocolate maker hailing from my very own neck of the woods. Sort of. I am in Cambridge, Ma. and they are in Somerville, Ma. Let's just call it my backyard.

What can't Taza be listed under? They are bean-to-bar, organic, 100% stone ground, small batch, direct-trade, artisan chocolate producers. These are all the things I love about Taza.

I say love however, with one thing in mind. Those who know me and my love for chocolate know that I am not particularly in love with their chocolate. It's a love/hate sort of relationship. I love their company, their positive attitudes, their ethics involved with chocolate making, and the fact that they are always down to come to our (BeerAdvocate.com) beer festivals and throw down chocolate for a room full of 1000 plus people any time we ask them to be apart of our festivals.

I will get the haterade part a bit later because most of what I will be talking about is involved with taste and the actual review of their chocolate.

First thing to talk about is their amazing Batch code search feature on their website. On each bar of chocolate, there is a Batch number on the backside of the bar. You go to their website and type that number in, and every single bit of information about the bar is provided.

Every single chocolate company out there should adopt this model and do the same for their products. I can't tell you how basic and boring half of the reviews I do on this site are because there is little or no information about the product in my hand. It's aggravating as someone such as myself who is a novice to chocolate and actually wants to learn something about chocolate. I get roadblocks with no information provided.

Here is all of the information about this bar of chocolate.

Batch #237 - 60% Dark Bar - Taza Chocolate

Batch Information
Variety: 60% Stone Ground Dark Bar
Made On: October 26 2009
Ingredients: Organic roasted cacao, cane sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla bean.
Last Made: October 7 2009

Cacao Origin:
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Provincia: María Trinidad Sánchez
Municipality: El Factor (El Pozo)
Area: Reserva Científica Loma Guacanejo
Fermentery Location: Lat. 19.293363, Long. -69.904128
Varietal: Mostly Trinitario; Some Criollo.

Growers & Farm:
Cooperative: Red de Comercializacion Loma Guacanejo
Grower: Leocadio Rosario
Farm: El Higuero

Additional Ingredients:
Pure Cane Sugar - The Green Cane Project
Origin: Sertãozinho (São Paulo), Brazil
Whole Biodynamic Vanilla Bean - Villa Vanilla
Origin: Villanueva (Puntarenas), Costa Rica
Organic Cocoa Butter, Natural
Origin: La Red Guacanejo, Dominican Republic

Roast Profile:
Lot Received On: July 7 2009
Lot #: LR17
Bean Bill: Single Origin Hispaniola Cacao
Roast Date: October 26 2009
Roaster Model: Barth Scirocco 200
Max Temp: 238° F
Roasted For: 45 minutes

Production Info:
Grind Date: October 26 2009
Made By: Mike Schechter & Kellie Silsby
Total # of Bars Made: 1,473 Bars
Wrapped On: October 28 2009

   A member farmer of Cooperativo La Red Guacanejo


The best detailed information about a chocolate bar ever!!

What makes Taza unique?

Taza is a small bean-to-bar chocolate maker, and the only producer in the US of 100% stone ground, organic chocolate. We roast, winnow, grind, temper, and mold our chocolate in house and by hand. We use exclusively organic and sustainable ingredients to craft our chocolate.

Taza’s cacao comes from a small cooperative in the Dominican Republic with a hearty and diverse tree stock called La Red Guacanejo. Our sugar is sourced from an innovative company in Brazil called the Green Cane Project. Aside from making remarkable organic cane sugar, they process the spent cane fiber to power their factory and the nearby town. We use true cinnamon (not cascia) and whole vanilla pods, both organic and biodynamically grown, from a tiny plantation in Costa Rica called Villa Vanilla. The same care and attention to detail goes into the procurement of all our ingredients.

Direct relationships with our growers bring us the highest quality ingredients while ensuring fair wages and work practices on the farm.

Our chocolate making process is unique. Taza chocolate is stone ground and minimally processed, and we do not conch. We use authentic Oaxacan stone mills instead of steel refiners to grind our cacao. Due to the imperfect surface of a granite millstone, unrefined cacao particles and sugar granules remain in the finished chocolate.  These pop with explosive flavor on the palette, lending our bars their distinctive granular texture.

Basically, this is what all chocolate would have tasted like before the invention of the conching machines by Lindt in 1879 that further refined chocolate. This means it will have a higher acidic content and a very gritty texture, but a bolder more raw cocoa flavor.

This is one of the reasons I am not a big fan of their chocolate though. Romantically speaking, this is beautiful old school chocolate. Actual old-world-style chocolate. However, the conching process helps tones down the level of acidity through aeration. Without finer conching, you get jab-you-in-the-neck sharpness from the cocoa.

Furthermore, their talking points are getting ahead of them. Whenever someone asks me whether or not I like Taza chocolate, no matter what I say the first thing they ask me is if it has to do with the texture of the chocolate. It's always the same question, always. I don't even know if they know why they are asking that question either. They have either toured the factory or met a rep. at a tasting and this is the one talking point they have walked away with.

