20°N & 20°S

Artisan du Chocolat ~ Vietnam 72% Limited Edition

 

 

 

**Archived Notes

 

Finally an origin that I am not that familiar with. Sometimes there is a game to find new regions or unexploited regions for cocoa growing and be different or a step ahead of the curve. I am not against this race. It's a win win for chocolate lovers. "Why no, I haven't had a bar of chocolate with beans grown in Vietnam. Do tell." 

 

[Image Via Infoplease]

 

Via their website:

In Vietnam, small entrepreneurial farmers are remaking cocoa history by successfully farming fine cocoa commercially for the first time since the French period (late 19th century), making this batch of ground cocoa beans a precious and rare find. We chose well fermented and dried beans that morph into a silky chocolate with notes of raisin and oats. Surprisingly mellow at the start, this chocolate melts with a long and slightly peppery bitter finish. We meticulously select our raw ingredients for their flavour and wholesomeness: carefully fermented ground criollo and trinitario beans from chosen regions, pure cocoa butter and cane sugar. We mix, conche and refine each batch in our production in Kent. We make our own chocolate with love, devotion and the sole intent to bring you great chocolate
• Weight (e) 45g
• Shelf life 3 months
• Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin
• Contains soya. May contain traces of nuts, sesame, milk and gluten.

 

 

 

I have to preface this review with the unusual circumstances this bar found itself in. I reviewed this last year, or took pictures and notes on it and put the notes away until now. This bar has a dusty, dry sugar bloom appearance because I found this bar hiding in a drawer. While it was far from expired or past it's prime, the storage conditions were not exactly optimal. Having said that, this bar has held up remarkably well. Just some light dusting but a really great surface despite that. And being stored in plastic, it retained and held on to an insanely good aroma. But for the sake of fairness to anyone reading this, I must note at all times when the mistake was mine. The mistake here was not knowing a few bars got left in a drawer and I won't be deducting points on the appearance for that.

 

Vietnam 72%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Criollo and Trinitario blend.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, and soy lecithin. 

Sample size: 45g or 1.59oz

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, simple and light non-monogrammed molding, slight surface particles, relatively smooth surface, sugar bloom. 

Score: 91

Snap: Light but very firm snap, crisp snapping sound, moderately clean break lines. 

Score: 91

Aroma: Big full aroma of coconuts, roasted cacao, coffee, very creamy and nutty, and very slight hints of cinnamon.

Score: 95

Taste: Sweet, lightly tangy and acidic, small hints of cinnamon, cereal grains, raisins, slight hints of strawberries, pepper on the finish.

Score: 94

Texture: Smooth, creamy, medium melt-time, slightly drying finish.

Score: 92

 

Really nice bar of chocolate. Very fun and interesting. Aside from the bloom, the bar of chocolate was in really great shape. The aroma was amazing. Not overly complicated just straight forward and full. Good snap quality too for a relatively light or thin bar of chocolate on the molding. 

The taste was layered and deep. it was sweet with some slight hints of cinnamon and depp raisins with a light strawberry taste. I loved the cereal grains in the middle of the taste, and the finish was just as the package describes with a long finish of pepper. There was also a slight soapy perfume taste in the finish but very faint. Nice and complicated. 

So, even though I inadvertently ruined it's appearance, this bar held up so well. I enjoyed it's complexities in its flavors but bluntness in it's aroma. This would be a fun bar of chocolate to take to some friends and sit around and talk about it. Chocolate geek chocolate. The kind that sit there with a pad and pen and write notes while they preform retro-olfaction and nod their heads at one and other and furrow their eyebrows in silent agreement as if they figured out some long lost secret. 

 

Final Score: 92.6

  score
B+

 

The Grenada Chocolate Co. ~ Nib-A-Licious 60%

 

 

 

**Archived Notes

 

The Grenada Chocolate Co.

The Grenada Chocolate Company Ltd. was founded in 1999 with the idea of creating an Organic Cocoa Farmers' and Chocolate-Makers' Cooperative. We produce high quality Organic dark chocolate in Grenada with our world famous cocoa beans. Our factory is nestled in lush cocoa groves in Grenada's pristine rainforest.

Our award-winning organic dark chocolate has the wonderful complex flavor of Grenada's fine-flavored organic cocoa beans, processed carefully in small batches. Producing chocolate right where the cocoa grows allows us to do our own fermenting which gives us a real advantage in creating the finest, most complex taste from the beans.  We use our own extracted cocoa butter in our chocolate also from Grenada's fine-flavored cocoa. This brings in a luxurious extra richness and chocolaty flavor.  Our chocolate has a truly deep and rich flavor.

