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Patric Chocolate ~ Madagascar 75%

Patric Chocolate Sambirano Valley Madagascar 75%

Madagascar cacao sweetened only with pure cane sugar and no other added ingredients. Pure and simple.

[Image via Nasa, and Madagascar VTT Trekking.]

Images of the Sambirano river delta from space. And images of the valley and cocoa drying from the Sakalava Village. These images are unrelated to Patric Chocolate, but this is what the region looks like.

 



Type: Bittersweet, 75%

Bean Varietal: Hybrid

Ingredients: Cocoa beans and pure cane sugar.

Lot #: 101833

Appearance: Smooth, shiny, simple monogrammed molding. Very deep brown color.

Score: 95

Snap: Good firm, deep snap. Asymmetrical break lines, but clean.

Score: 94

Aroma: Roasted cocoa, cedar wood. bright and citric, but a lot more subdued than the other Madagascar bars from Patric. Very mild overall.

Score: 93

Taste: Tart, notes of dried tart cherries at the beginning, very citrus forward, acidic, once it's opened up a bit big cedar wood, vodka notes, roasted cocoa, tiny hints or tar and rubber but very slight. Dry, bitter retro-olfaction finish.

Score: 91

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

Score: 94

This wasn't my favorite from Patric Chocolate, but still a fantastic chocolate over all. I personally found it to be too tart and acidic over all but still this bar had some fantastic notes like tart cherries right up front, and awesome cedar wood flavors. I have really come to appreciate and love the woody characters. I am still in total awe as to what is in the terroir that has the ability to give cocoa beans vodka notes.

It is incredibly smooth without using cocoa butter. It has a fantastic creamy texture once it's opened up and melts beautifully. Alan McClure is a master at taming raw cocoa with little or no additives.

Final Score: 93.4

score
A-

L.A. Burdick ~ Venezuela 72%

Since there is virtually no information about this chocolate provided on their website and I have already written a little bit about Burdick's before, I will skip right to the technical marks.

It gets very frustrating not having specific information about these bars. A lot of chocolate websites are like this. I realize most people do not require the kind of information I am seeking for reviewing purposes, but chocolate is becoming a bigger hobby for more and more people. Knowing where the beans come from and the ingredients is at least the very basic information that could be provided.

There is  mention of them working with Grenada cacao and The Grenada Chocolate Co. This is fantastic news, as Grenada could use all the help they can get after Hurricane Emily came through and made a huge mess of the chocolate production. Also Grenada beans from what little I have experienced from the region is fantastic and very flavorful.

Why Grenada?

Grenada, a lush mountainous realm covered with fragrant spice trees and tropical flowers, is known as the “Spice Isle,” redolent in the scents of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla. We would like it to be known as the “Cocoa Isle” as well – part of a “Golden Triangle” of cocoa production along with Trinidad and Venezuela.   Additionally, the island has thousands of independant farmers with intimate knowledge of the cocoa production process.

They use fertilizers and pesticides sparingly, if at all. Grenada, cocoa trees mostly grow in their natural, optimal state scattered amidst the fruit- and nut-bearing trees of the tropical forest. These are other reasons Burdick Chocolate has been so keen on making Granada cocoa a benchmark flavor in its bonbon assortment.

In visits over the past four years, we’ve established relationships with numerous small farmers and with the island’s cocoa growers association. We received our first shipment of cocoa from Grenada last year and now have a secure source of high-quality beans to work with, as well as for the consumer to enjoy. We then shipped the beans to a small, independently owned manufacturer in Switzerland, to have them processed into couverture from our recipes. Apart from adding to the evolving flavor of Burdick Chocolate, we'll be supporting sustainable agriculture and - in our own way - striving to make the world a better and tastier place.

But what region are the Venezuelan and Madagascar beans coming from? Who are they sourcing from?

L.A. Burdick's Venezuelan 72%


Type: Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Unknown

Sample Size: 3.5oz or 100g



Appearance: Smooth, simple, non-monogrammed molding, shiny, but a little matted from plastic.

Score: 92

Snap: Good, crisp snap. Clean break lines.

Score: 94

Aroma: Rich roasted cocoa, deep wood notes, a little peppery, ashy, musty, and deep berry notes.

Score: 95

Taste: A little inky and bitter, then sweet,a little waxy at first before opening up into rich roasted cocoa, berries, cedar wood, virtually no acidity or astringency.