I don't mind a gritty texture on a chocolate bar. I eat cocoa nibs, and beans by themselves all the time. This grittiness is a bit different though. It's like sand paper and it's not pleasing when you are trying to let it melt slowly on the tongue to taste it. This chocolate is too unrefined for me. I don't want to be jabbed in the neck with acid or astringency. Also when you taste this chocolate side by side to a more refined chocolate, Taza chocolates just don't taste very good after that.

I find that this process is original and interesting, but for me there are too many distractions involved with simply trying to taste the product. It would be better if I could compare it to other stone ground products, but I haven't come across to many of those. I believe the Mast Brothers do a stone ground technique as well, It mentions it on the back of their Dominican Republic 81% bar, but I don't think it's quite as unrefined as Taza which is sort of their intentions.

On their website you can learn more about their harvesting, fermentation, do virtual tours of their factory and learn about chocolate and health as well as follow their blog.

Our Process

Read about the history of Alex Whitmore and Larry Slotnick, the founders of Taza.

Taza: About Us









Disclaimer: I am sort of pushing it with the bar of chocolate I am about to review. Chocolate has a very long shelf life. Usually up to a year for some chocolates. This chocolate I am tasting was sent to my husband as a Christmas present from Taza. It's not old in terms of chocolate and its long shelf life, but it's certainly not the freshest daisy in the patch either.


Taza 60% Dark


Type: Semisweet, 60%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario, with some Criollo

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole vanilla beans. All ingredients certified organic.

Sample Size: 85g or 3oz



Appearance: Smooth, not shiny, muted, soft brown color, simple lined molding, a few air bubbles on the surface.

Score: 92

Snap: Great deep and hearty snap, with loud audible, crisp snap sound. Clean break lines.

Score: 96

Aroma: Big bright berries up front, a bit of smokiness and roasted cocoa, very spicy nose, but a dreadful pen ink aroma dominates. Mixed with the berries, it makes it a bit unpleasant. There is an underlying floral aroma that would be beautiful with the big red berry aroma, but the pen ink smell is weird and dominating.

Score: 88

Taste: Sweet, big bold berries, acidic, astringent, too sugary and sweet at the finish.

Score: 85

Texture: Rough and gritty like sand paper, medium melt time.

Score: 72

Despite the pen ink on the aroma, there were huge aromas of berries and hints of floral aromas and smokiness just wanting to be more apparent. But sadly that pen ink was too dominating over all. I found it weird.

The texture was too gritty for me. When you let the chocolate melt on the tongue, the gritty texture is like sand paper and rubs the tongue raw making it too distracting to try and taste individual notes in the chocolate.

They are right when they say that less refining brings out much bolder flavors in the chocolate. It is a lot more flavorful than any other 60% bar I have ever had. Huge berry notes dominate this bar, but the rough sugar granules make this bar too sweet, and once again too distracting.

The only thing good about this chocolate was it's simple molding and appearance and its snap quality.

It's a great pity to me to have to write so harshly about what would seem to be a great company. Their ethics are remarkable, and their willingness to share all information about their products is something all chocolate companies should be like. But their quest to be original and authentic has left a mediocre product in my honest opinion.

But my opinions are only that. Just one persons opinions. Their products are in every single store or market you can find around here and they are expanding their facilities. They are showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Somerville chocolate company has recipe for success.


Final Score: 86.6

score
B-

EDIT: I want to add that after this very robust chocolate sat out for more than 3 hours, the nose did tone down a lot. It's much more fragrant and pleasant. It becomes a bit perfume-y rather than inky. Still has a bit of an astringent aroma, but much nicer over all. However, I am leaving the aroma score as is because who has time to leave chocolate out for 3 hours just to soften the harshness?

Demarquette ~ Porcelana 64%

Demarquette

Single estate cacao from Palmira Estate in Venezuela. Though it doesn't say it is Valrhona Cocoa for this bar, the same details provided for this chocolate are the same for Valrhona's Palmira chocolate bar. This must be couverture chocolate from Valrhona.

Close to lake Maracaibo, a host of villages cling to the fertile land of West Venezuela with its extraordinary variety of flora and fauna. Amidst the fruity scent of mangoes, papayas and plantain bananas, men work the plantation to harvest the best Criollo cocoa beans in Venezuela. Subtle on the palate, a round taste with notes of honey and nuts, *this chocolate has all the characteristics required to make it exceptional.

*The note inside the Demarquette bar cut off after honey and nuts.

The Lake Maracaibo area of Venezuela.

[Image via Wikimedia Commons.]

From The Nibble Chocolate Glossary about Porcelana Beans:

Image via Time Magazine.

One of the rarest beans in the world, a genetically pure strain of the Criollo bean from the Andean region of Venezuela. It is named Porcelana for the pale, almost white-colored interior of the beans (although the nibs produce regular-colored cacao). It is believed that Porcelana cocoa was grown in the southwestern area of Venezuela as early as Pre-Colombian times. According to historical sources, it seems that at the time of the Spanish conquest (the early 1500s), this cacao was being grown in the same area where Porcelana grows today.