We now have over 150 acres of organic cocoa farms in our cooperative and operate our own cocoa fermentry, located one mile from our little factory. This assures that we perform every activity involved in the production of our chocolate, from the planting and growing of the cocoa trees to the fermenting of the fresh cocoa beans to the processing of our fine dark chocolate. We grow our cocoa totally naturally without the use of any chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers and have been Certified Organic.

Our sugar is a fine organic raw sugar produced and milled by an organic growers' cooperative in Paraguy.

Whole organic vanilla beans grown biodynamically in Costa Rica provide our "dash" of vanilla.

Organic soy lecithin is used as emulsifier in extremely small amounts.

We are one of the only small-scale chocolate-makers producing fine chocolate where the cocoa grows.   Because small batch chocolate-making is very rare, we had to create our own processing methods, desigining our own machines and refurbishing antique equipment to meet the requirements of our unique situation. Most of our machines are based in design on those of the early 1900's, a time when quality had precedence over quantity in chocolate-making. Because we care about our environment, we use solar-electric energy to power our machines.

The original impetus and principle of our cooperative company is to revolutionize the cocoa-chocolate system that typically keeps cocoa production separate from chocolate-making and therefore takes advantage of cocoa farmers.We believe that the cocoa farmers should benefit as much as the chocolate-makers. 

 

Nib-A-Licious 60%

 

Type: Filled Semisweet

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa nibs, soy lecithin, vanilla beans. All Organic.

Sample Size: 85g or 3oz

 

Appearance: Nice shiny surface, deep dark chocolate color, pretty cocoa nibs sprinkled on top and through out the bar, signature molding with air bubbles on the top of the molded surface.

Score: 92

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

Score: 93

Aroma: All tar and rubber. very robust and charred smelling. Big pen ink aroma right out of the package, smoky, tobacco, and a little funky. 

Score: 78

Taste: Sweet and sugary, very slightly astringent, berries, inky, tar, hints of melon, wood, complex fruits.

Score: 90

Texture: Good cripsy and crunchy nibs. Not ovelry dried and not soft and limp. Perfectly crunchy, Smooth creamy chocolate texture with a medium melt-time. 

Score: 95

 

I didn't get a picture of the top surface of this bar. I thought I had but it was only the underside with the nibs. It had a nice glossy finish on the bar but there were a lot of air bubbles on the top surface of the molded side. The nibs were not just sprinkled on top, they were mixed through out. So the top surface does appear skimpy on the nibs, but it wasn't. It was better the top wasn't fully coated so you can see the nice shiny surface. 

This was very different from the first bar of Grenada I had. I remember that bar being super bright, and green tasting like fresh cut or new wood. But this bar was charred to hell on it's aroma. It was all tar and rubber. I didn't find that pleasing at all. But it's taste was complex and fun. This was due to a lot of sugars helping tone down that roasted char taste. There was an awesome fruity character underneath the sugars and pen ink flavors. I had a hard time telling exactly what it was though. It wasn't the sweet berries originally detected but something deeper. The cocoa nibs were awesome. Nice and crunchy and a good dried wood flavor. That added some depth to this chocolate. 

I am on the fence about this bar. I hated the aroma, but I liked the way it tasted. It's pretty funky chocolate with the huge tar and burnt characters, but those sugars really help keep this in check. 

This is one of those moments where I am saying that even though I didn't like the aroma and it's not scoring as high as some would like or expect, I think this is still good chocolate. This is for funk lovers. I mention this all the time about chocolate and remind people that certain funky beers don't always have the most pleasant sounding descriptors. But once you understand those beers there becomes a developed palate and love for the not so pleasant. What I am basically saying is that this wasn't my favorite but it's still pretty worthy and I think there is a niche out there for people who like these funky things. 

 

Final Score: 89.6

 

   score
  B

 

Ritual Chocolate ~ Costa Rica 75%

 

 

Cool Colorado chocolate makers from Boulder who share a connection with me via beer. Colorado happens to be one of the best states for awesome craft beer. So they know all the same people I do and share a love for local producers. Now to get the beer to recognize a local chocolate producer and life is all good for the folks of Boulder, Colorado. Not to mention that one of their names is Robbie Stout. How can that not be beer and chocolate destiny? 