Score: 94

Texture: Very smooth, a little creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 93

This is very good chocolate, very smooth. It takes a second to open up, but once it does it's fantastic. It has some big cedar notes which seemed to dominate the flavor. Sweet berries and rich roasted cocoa balance out the deep wood taste. Simple and fantastic.

Very smooth texture, very little acidic bitterness. Slightly creamy once it opens up and begins to melt.

It makes it much more of a shame that little information is provided about their chocolate bars. What region do these beans come from in Venezuela? Who are they sourcing their beans from? I am still learning about single origins. And while I can recognize some classic hallmarks, I am a long way from identifying specific regions.

Still, go to their shop or visit them online, order some of their unbelievably good truffles and order one of these bars. They are fantastic quality and no one seems to be talking about them except for me. See my side bar for the other reviews. They deserve some credit here. And they should be doing more to highlight that they have these fantastic bars.



Final Score: 93.6

score
A-

Amano ~ Montanya Limited Edition 70%

Amano Artisan Chocolate

Artwork by Cary Henrie. Image via Amano.

I have seen notes about cocoa beans from the Ocumare region of Venezuela, but have yet to experience these beans until now. They come from northern Venezuela in the mountain region.

This bar was sent to me from the Amano team. It was the last one I had to review in a set of 3 that they sent to me. With it was the Dos Rios, and the Guayas. The Dos Rios is to date the only bar of chocolate that has received a 100% score for the aroma. No other bar has yet to receive a 100% in any category.

[Images via travelmarcelo.com, Tourismodeplaya.com, and Jaime Perez via fotopaisis.com]




Flavor profiles and general descriptions via The Nibble:

•Criollo & Trinitario •Sharp •Spicy, peaches, red fruits •Dairy

Ocumare 61. Originally from the Ocumare de la Costa valley; Criollo and Trinitario hybridized blend. This cacao is gentle and light, but it still possesses a slight acidic punch. Flavors can vary, but most often, it yields earthy spiciness, peaches, red fruits and fresh dairy.

•Criollo & Trinitario •Darker, robust •Cashews, peanuts •Spice, pepper

Ocumare 67. Originally from the Ocumare de la Costa valley, a Criollo and Trinitario hybridized blend. Interesting flavors of cashews, peanuts, spice, pepper, and sometimes dairy. The tone is a little darker than Ocumare 61 and it does not possess 61’s sharpness. It is more robust than 61 in overall character, with a heavier body.

Via Amano:

Product Details:

It is rare that cocoa is grown in the mountains, most all cocoa is grown in secluded valley's or in flat areas. This chocolate is made from cocoa beans that break this mold. The cocoa beans for Montanya come from deep with in the mountains of Venezuela. The only way to reach these secluded farms is either to hike or by horseback. Similarly, the cocoa beans are brought out by horseback after the farmers have carefully harvested, fermented, and dried the beans to bring out their most beautiful flavor. These rare cocoa beans produce a chocolate like no other with a complex deep and rich flavor that is sure to make chocolate lovers swoon.

This chocolate is being released as a “Limited Edition” due to the rarity of the cocoa beans we use to produce it.

The Chocolate Maker's Notes:

When I discovered the cocoa beans that are being produced by a small group of farms deep in the mountains of Northern Venezuela, I was enchanted. The more I learned about these farms, the deeper my appreciation for them became.

There are few places in the world where cocoa is grown in the mountains and this is one of them. The heritage of the cocoa comes through Ocumare. In the 1940's, graftings were taken from Ocumare and brought to these remote farms. Since that time, much Trinitario (a variety of cocoa bean that has its roots in Trinidad) has been brought to Ocumare. It is very possible, these remote farms hold purer Ocumare than Ocumare itself does today.

In our small factory, just south of Salt Lake City, I tested a small batch of these beans and their flavor was incredible. From them, I made a small batch of chocolate. The instant I tasted them, I was in love with the deep complexity of flavor produced by these beans. This experience was shared by each person I shared them with. It was not long before I had brought these rare beans to our factory to turn them into chocolate.

There will be those who debate how much of Montanya's flavor comes from the cocoa bean's roots in the mountains of Venezuela. While altitude the soil and growing conditions unique to the mountains surely have a significant impact on the flavor of the finished chocolate. How much the altitude affects the flavor, it is impossible to say, there simply are too few places in the world where cocoa is grown in the mountains to make this kind of judgment. In the end, it simply does not matter. The flavor is enchantingly complex and it will create a passionate lover of this beautiful chocolate out of each person who tries it.