In colonial times, Porcelana cacao was called Maracaibo, since it was primarily exported from the Venezuelan port of that name. Until the 1920s, Maracaibo cacao was classified as the world's highest-quality cacaos, along with a few Mexican and Columbian strains. Unfortunately, Porcelana cocoa is not very resistant to disease and the Mexican and Colombian cacaos of this genetic quality have died out leaving behind hybrids with inferior organoleptic qualities. The unmistakable toasted almond flavor of the pure Venezuelan variety makes it a prized bean, and this rare bean produces some of the finest (and most expensive) chocolate bars in the world. Because of the limited supply o beans only the finest chocolatiers have access and thus make a Porcelana bar: Amedei, Domori, Pierre Marcolini, and Valrhona.

Flavors will vary by producer, but in addition to almonds, Porcelana typically yields strawberries, cream, butter, butterscotch and sometimes bread flavors. The bars tend to be a reddish-brown in color.

Porcelana 64%


Type: Semisweet, 64%

Bean Varietal: Hybrid Criollo

Ingredients: Not listed, but Valrhona lists it's ingredients as: Cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla, and soya lecithin.

Sample Size: 75g or 2.6oz



Appearance: Soft brown color smooth, shiny bar, but a little dusty and a little matted from plastic cover.

Score: 90

Snap: Excellent firm snap, crisp snap sound, clean break lines.

Score: 97

Aroma: Mildly smokey, soft, roasted cocoa, a little spicy, tangerines and orange blossoms, honey, and wood.

Score: 98

Taste: Big honey taste right up front, sweet, cereal grains, mild hints of peanuts, soft bitterness, slightly tangy, floral hints, lingering hints of peanuts and wood notes.

Score: 95

Texture: Smooth, soft and creamy once it opens up, medium melt time.

Score: 94


This was very delicate chocolate, but fantastic. Very soft, but distinctive aroma and flavors. Sweet chocolate, but not like a typical semisweet chocolate. Big honey right up front on the taste, and then opened up in to a cereal grain taste. Think Honey-Nut Cheerios. A little tangy, but overall very smooth and creamy.

The aroma was fantastic. So much going on. As soon as I opened it, it was smokey and sweet smelling. Then came a little spiciness and soft roasted cocoa notes. Orange blossom and tangerine aromas were the most surprising. They come and go on this chocolate. It was very apparent when first opened and then little hints of hit came through every now and again while reviewing.


Final Score: 94.8

score
A

Mast Brothers ~ Dominican Republic 81%

Mast Brothers

Dark chocolate 81%, from the Dominican Republic.

Via The New Yorker 2008

Johnny Cash, “Cash”
Single-Origin Dominican Republic
Try the man in black (one of my heroes) with a dark single-origin chocolate from the Dominican Republic. This cacao is particularly delicious in its pure form, unadulterated by additional ingredients. After you unwrap one of these rustic bars and open up this indispensable autobiography, you may catch the scent of rum and tobacco—from the chocolate and the pages.

Type: Bittersweet, 81%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario, maybe some Criollo present.

Ingredients: Cocoa, cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5oz or 71g



Appearance: A little nicked up, but smooth, shiny, deep dark brown color, simple molding.

Score: 93

Snap: Deep, hearty snap. Clean break lines.

Score: 96

Aroma: Rich roasted cocoa, medicinal, slightly minty, tobacco, mild hints of nuts.

Score: 93

Taste: Sweetness and berries on the first taste, very bitter up front, a little astringent, big woody cedar notes, vodka, and cherries on the finish. A little drying and palate killing with the robust and intense cocoa percentage.

Score: 95

Texture: Smooth, medium melt time, hard at first, but then opens up and becomes creamy.

Score: 94

Nice and robust cocoa. Straight forward bittersweet cocoa, but with some interesting aromas and individual notes on the taste.

Smelled like Rio Caribe cocoa from Venezuela. Had the medicinal and minty tobacco characters with tar to follow it up. Then it tasted it like Madagascar cocoa beans with classic vodka notes and big cedar wood notes. It had a lovely sweet berry taste to start then it opened up into huge bitterness Roasted cocoa, cedar wood, and finished with cherries.

This was exciting chocolate for me because it reminded me of Amedei 9 chocolate bar. For that bar, they used beans from 9 different plantations from around the world. You could actually taste or identify certain markers from the different regions. It was a fantastic palate experience. This is kind of like that where there are aromas and tastes from various regions but this was a single origin bar. It's pretty amazing to have all of those individual notes on this one bar.


Final Score: 94.2

score
A-

Demarquette ~ Pure Wild Chocolate 72% Limited Edition

Pure, wild grown Bolivian cocoa beans. I have only encountered this one other time with the wild Bolivian beans from Melt Chocolates also in London.

This is a limited edition chocolate bar from Demarquette. I guess it was part of an exclusive batch only made for the UK. Luckily I have a friend who lives in London, and has no problem picking up chocolate for me to review.

There is no information for this chocolate bar that I can find online. A few mentions of the 68% Wild Bolivian from Demarquette. All that I have learned about Bolivian beans so far, is that appararently cocoa grows wild in Bolivia, and that they are wild hybrid beans.

Normally I am stickler about having all the information, but these wild bars are kind of cool without information. It's one of the few times I will be fairly lenient about not having the info. Wild beans from Bolivia, and nothing to do but taste it.

Pure Wild Chocolate 72% Limited Edition

Type: Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, Wild Hybrid

Ingredients: Not Listed

Sample Size: 75g or 2.6oz

Appearance: Smooth, deep rich brown color, shiny surface, a little matted from being wrapped in plastic, but otherwise smooth.