I want to thank Anna and Robbie for sending me this chocolate to sample. I am always grateful when someone finds my blog or my taste worthy of sending samples for review. Most kind and most generous. 

About:

Ritual Chocolate is a Colorado-based chocolate manufacturing company that is developing a line of direct-trade, organic, dark chocolate bars. Through our specialized approach to roasting, milling and aging, we are able to preserve the flavors that are unique to our single estate cacao beans. We are involved with the entire chocolate making process, from the bean to the bar, because we want to ensure that our values for the highest achievable quality are present every step of the way, including the traceability of ingredients, sustainable living for the cacao farmers, and inspiring our customers to explore the world of chocolate.

 

According to the enclosed note, their process is a bit different in that they are experimenting with new techniques and that they process their chocolate in four separate grinding machines. A nib grinder, granite melanger, 3-roll mill, and a longitudinal conch. Techniques they learned from their pal, chocolate legend, Steve DeVries. 

Read about their techniques here. 

 

As the label indicates, this is batch 8 of vintage 2009 trinitario beans from Guapiles, Costa Rica. Complete with a born on date of Nov. 3, 2011. 

 

 

 

 

Costa Rica, 75% Batch 8

 

Type: Bittersweet, 75%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Cacao beans and cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2oz or 57g

 

Appearance: Nice rich mahogany color, shiny, simple non-monogrammed molding, wide-spread surface matting. 

Score: 87

Snap: Nice firm snap, light snapping sound, clean break lines.

Score: 92

Aroma: Intense blackstrap molasses, very savory aroma with licorice, berries, and tar. Dissipates very quickly though but the molasses hangs on. 

Score: 93

Taste: Robust flavors of molasses, deep roasted cacao, char, acidic, bitter, bold berries, very deep wood flavors, lingering bitterness coupled with floral flavors similar to fresh clean laundry or dryer sheets. 

Score: 92

Texture: Very smooth and creamy, medium-fast melt time.

Score: 93

 

Aside from some surface matting, the color of this chocolate was nice and rich and shiny. Simple molding but nice and firm for good snap quality.

The aroma and flavors are nice and complicated. It's very robust and assertive chocolate. It's all about the blackstrap molasses. From the huge savory aroma to the flavor. It is flavor is deeply complicated once you get through some acidity and bitterness. I feel like it's a bit imbalanced with the bitterness and acidity, but the flavors are so big and complex and the sugar is perfectly balanced, that it helps add good depth. Deep berries and an awesome woody flavor, roasted cacao flavors and char. It's sweet, bitter, savory, fruity, and mildly floral. 

This is very complicated chocolate. I liked it very much. I think there needs to be some tweaks to the acidity and charred bitterness flavors, but luckily the flavors are so big that you don't solely focus on that. 

I feel like a nice mild milk stout or an oatmeal stout that isn't too bitter or hoppy would go well with this chocolate. The milky qualities would help tone down those charred flavors without over powering the chocolate. The chocolate will dominate, but it will play together nicely. But maybe a nice huge roasted Yeti from Great Divide just might do the trick with a little roasted char taste on roasted char to cancel each other out. I had to throw in some beer suggestions here just because it's Colorado chocolate and they are surrounded by good beer everywhere.

 

Final Score: 91.4

 

  score
 B+

 

L.A. Burdick ~ Bolivia 68%

 

 

**Archived notes.

 

A single origin bar from Burdick's but not bean-to-bar. They source from a Swiss chocolate company. 

This is a bit of a different review. This is a chocolate that survived, marginally, through the changing seasons of a cooler spring to summer. Though these are archived notes, I wanted to show you what happens when it's my fault that the appearance is a mess. This won't be taken out on Burdick's in the review. There are some surface issues that can be scored, but I will note that in the review. Again, this is what happens when temperatures are not controlled. I write about that often when I get chocolate that hasn't been handled properly. Usually it's not my fault. But in this case it is. And for reviewing purposes I will always make a note of conditions, circumstances of travel, or longevity in my reviews. 

 

L.A. Burdick Bolivia 68%

Type: Bittersweet, 68%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, probably Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

 

Appearance: Dark chocolate brown color, it was shiny on the surface but had a few plastic matted marks on the surface from it's plastic covering and some chocolate particles on the surface. Standard square patterned molding, non-monogrammed. (Ashy, dusty, sugary appearance comes from the heat damage. This is what makes it look matted and dull. It was very shiny.)

Score: 89

Snap: Firm snap, with low and dull snap sound. Clean break lines. 