Art Pollard
Founder, Head Chocolate Maker

 

Montanya 70%


Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Hybrid, Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, pure cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole vanilla beans.

Lot #: 3/4/69 or 314169

Sample Size: 2oz or 56g



Appearance: Simple square shaped bite size bits with monogrammed molding, deep brown color, muted and ashy (maybe the start of sugar bloom), and bit banged up.

Score: 83

Snap: Great snap. Crisp, loud, and firm. Clean break lines.

Score: 95

Aroma: Soft, sweet, pretty and perfume-y, deep berries, a tiny bit inky and slight hints of rubber, and sweet vanilla.

Score: 94

Taste: Intense flavor, very bitter and very sweet, deep roasted cocoa, big apricot notes, fruity with red wine grapes, slight hints of ink and tar.

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth, and soft, quick melt time.

Score: 94

One day I will get an Amano bar that is shiny and beautiful. I desperately want to give their bars good marks for appearance, but for all the bars I have tried from them, they all have this beat up look to them. This one also had what looks to be the start of some sugar bloom happening to it. I think that coupled with some banged up edges made for an ashy, tarnished appearance. It makes me kind of angry because this chocolate was fantastic. It deserves all the right marks. But I can't seem to get a decent appearance on these bars.

The aroma is completely disarming compared the bold and intense flavor. It's very delicate, sweet, soft, and perfume-y on the nose, and then you taste it and it's intensely bitter and yet very sweet to balance it. Bold fruit flavors, and hints of tar and ink. Very sexy and intriguing chocolate, it's stunningly good.

Very bold and fantastic chocolate. I am disappointed to give it a lower score. It deserves much higher, but I can't give it what it deserves based on the appearance.


Final Score: 92.4

score
B+

Rococo ~ Valrhona Grand Cru No. 1 Manjari 64%

Rococo Chocolates, London

This is the chocolate shop that when asked by my friend Angelo, who collected all the British chocolate for me, "what do you want from them?" I had to say "anything you can get your hands on." They have so many offerings that I said "you pick something cool, ask the people working there what they recommend, and something dark." Otherwise, I would have asked for one of everything. This was one of the bars I ended up with. A couverture bar using Valrhona's Manjari Madagascar cacao.

This is exactly the kind of thing I like. So many different options to keep coming back too. A chocolate shop that gets into all the holidays and offers gift ideas for her, for him, families, children, and corporate. They also offer classes on chocolate making and offering chocolate parties for kids as well as kids chocolate classes. Just look around their website. They have a lot going on.

About Rococo:

             [Image of Chantal Coady via Rococo Chocolate Blog]

Rococo was founded in March 1983 by Chantal Coady.

Coady graduated in Textile Design (Camberwell School of Art & Crafts) in 1981, and went on to complete an MSC Small Business Course. Armed with a little knowledge, a dangerous passion for chocolate and a belief that there was room for a radically different approach to chocolate, she decided to open a shop in the King's Road (Chelsea, London). 26 years later, the author of three books about chocolate, Coady still pushes forward to boundaries of chocolate retailing with 3 shops in London - the flagship store is at Motcomb St, in the heart of Belgravia.

This makes sense when you research the word Rococo. On the surface it seems like a very fitting chocolate name, but with her background in textile design, Rococo is an 18th century style of French art and interior design. This is the influence behind their fabulous packaging. Oh yes and they have aprons, coffee mugs, and stationary with these fantastic patterns.  

[The full view of the wrapper.]

They also sell and work with the Grenada Chocolate Co. This is probably where the first bar I reviewed from the GCC came from.

This story began in Spring 2002, when we first tasted some chocolate from the Grenada Chocolate Company. We fell in love with it, and in 2004 we visited the island of Grenada to make a chocolate documentary with film maker Eti Peleg. During this visit we met Mott, Edmond and Doug who founded the Grenada Chocolate Company in 1999, and with whom we formed strong friendships, forged over countless cups of Grenadian cocoa tea and chocolate bars. Later that year, Grenada was hit by Hurricane Ivan; when Hurricane Emily came less than a year later, more damage was sustained at the northern tip where the GCC are based. All the cocoa on the island was devastated, and it would be 5 years before the next really good harvest. In aid of the Grenada Relief Fund, ‘Hearts and Hands’, Rococo produced a special edition ‘Hurricane Emily Bar’. This was made from the chocolate that had been in the conch when the storm hit, combined with Rococo’s own organic chocolate.