Score: 93

Snap: Good crisp snap, light crisp sound, clean break lines.

Score: 93

Aroma: Awesome aroma, sweet, soft, woody, spicy, Almond Joy (almonds and coconuts), smokey. Once it's been opened up a bit that Almond Joy character softens into an almond butter aroma. Very nutty but soft and pretty. The nose was very aromatic but pretty with soft, delicate notes. It was a bit all over the place too with the wood and spiciness and then softening up into an almond butter. It does have soft roasted cocoa notes once it's been rubbed to open up it's aroma.

Score: 97

Taste: Rich roasted cocoa, sweet, soft, cinnamon, extremely low acidity, but fairly bitter, woody, nutty, dry, a little spicy, some hints of green fruits, but red fruits are dominating. Finishes clean, but has some lingering hints of nuts.

Score: 95

Texture: Smooth, soft, creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 94

I loved the aroma on this chocolate. It was all over the place with being spicy and nutty. It was sweet smelling and sweet tasting but still fairly bitter and finished dry. Unusual chocolate, but certainly exciting trying to figure out all of it's nuances. 

This was a very interesting bar of chocolate. I should develop a category for "Thinking man's chocolate." I have a few of these come up where I had to sit back for a while and think about these chocolate. This was one of them.

Final Score: 94.4

score
A-

Mast Brothers ~ Dark Chocolate + Dried Cranberries 72%

Mast Brothers

Back to Brooklyn, NY. The last time I had Mast Brothers chocolate I was given a good size collection of their bars from my good friend Shane Welch, founder and Brewmaster of Sixpoint Craft Ales. He uses Mast Brothers cocoa nibs for making beer.

I reviewed the Dark Chocolate + Fleur de Sel, but the others I wasn't able to review because one broke in to a million pieces, I ate one and the others I sat on too long to review and they bloomed. Remember bloom on chocolate does not effect it's taste, just it's appearance. I didn't think it was fair to review them after I let them sit too long. So I asked my homie Shane, to bring me some more if he wouldn't mind. He didn't mind at all because he brought me a ton more of their bars.

The older bars were a big hit with some of my friends I tasted chocolate with. I needed to get rid of the chocolate I had been stock piling after all the reviewing. I did a beer and chocolate tasting and was able to teach them chocolate has a long shelf life and that it was still edible despite the bloom. They all loved it. The Salt + Pepper bar was voted the best of the night based on taste. Those bars however were made with Venezuelan chocolate. It looks like the Mast Brothers have switched the majority of their products to Madagascar cacao and cacao from the Dominican Republic.

Dark Chocolate + Dried Cranberries Madagascar 72% Limited Edition

Type: Flavored Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cocoa, cane sugar, dried cranberries.

Sample Size: 2.5oz or 71g



Appearance: Smooth, shiny bar, basic molding, soft, dark brown color, beautiful red dried cranberries on the underside of the bar. It did have an interesting swirl pattern on the backside with the dried cranberries. Looks like it's how it settled after being poured into a the mold.

Score: 95

Snap: Thin snap sound, but strong snap. Clean break lines.

Score: 92

Aroma: This aroma is not as robust as you would think. It's kind of robust at first, right out of the package, but dissipates fairly quickly. But it's smokey, red berries (on the cocoa), citrus, bright dried cranberries, tar, and rubber.

Score: 91

Taste: Sharp, citrus, very acidic, big cedar wood taste, bitter, tar, tart red fruits on just the chocolate, with the dried cranberries it's all most too sharp on the acid content, but they add a nice fruity taste to tone down some of the harshness of the cocoa. Lingering rubber notes.

Score: 87

Texture: Smooth, medium soft, but long melt time.

Score: 93

I wasn't as happy with this bar as I thought I would be. It looks very pretty, but it's too tart based on the cocoa content. The cocoa is not balanced at all and too acidic. The pretty dried cranberries only added to the tartness. They did give a bit of a good fruity kick but then the bitterness and lingering tar and rubber notes took over for the finish. It just didn't finish very pleasant. Now if you are a person who likes coffee, no sugar, no cream, you might enjoy this.

I usually love Madagascar beans. I wasn't a fan of this. The bitterness and acidity was too much. You couldn't enjoy the nuances of Madagascar cocoa beans. It had all the classic hallmarks, but they were hard to focus on.

They need to work on smoothing out that Madagascar cocoa a bit more or make the dried cranberry bar with the Venezuelan cocoa again.

They still have the most gorgeous packaging paper in the business!

Final Score: 91.6

score
B+

Demarquette ~ Araguani 72%

Demaquette Fine Chocolates

Another highly anticipated chocolate to taste from The British Chocolate Invasion. Demarquette in London. This bar is part of Demarquette's Pure Range Collection. A collection of single origin beans from around the world crafted into fine chocolate bars.