Score: 89

Aroma: Big aroma of soft roasted cacao and oak wood. Mildly astringent and tart, deep dark fruits. 

Score: 92

Taste: Soft roasted cacao, berries, pen ink, a little tangy, oak wood, sweet but balanced sugars, and a little bit of char on the lingering finish. 

Score: 93

Texture: Smooth, a little hard and waxy at first, then opens up to a nice silky texture with a medium melt time and creamy texture. 

Score: 92

 

This is interesting chocolate. It's very subdued and mild. This is a good midway chocolate for the milk to dark fans. It has a big roasted nose of deep berries and rich oak wood, but it's flavor comes off as soft roasted cacao, balanced sugars, mellow fruits and berries, and a slight hint of lingering char on the finish. Some mild pen ink and hints of bitter astringency, but not enough to over power. 

This could have been a much more dynamic bar, but I kind of like it's subdued quality. You don't always need kick-you-in-face robust flavors to have a worthy bar of chocolate. 

 

Final Score: 91

   score
 B+

Theo ~ Madagascar 74%

 

 

             

 

Theo Chocolate

Origin: Seattle, Washington

Bean Origin: Madagascar

Type: Bittersweet, 74%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario/hybrid

Single Origin, Bean-to-bar, Organic, Fair Trade cacao.

 

Appearance: Lighter brown color, simple non-monogrammed molding, nicked, *factory lines, matted. Very sloppy.

Score: 71

Snap: Light, airy crisp snap. Not too firm, but decent snapping sound, clean break lines.

Score: 90

Aroma: Nice robust aroma. Acidic, dry roasted, coffee, slight hints of tar, deep fruits.

Score: 93

Taste: Extremely bitter, tart, acidic, fruit, berries, inky, bold wood flavors, floral notes, lingering bitter flavors on the aftertaste.

Score: 84

Texture: Slightly waxy, a little drying on the palate, but over all smooth and creamy finish.

Score: 90

 

Very disappointed with how the appearance came out. It should be a lovely glossy finish but instead it's matted and nicked.

*It has the factory lines from the machinery it the chocolate was dispensed from. Click to enlarge image.

Rather dull and boring molding. If you are going to use a simple mold, then it should be flawlessly executed with seamless chocolate and a glossy finish. I will say that I love the color. It's a light brown color. Almost like milk chocolate. It's pretty light for a high cocoa percentage bar. Lovely color.

The snap was a nice light and airy crisp snap. Nothing too overly exciting there, but not bad.

Big full aroma. I love that the most about Madagascar bars. The fulness and richness of the beans. Despite loving the aroma, there isn't a whole lot of depth to it. It's very full and roasted, slight acidic, and coffee and tar notes. There is a deep fruit aroma hiding underneath the roasted aromas. It's there and adds complexity, but is completely dominated.

I like that there is a nice complex flavor to this chocolate, but the lingering bitterness is too much making it taste a bit unbalanced. It's acid and tart, boldly roasted with deep flavors of tar and coffee, There is a bright inky flavor with fruits, floral, but dominated by a huge wood flavor.

I think they do okay with the flavor, it's bit overly roasted, but still presents the wonderful hallmarks of Madagascar cacao. The only issue I have with it overall is the bitterness. It's too much, and lingers too long on the palate. I am not left with a pleasant aftertaste because of the bitterness. Too much acidity too. It's simply not balanced well enough.

The texture is a bit of a mixed bag. It has a slight waxy quality to it, and it dry the palate a little bit but over all was smooth and finished creamy. A half and half texture.

Overall this was pretty underwhelming. Overly bitter, unbalanced flavors, sloppy appearance. Not a horrible bar of chocolate, but certainly not a shining example of America's bean-to-bar producers.

 

Final Score: 85.6

   score
  C+

Santander ~ Dark Chocolate 70%

 

 

 

Santander Dark Chocolate 70%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario, Criollo blend

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa powder, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural vanilla.

Sample Size: 2.46oz or 70g

 

Appearance: Large square monogrammed tablet, deep dark brown color, muted, slightly ashy, a few minor and superficial surface marks.

Score: 89

Snap: Firm, crisp snap, nice audible snap sound, clean break lines.

Score: 93

Aroma: Opens up with soft almonds and wood, the same coffee notes as the 65%, then opens up to big peanuts again, sweet honey. All the same characteristics on the aroma of the 65% but softer and more muted. I don't detect the same floweriness or the spicy qualities I detected on the 65%. I tend to find stronger cocoa percentages can be softer on the aroma.