In 2007, a small cocoa farm came up for sale, close to the Belmont Estate, offering the perfect opportunity for a joint venture between Rococo and the Grenada Chocolate Company to produce fairly traded "ethical" chocolate. This plot of land, which we call GROCOCO, is now the ‘home farm’ which supplies 100% of its harvest of fine flavoured organic Trinitario cocoa beans to the GCC where they are made into fine chocolate. It was also one of the founding farms that make up The Grenada Organic Cocoa Farmers' Cooperative.

Seven years after our first taste of Grenada chocolate, we will be mixing Grococo beans with the Rococo Organic House Blend. From now on, all Rococo’s organic products will include Grococo beans in the recipe.

This bar being reviewed now is made with chocolate from Valrhona. Grand Cru Manjari 64%. Madagascar beans with all the classic hallmarks of bright berry notes, acidic, and citrus notes.

One thing I am curious about is the label saying "Pure Criollo." Valrhona indicates that this chocolate is made from Trinitario beans. Trinitario is a blend of Forastero and Criollo beans. Madagascar does grow Criollo beans, but without genetic testing to find out how blended it is, it's hard to say how pure the Criollo is. Criollo beans are rare and highly susceptible to disease. Hybrids and blends are now the dominant varietal being labeled as Criollo. So, it makes me wonder how they can label this bar as pure Criollo since it's a couverture chocolate from Valrhona.

Check the original Valrhona Manjari 64% review for comparison.

Rococo ~ Valrhona Grand Cru No.1 Manjari 64%

Type: Bittersweet, 64%

Bean Varietal: The label says "Pure Criollo", but Valrhona uses Trinitario for the Manjari.

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, and natural vanilla.

Sample Size: 85g or 3oz

Appearance: A bit streaky and matted in the appearance. Monogrammed, original molding in the Rococo style, deep brown color. Thick bar of chocolate.

Score: 89

Snap: The lines from the molding were not deep and this bar was very thick, so it made it hard to snap. Clean, but erratic break lines, deep, loud snap.

Score: 93

Aroma: A bit softer and sweeter than Valrhona's Manjari bar. Roasted cocoa, deep red berries, sweet, acidic, more of a vanilla presence, and slightly inky.

Score: 94

Taste: Sweet, softer red berries, a bit more tart than the Valrhona bar, more subdued wood flavors that take their time to open up. It finishes a lot like the Valrhona Manjari bar, but over all is a lot softer and sweeter. More smooth around the edges. Big raisin finish through retro-olfaction.

Score: 95

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

Score: 94

Madagascar chocolate British style. Very much like the original from Valrhona, but softer and subdued on the aroma and flavors. A bit sweeter, which is what I am coming to recognize as a hallmark of British chocolate. They like it sweet.

This had the same bright berries, but softer wood notes. The wood did open up big, but it sure took it's time to present itself. Loved the raisin finish. I had a hard time picking up dried fruits on the Valrhona bar, because the berries and wood were apparent. This had a nice lingering raisin finish.

Final Score: 93

score
A

Valrhona ~ Grand Cru Manjari 64%

[Image via coffeeandtea]

This is the first time I have used an image other than my own to headline a chocolate review. My little camera had a hard time getting the right angles without a glare. Shiny packages, what can I say?

Here are a few shots I tried taking. Clearly I need some photography lessons.







Valrhona has a very long and extensive history in the chocolate world. Recognized through out the world as one of the greatest bean-to bar producers of chocolate.

Via the website:

Valrhona Today

Founded in 1922 by a pâtissier from the Rhone Valley - a registered trademark since 1947 - has become a world leader in Le Grand Chocolat. Understanding Valrhona's success story means identifying its vocation to provide support for and assist renowned confectioners and pâtissiers, its ambition to innovate with great restaurant chefs and its passionate quest for excellence. An undeniable inspiration in the world of gastronomy, Valrhona is present in 60 countries and serves around 20,000 clients.

As a chocolate manufacturer, Valrhona offers these internationally recognized professionals a range of couvertures and service products. For chocolate lovers, Valrhona's branded products come in a range of bars, gift boxes and ballotins, available from gourmet food stores, airport boutiques and major department store concessions.