We have searched for the most interesting pure cocoas to satisfy any chocoholic's palate. You are invited to discover our creations made with award-winning cocoas from around the world. In this collection you will taste the strength of raw flavours found in cocoa and how they vary according to plantation, estate or geographical region. The only collection of its kind in the UK! Each cocoa has been carefully selected by British Chocolatier Marc Demarquette for its quality, finesse and unique aroma. The full ‘Pure Range’ collection of 16 exquisite and pure cocoas, which also includes the rare ‘wild’ Bolivian Cocoa, first introduced to the UK market by Demarquette in 2008, represents a truly sumptuous long-haul journey of highest quality cocoas - an unprecedented ‘Taste the World Through Chocolate’ experience!

This Bar: Araguani (72%) Bar

Demarquette has a nice website loaded with good information about their background and history on Marc Demarquette himself.

Marc-H. Demarquette was born in 1972 to a French father and Chinese mother in London, where he was raised before spending his educational years in Bath.

Following his undergraduate and post graduate studies at the universities of Brighton and Westminster, he started out his career as a Management Consultant at one of the leading consultancy firms in London working on high-profile projects within international blue-chip organisations.

A serious accident then made him re-think his priorities and he decided to leave the consultancy world in order to pursue a lifelong passion he had - Chocolate!

Marc was introduced to good quality fine chocolate from a very early age when his French grandmother would treat him to the finest chocolates made by Gaston LeNotre when she visited him in London. He was fascinated by the great varieties in tastes and textures and admired the creativity of M. Lenotre whom he would later meet personally during his training as a Chocolatier.

His quest started with in-depth training at the prestigious Maison Lenôtre in Paris, where he was taught by world Masters and acquired the fine art of making artisan chocolates. He further fine-tuned his expert skills by learning with a number of Master Chocolatiers in France.

From the outset, his vision was to create exquisite hand-made chocolates, which are inspired by his cultural background, and the inspiration he seeks from the surrounding community.

His culture and experiences have inspired him to make the finest quality chocolates containing a wealth of superior ingredients sourced to the highest standards to ensure only the best is used, that on tasting will transport you back to magical experiences you have had and exotic places you have dreamed about.

These exquisite flavours will trigger your aspirations and have you marvelling at the combinations we use to tantalise your taste buds.

As well as freshly hand-making his fine chocolates for sale at the Demarquette boutique on Fulham Road in Chelsea, Marc was commissioned by Fortnum & Mason within just one year, to be the only permanently named and featured chocolatier within the store. He has created the 'Fortnum & Mason Bespoke Selection' of chocolates using a variety of the famous store's exclusive ingredients with exciting new flavours regularly being created and introduced.

"My chocolates are derived from pure passion. Passion for the traditional artisan craft and passion for the perfection of my finished product.

This I bring to you with an explosion of contemporary flavours that will stimulate your imagination and make you want to experience the full collection of artisan delights.

I command only the highest quality raw ingredients and select the finest cocoa butter to create a smooth chocolate that you can enjoy anytime.

A taste sensation."

Demarquette also offers a good amount of details in chocolate making from it's history, bean-to-bar making, and tasting guide.

Guide to Chocolate


I unfortunately, do not have a lot of information about this bar. I don't have Demarquette listed as a bean to bar producer, and it isn't listed who he sources his cocoa from. All I can say is that the bar is from Venezuela as mentioned on the package. Valrhona makes a bar under the name Araguani 72%. It could be courverture chocolate or beans from them, but nothing indicates that it is Valrhona. If it is by any chance Valrhona, they list their bean varietal as a hybrid blend of Criollo and Trinitario.

The ingredients are not listed for this bar of chocolate, but they do say this about the ingredients they typically use:

Our passion is chocolate!  And we are particularly selective when it comes to choosing the best quality, ethically grown and harvested, traceable varieties. We are very strict in our selection of growers and producers, who must adhere to only the highest standards in social responsibility.

Our cocoa butter is a traceable blend from Ecuador, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic and the sugar we use for our Caramel Chocolates is British Beet sugar.

We are passionate about taking fine chocolate in its purest form and hand-blending it with just a few simple yet powerfully flavoured fresh ingredients which further enhance the chocolate and create its own unique character. We use only the freshest ingredients sourced from local suppliers, where possible, in our chocolates and prepare them to strict specifications in our London Chocolaterie.

As with our chocolate, we carefully select our ingredients from traceable and ethical sources. The provenance of our fresh cream is paramount and we personally know the farmers whose dairy herds graze in Cornwall and Hampshire. Homegrown fruit and berries are picked from Marc's family orchard in the French Alps.

We do not add additional sugar to our chocolates but when necessary sweeten with our own aromatic blend of traceable honey - a natural inverted sugar - harvested from the sweet nectar of wild meadow flowers.

And above all we do not add palm oil, substitutes or any other synthetic or artificial flavourings to our chocolates.

Araguani 72%


Type: Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, but could be a hybrid of Criollo and Trinitario.

Ingredients: Not listed.

Sample Size: 75g or 2.6oz

Appearance: Smooth, shiny surface, deep rich brown. A few nicks here and there and a little bit of matting from the plastic wrapper, but otherwise very smooth.

Score: 94

Snap: A light snap with a slight underlying deep thud. Clean break lines.

Score: 92

Aroma: Rich cocoa, tobacco, nutty, smokey, a little spicy, soft floral notes, and raisins.