Score: 91

Taste: Peanuts and peanut butter, coffee, sweet sugars up front, then a little astringent when it opens up. Not much else is going on.

Score: 92

Texture: A little hard, mildly chalky, medium melt time.

Score: 91

 

See the review for the Dark Chocolate 65% here.

The aroma had all the same characteristics of of the 65% only muted a bit. But the flavor was a bust. It tasted good, but due to the dominating peanuts and peanut butter tastes, coupled with coffee, it drowned out every other subtlety that might have been present. While I liked the taste, it felt more like I was eating a peanut butter cup in dark chocolate than it felt like eating a nice single origin chocolate. While the 65% had too much sugar, this has too much peanut flavor.

I asked before in the other review of Santander, how much is natural and how much is infused from other flavors around their factory with coffee/chocolate products around? The coffee was much more pronounced in the 65% while this one is all peanuts.

I apologize if this review seems lacking, it just ended up being a lot of the same from the 65%. Just softer and more nutty. I didn't want to make this a verbatim review of the other one. But I put the link for the other review because it does contain more details and will explain a lot of what I meant with this review.

Final Score: 91.2

   score
 B+

L.A. Burdick ~ Dominican 72-74%

 

 

I had always maintained that L.A. Burdick makes exceptionally amazing chocolate bars. I knew that they weren't a bean-to-bar company and that they used Swiss chocolate making techniques and Swiss couverture chocolate as they like to boast on their Facebook page and website. But it wasn't until recently I found out that they sourced their beans from Felchlin and Valrhona. They also source from Venezuela, and more recently Grenada.

Mostly known for having the best cup of hot chocolate in all of New England, their truffles happen to be some of my favorite from the area as well. It wasn't until I started writing this blog, that I got into their bars. Again, it's couverture chocolate, but for cases like this it's how they blend their chocolate and how they tweak the finished product that counts. They continue to be top notch to me.

The only thing frustrating is not knowing exactly where they source their beans from for the bars. They mention Europe for blocks and liquors, but South America for the bars. They are not a bean-to-bar so I don't know if they are doing direct sourcing now or brokering the beans. They are working with Grenada for sourcing directly with farmers, but there is little information about the rest of the South American beans. Their website has little information about the bars.

Designed for true "Chocophiles", Burdick single source bars allow a sampling of six distinctive regional beans. From the fruity acidic notes of Madagascar Beans, to the earthy flavors of the Dominican and the nutty, deep, and spicy tastes of Grenada, Burdick single source bars provide a world tour of regional chocolate tastes; i.e., "terroir" amplified. The single source offerings reflect our recent discoveries. Try all 6 bars with our complete set, a "Burdick Choice" 3-pack, or buy each single source bar individually.

 

I have one pet peeve about chocolate, and that's not having a more detailed website for information about your products. It might not have always mattered as much as to where companies source their ingredients from, but these days it is important. Fair trading, locally sourced ingredients, child labor issues, and ethical corporate or business practices are extremely important. With just about everyone having access to the web and being more interested in where their food comes from, there should be no reason for sparse information. Also, after recently having a poor customer service issue with Burdick's, I really do not want to call them and speak to them directly about their chocolate details. While that's just me and my own issues with them, it's still a pain in the ass regardless of my own experiences with their company.

Having a website that offers details about chocolate such as how to store it, what kinds of varietals are out there, ect., to having piss poor information about the bars and chocolate being used itself, is rather lame.

 

Dominican Single Source 72-74%

 

Type: Bittersweet,  between 72-74%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, sugar, and cocoa butter.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

 

Appearance: Simple, non-monogrammed small square molded tablet, shiny, smooth, barely a blemish, deep rich brown color.

Score: 94

Snap: Firm snap, clean break lines, dull thud snapping sound.

Score: 90

Aroma: Wood notes, tobacco, almonds, vanilla, mild cinnamon notes, and lightly smoky.

Score: 93

Taste: Sweet, sugar, acidic, tobacco, rich, bold wood, small hints of tar and pen ink, earthy, unripened bananas and cream, mild cinnamon and toast on the finish.

Score: 95

Texture: Smooth, creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 93

Simple molding, pristine condition, a couple of nicks here and there but in fantastic shape. A medium snap of firmness and dull snapping sound. Still, it was firm and had clean break lines.

The aroma was fairly simple. Big wood, roasted cacao, tobacco, and some slight cinnamon characters. It was pretty straight forward and not overly complicated. 