From culinary destinations like Los Angeles to Tokyo and from Madrid to Singapore, Valrhona products are used by the world’s great pastry chefs and served in the most prestigious restaurants and hotels.

Through its wonderful creations, exacting standards and depth knowledge, Valrhona has carved out a long history of taste that totally justifies this recognition from professionals and gourmets alike: the history of Exceptional Taste. And as part of our continuing quest for excellence, professionals from all around the world attend Valrhona's exclusive Ecole du Grand Chocolat. This center for learning and sharing has been welcoming students in Tain l'Hermitage since 1988 and in Tokyo since 2007.

 
Valrhona pursues its passion and expertise for fine and rare cocoas around the world by:

• Developing cultivation methods through long term partnerships with planters that are based on mutual trust and respect
• Selecting the very best plantations and varietals to create the finest profiles in taste, color, aroma and feel.
• Combining fine cocoas of different varietals and sources to create powerfully aromatic blends.

By applying their perfect sensorial analysis knowledge, Valrhona's experts blend the finest, rarest cocoas from different varieties and different origins, creating chocolates of the most authentic compositions, unveiling elaborate and unique flavours.

This perfect expertise of taste is perpetuated throughout the manufacturing process, where each step has been researched to develop the supreme aromatic qualities of each chocolate:

    

• Roasting, adapted to the size and the origin of the cocoa beans,
• Grinding, offering small-sized particles, providing incomparably fine texture,
• Long conching developing intense aromas.

Cultivating taste is one of Valrhona’s fundamental values and the company’s sensorial analysis laboratory is a trendsetter in the industry.

Over 160 people make up a series of focused tasting panels that meet daily at Valrhona’s headquarters to rigorously sample raw materials, products in development and finished chocolates. As a result, the taste of Valrhona chocolate is recognized by professionals and gourmets alike as full-bodied and complex - in a word, exceptional.

This original, unrivalled approach ensures that Valrhona preserves its distinctiveness and perpetuates its taste of uniqueness.

At least 3 of the chocolates I have reviewed so far, one of them to be posted after this review, use Valrhona cocoa as their choice for couverture chocolate. Paul A. Young, Demarquette, and Rococo Chocolates. Many more fine chocolatiers and fine chefs all work with Valrhona chocolate. Their reputation is impeccable.

One of my new favorite restaurants here in Cambridge called Craigie On Main, uses Valrhona for a lovely hot chocolate soup at the end of their meals. It's hot, spicy, and super rich. It's the exact right thing to end every meal with.

The cocoa used for this bar comes from the Sambirano Valley in Madagascar. Their packaging notes this:

The rich soils of the Sambirano River valley encourage the release of acidic notes of red berries and dried fruit. These aromas are unique to the Trinitario, a tree not commonly found on the northern side of Madagascar.

Grand Cru Manjari 64%


Type: Bittersweet, 64%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, natural vanilla extract.

Sample Size: 70g. 2.46oz


Appearance: Square bar with asymmetrical molding lines. Smooth, shiny, but had some chocolate bits and chocolate dust at the end of the bar slightly diminishing the appearance of the bar.

Score: 92

Snap: Good, crisp snap sound, clean but asymmetrical break lines as intended by the molding.

Score: 94

Aroma: Robust roasted cocoa and big wood and peanut aromas upon first opening, bright red berries, acidic as indicated on the package, very fragrant and robust.

*Still very aromatic an hour and a half after opening.

Score: 96

Taste: Berries right up front, sweet, acidic and tart but not overly acidic with that jab-you-in-the-neck quality, big wood taste, extremely floral and bright with berries.

Score: 97

Texture: Very smooth and soft, with a quick melt time.

Score: 94

This is fantastic chocolate. Extremely good quality Madagascar beans. Huge aroma, and big, bright taste, and a soft, smooth texture. This whole thing was enjoyable from start to finish.

Immediately when I tasted this chocolate, the red berry notes were very apparent and it was sweet. This probably should be a semisweet chocolate based on it's cocoa content, but it's so big and robust like a bittersweet.

Berries, wood, citric acid that wasn't too sharp or astringent, and a lovely floral character towards the finish of the bar. Over all this was incredibly enjoyable.


Final Score: 94.6

score
A-