Score: 95

Taste: Deep rich cocoa, a bit of a bright green character, hints of cinnamon, big woody characters, berries, raisins, a slight hint of leather. Soft taste despite rich flavors. No sharp acidic notes, or astringency.

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth, medium soft, medium melt time.

Score: 94

The taste is what I am coming to understand as a very classic taste for South American cocoa beans especially of berries and deep rich cocoa. It's very classic tasting and rich. Simple and straight forward.

This is very different from a lot of British chocolate I have tasted so far. It's not as sweet. The British really like their chocolate a lot sweeter. It is a lot softer in the body. It's rich and full flavored, but very soft at the same time. I really like big bold bittersweet chocolate that isn't acidic or astringent.

Very good chocolate!

Final Score: 94.2

score
A-

Sugar Heaven ~ Boston

I was invited to come to the opening of Sugar Heaven's new store opening in the Back Bay of Boston. Sugar Heaven started in Montreal but has since branched out with five locations and one on the way in Las Vegas.

I was very excited to check this place out because their website has a small clip of Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar On Me when the website opens up.

Sugar Heaven

They are a full service candy shop with all the classics, and some new favorites. From adult candy toys, to gift baskets, candy cocktails, and event planning like weddings and corporate events to birthday party events held right in their store.

They have an ice cream shop coming soon to their downstairs area. It was set up with food and a second bar for the opening so I didn't get to see what it would look like set up for ice cream. And word on the street is they will have a chocolate conveyor belt of some kind set up in the shop.

I do have one minor disappointment with the shop though. It was still in the process of being set up, but despite how colorful the candy was, it was a lot of mass produced candy. Now, don't get me wrong. It's not like I wouldn't be caught dead eating it. Of course I love candy in all forms. There were some candy classics in this place from Nerds, Fun Dip, even old school candy bars like Charleston Chews and classics like Haribo's gummy coke bottles. I guess I am being a bit of a snob when it comes to how the place looked.

I have this dream of seeing a candy shop opening up that is either a child's dream of a candy shop. Big, bright, bold, gaudy and just a total playground. I don't know exactly how one would achieve that. I willfully admit I am sitting in judgment from afar. But I want to see someone open up a either a huge gaudy European-style candy shop that is laden with gold wrappers, chocolate over flowing from every corner and candy galore. Or a massive fun house of candy. I would like to see a real life version of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

I am not saying this shop isn't great by any means, but in my own head I have a dream of a glorious candy shop, one that would put them all to shame. This is not what I had in mind, but it's still fun.

One way this candy shop knows how to appeal to adults was to offer up candy cocktails. These were wicked sweet drinks, but I did like the Jolly Rancher Margarita. It's cool to see a garnish tray of candy for a change. Sour apple ropes and jelly beans. The Jolly Rancher Margarita had a candy watermelon slice in it.






I kind of like that the first thing you see when you walk in is a make-shift bar right at the front and adult candy items like candy necklace nipple tassels and candy cigarettes. We also got a pack of candy cigarettes in our take home gift bags. I thought they stopped making those. They were the best as kids. Puffing away, blowing out powdered sugar like you were really smoking. I know how terrible that is considered today, but I don't give a shit! I loved them.







Random candy shots from around the store. M&M's candy bars, and bins of candy.






Rock Candy.

Lollipop tree.

My husband Todd, models his hand to indicate how big the giant lollipops are.

Chocolate covered everything.







Bins upon bins of candy.










Sugary drinks anyone?

Gift baskets.

This was my favorite part. Chap sticks in cake frostings, brownies, pancakes, and sugar cookie flavors. Even in classic cereal flavors. 

And there you have it. Cocktails, candy nipple tassels, candy bins, and flavored chap sticks. I dug it.

L.A. Burdick ~ Madagascar 64%

L.A. Burdick

Single Source chocolate collection, Madagascar 64% semisweet chocolate bar.

Another website that doesn't offer a ton of information about their specific products. All I know for sure is that this is part of a collection of single origin bars that Burdick's makes. I have reviewed the Grenada bar so far, and have the Venezuela bar to go.







Madagascar 64%


Type: Semisweet, 64%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Unknown

Sample Size: 3.5 oz 100g



Appearance: Smooth, Shiny and glossy, a little bit matted in placed from the plastic wrapper, simple molding.

Score: 94

Snap: Deep, firm snap. Deep, but not crisp snap sound. Clean break lines.

Score: 93

Aroma: Big roasted cocoa, a little bit smokey, woody, fruity, sweet and sugary.

Score: 95

Taste: Sweet, roasted cocoa, tangy, orange citrus notes, bright cherries, and wood.

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth, moderately creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 94

I enjoyed this quite a bit. I think more sugar and lower cocoa percentages help tame a lot of the stringency and tartness Madagascar beans tend to have. Made it much more fruit forward and bright cherries came through.

It's pretty straight forward chocolate on the aroma and taste. It has all the classic hallmarks of Madagascar beans with the wood, and tart citrus notes, but the sweet and creamy texture make it fruitier and very enjoyable.

I have liked just about everything I have had from Burdick's. From their hot chocolate, to their truffles and their single origin bars. My only suggestion to them would be to include more information on their website about their products. Ingredients and more in depth information on the sources these beans are coming from.

Final Score: 94.4

score
A-

Making Up With Modern Dwellers

Customer service goes a long way. After being upset about the state of the truffles sent to me from a friend of mine who lives in Alaska and got them from Modern Dwellers in Anchorage, a new box made it's way to me.

Modern Dwellers ~ Beat Up Truffles

Now, this isn't why I write about chocolate. I don't like having to give bad reviews or harsh reviews. I don't like having to be sent new chocolate to make up for something that may have gone wrong. I don't write about chocolate to get free stuff, though it is nice when it happens. And I don't write bad reviews to stir up unnecessary drama. The power of words can go a long way. You never know what kind of impact you can have on a business. Being completely honest and telling the whole truth is the only way to go.

Part of the reason I was so upset about the state of the truffles was because of all of my new friends in Alaska swear by Modern Dwellers. I wanted to know what their story was and what the hype was all about. I really wanted to visit their shop while I was in Alaska back in Jan., but I never got a chance to make it over there. A kind friend of mine sent me a box of their truffles. But with no padding in the box, the truffles were completely destroyed by the time it got to me. It was hard to see what all the fuss was about and that's what I wrote.

Another reason it was so upsetting to have to write something like that, is because they have some unique flavor profiles. For a tiny little shop in Anchorage, Alaska they are doing some pretty amazing things up there. They are also working on pairing beer with chocolate with their local brewery Midnight Sun Brewing Co. There is a lot to like about Modern Dwellers.

I guess what I am trying to say is that it wasn't easy for me to write a harsh review about them. I wanted to like them and it was a rocky introduction.

All of that can be laid to rest now and left in the past. A new box was delivered and they were delicious.

I took the box and camped out in a tiny corner at my favorite bar Green Street, in Cambridge on a packed Friday night. I made everyone at the bar jealous as I ate truffles, took pictures of them and drank Great Divide's Yeti Imperial Stout with them. I also had a lot of red wine with these truffles. I am a BeerAdvocate, but I am not going to front, red wine and chocolate is fantastic together!

Everything sitting up right, the toppings still in place on the truffles. Still a little dusty from the nut covered truffles, but so much nicer than before. The inside was stuffed with bubble wrap this time.

There was only one disappointment this time. My list of truffles indicated that the Anchovy Amour and the Salmon Surprise were in the box. Sadly they were not. I know they sound odd, but I am all about weird and unexpected combinations. The Anchovy Amour is made with bittersweet blueberry puree ganche, hand rolled in dark chocolate, and topped with a salty and dainty piece of dried anchovy on top. Sounds awesome! The Salmon Surprise is dark chocolate, honey and black pepper ganache and coated in a dark chocolate shell, topped with lustered Alaskan Smoked Salmon. Tell me that doesn't sound delicious.

So, a mild disappointment there because I got my hopes up when I saw the list, but found they weren't there. Oh well, it just means a visit to their shop next time I am in Anchorage.






Pumpkin Pie Spice

Pumpkin pie spiced dark chocolate ganache dipped in white chocolate, dusted with pie spice.

This was much better fresh. I noticed this batch was a lot lighter on the pie spice and the white chocolate was more apparent than it was the first time I tried it. But still this was very nice. I liked this truffle the first time, and I liked it even more fresh. I just wish those pie spices were a tad more apparent.






Sweet White Delight

Creamy white chocolate and cherry ganache, dipped in white chocolate and topped with a dried tart cherry.

Not so much for me. It looked very pretty, and I thought this would be great, but it was too much white chocolate for me. The cherry ganache was too subtle and the white chocolate was too dominating. The cherry on top added a nice bit of tartness, but it didn't last long. Very pretty truffle, and great if you like white chocolate, but not a Candice truffle.




Buna Burst

Espresso and agave infused ganache. Hand rolled in dark chocolate. Rolled again in cocoa and cinnamon powder.

This was excellent! Soft espresso flavors, not bitter, but nice and roasted, light cinnamon, and unsweetened cocoa powders. Sot agave but you could tell it was present added a soft sweet and a little buttery taste. As soft as this truffle was, it was very complex at the same time. Loved it.






Indian Bop

Bittersweet East Indian curry ganache hand rolled dark chocolate and toasted coconut flakes.

Still one of my favorites. I liked this a lot the first time I had it, but it is worlds better fresh and with freshly toasted coconut flakes. Nice crunchy shell with super soft ganache in the center. I am not a big curry fan, but this worked out extremely well with the dark chocolate.





Purple Infusion

Dark chocolate lavender ganache covered in dark chocolate and topped with lavender petals.

This looks worlds better than the first time I tried it. The lavender on the first one looked like dried up grass or hay. This was topped with pretty purple petals and the petals helped add a nice pop of herbal flavor. The lavender ganache was very subtle. The rich, dark chocolate ended up dominating this truffle, but it was still pretty over all.










Cacao Wow

Dark 72% chocolate ganache encased in dark chocolate and topped with organic cocoa nibs.

I got two of these in my box. This is a straight forward truffle of rich dark chocolate. Sweet and rich, and nice roasted cocoa nibs on top. Simple and delicious.






Raspberry Grove

Bittersweet raspberry and maple ganache covered in dark chocolate and a luster coating.

This is much prettier than the first go around with this truffle. This is what I had hoped it would look like. Still has a bit of a dsty coating on it fromthe nut covered truffles in the box, but gorgeous purple luster. The raspberry popped but was not tart of overpowering. Soft raspberry taste, no maple taste, but nice rich dark chocolate.





The Berbere

Bittersweet ganache spiced with Ethiopian berbere dipped in dark chocolate and topped with a pinch of berbere.

I called this a mystery truffle in my notes until I bit into it. It didn't look anything like the first Berbere truffle I had. But the heat was there. The heat was a lot softer than the first go with this truffle, but still too much for my wuss mouth. If you like heat or spicy foods, this is a great truffle. It's a bit softer than a cayenne pepper or red chili heat, but paired with the rich chocolate it was tasty. I did love the lingering warmth despite the initial bigger heat kick and a sip of red wine with this truffle. It was fantastic.






Pistachio Passion

Lemon zest white ganache enrobed in dark chocolate shell topped with salted pistachio nuts.

This is a lovely truffle. I love the lemon zest ganache. It's bright but not too tangy and doesn't allow the dark chocolate to over power. I wish there were more salted pistachios on the top as the salt added the right contrast, but there was enough of it there to get the idea. Great truffle.







Dazed By Hazel

Rich milk chocolate and hazelnut ganache rolled in dark chocolate chunks of hazelnuts.

Milk chocolate was the right choice for this truffle. Soft hazelnut taste, but delicious. Crunchy texture, soft milk chocolate ganache. It tastes like Italian gianduja.






Margarita Zing

Bittersweet ganache of fresh lime zest and tequila covered in a dark chocolate shell and topped with Hawaiian pink sea salt.

This wasn't as lovely as the first time I tried it. It needed more pink salt, and the lime zest was more apparent this time. I liked the lime zest, but the dark chocolate overtook the subtleties of the tequila. I likes this, but I feel like it could have been a lot better.


And there you have it. What these truffles were meant to be like the first time. Very nice collection and very nice people at Modern Dwellers along with Shauna Pajak, who sent these along to make sure I had a fair shot with Modern Dwellers.

Patric Chocolate ~ Rio Caribe Superior 70%

Patric Chocolates

Another straight forward chocolate from the Paria Peninsula in Venezuela. See the map below and locate Rio Caribe on the top right hand side. That is the Paria Peninsula and the region this chocolate comes from.

From the website:

This single-estate chocolate, made with delectable cacao from Venezuela's Paria Peninsula, has robust and deeply satisfying chocolate flavor with notes of fresh cream, roasted almonds, coffee, walnuts, floral notes and subtle hints of dried apricot. This bar is the equal of and yet completely different than our Madagascar line of bars.

This chocolate was sent to me as part of a collection of Patric Chocolates from Alan McClure. This is his first single origin bar outside of Madagascar. He first released it in late 2009. He has 4 other bars all from Madagascar of various strengths. He is working on another single origin bar soon to be released, but he is very tight lipped about any clues on where it might be coming from.

Won't you give us any sort of a hint Alan?

Upon opening this chocolate, it immediately reminded me of smelling a Gueuze or sour, wild ales. Sometimes the aroma characteristics described may not sound like they are very appealing. With Sour ales it's not uncommon to have an aroma of band aids, medicinal aromas, or barnyard smells. Funky is the key word for these kinds of beers and I think funky is a good key word for the aroma of this chocolate.

This is all bean on the aroma. There are nothing but cocoa beans and sugar in the ingredients. No cocoa butter, or vanilla added. This is some pretty raw chocolate.

I felt like I should explain the aroma ahead of time because it might not seem palatable for some readers. And with some of these funkier aromas, it might not make sense why this chocolate scored as high as it did. It's because of how natural it is and how distinctive these aromas were. Not to mention, it technically hits all the right marks for reviewing. It's a thinking chocolate and not what I would call a beginners chocolate.

Rio Caribe Superior 70%

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varital: Hybrid, Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans and sugar.

Sample Size: 50g or 1.75 oz

Lot #: 101830

Appearance: Smooth, shiny, glossy, simple monogrammed molding. Deep, rich, dark brown color.

Score: 97

Snap: Good firm, crisp snap, though a touch lighter in sound than I would have though. Clean break lines.

Score: 94

Aroma: Huge roasted cocoa, bitter, strongly medicinal, minty, rubber, tar, burnt coffee, slightly minty, some complex fruits and apricots underneath the robust roasted characters.

Score: 92

Taste: Sugar in the very first taste, then it opens up into medicinal flavors, burnt coffee, tar, rubber, roasted cocoa, cinnamon, oak.

Score: 94

Texture: Soft, smooth, creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 95

This is very complex chocolate. It's very robust and bitter, but has strong individual flavors. It's like each individual flavor is an attention getter vying for your time and attention amongst the other flavors. There are fruits, but they are hard to identify with all the other strong flavors coming through. There were apricots on the nose, but hard to pinpoint on the taste.

This is a great chocolate for those who like things complicated and bitter. It's very natural and untamed like those funky wild ales I was talking about earlier.

I am not even sure if I really like this chocolate, I think I just like how raw and aggressive it is.  This is not a beginners chocolate.

Final Score: 94.4

score
A-