I tried not to let the packaging influence my palate or tastes when reviewing but it did have the notes it mentioned on it's package. "Notes of tea, banana, roasted cocoa, and high acidity." It was sweet upfront with sugar, then it opens with big wood and earthy flavors. Slight hints of tar and pen ink. I tasted more tobacco leaves than tea leaves. There is a banana flavor but it's like green, unripened bananas and cream. And a little bit of buttered cinnamon toast on the finish.

Very bold chocolate, but fairly straight forward on it's taste and aroma. Just nice and rich. This would be great for baking and drinking too. You could make the most decadent chocolate cake with a bar or two of this chocolate.

 

Final Score: 93

   score
   A-

 

Madécasse ~ Rich 70%

 

 

 

Madécasse ~ Rich 70%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario, Hybrid

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

Sample Size: 2.64 oz or 75g

 

Appearance: Simple square patterned, monogrammed tablet, ashy, medium chocolate brown color, smooth surface. Some minor matted marks on the surface.**

Score: 90

Snap: Good strong snap. Nice audible snap sound, clean break lines.

Score: 94

Aroma: Dried wood, soft roasted cacao and huge dried figs.

Score: 95

Taste: Deeply rich cocoa, a bit acidic, bitter, big cedar wood, mild leather notes, cereal grains, and deep in the back of the flavor of this chocolate are cherry notes.

Score: 87

Texture: Medium-hard, dry, long melt time.

Score: 84

 

**I did not deduct from the appearance of the bar based on it's ashy appearance. It's in great shape for holding on to it as long as I have. I am being completely honest about my Madécasse reviews as I have had their bars since the fall. They are not past their prime by any means, they're not close to being expired yet, but it has gone through the winter with me. I didn't expect a shiny bar after all this time. And it shouldn't be taken out on them that I waited this long.

Very simple descriptions on the nose of this chocolate. It was 3 simple things. Dried wood, roasted cacao, and dried figs. The fig aroma was awesome. It was big, but not too big and it didn't push down the other aromas. Well, the other aromas that I could detect anyway. I even pulled out a tin of dried  Turkish figs for comparison, and they were identical sans the wood and cacao on the bar. Simple yet fantastic.

 

It's all bitterness and acidity up front. Mild acidity, but deeply bitter and it interferes with some of the nuances of the flavors. In the middle, it opens up with big cedar wood flavors and cereal grains, some slight leathery notes. But the bitterness and wood flavors trump a lot of the deep and complex fruit notes. There is a cherry presence, but it's buried underneath everything else.

Although I love big wood flavors in chocolate, especially cedar wood, it's a bit much on this chocolate. It's all you really get out of it. The wood flavors coupled with the bitterness of this chocolate makes it taste a bit unbalanced. I could tell that there could be more going on with this chocolate and more flavors wanted to come out and play but the bully's were on the play ground as bitterness and wood.

The texture didn't do it any favors either. It was hard, very slow melt time and dry. It wasn't horrible texture by any means, but if this were softer and creamier, it could have been a lot better despite its dominating flavors.

 

Final Score: 90

   score
    B

Amano ~ Cuyagua 70% Limited Edition

 

 

 

A limited edition bar of chocolate with beans from the northern coastal region of Venezuela. There has been quite a bit of buzz from the "chocolate elite" or the reviewing community about this particular bar. This bar and Amano's Chuao.

It's to be expected though, it's Amano. They are one of the world's best chocolate makers. Their skills in making cocoa beans show their true potential via aroma and taste is simply unrivaled. The dedication and commitment to the farmers and regions where they source their beans is admirable.

 

I hate to cut and paste everything from their website, but this is a very good description as well as personal insights from Art Pollard himself. I find all of it fascinating and want to highlight it here.

Nestled in a little valley on the Caribbean coast the small village of Cuyagua is home to some of Venezuela’s most highly prized cacao. Cuyagua’s plantation is old -- tracing its history back to the 1600’s. Its trees are tall — many twice the height of that found on other plantations. We buy this special cocoa from Cuyagua’s farmers, import it, and using our proprietary and labor intensive techniques transform them into a truly remarkable chocolate. The flavor can be described as being deep and hauntingly rich with wonderful fruit notes of melon and spice. This is an incredible chocolate — one you will treasure and share with your friends and loved ones (if you don't eat it first).

The Chocolate Maker's Notes:

For me, Cuyagua is a very special village and is home to one of my most precious chocolate memories. Not long after we launched, I went to visit Cuyagua’s farmers. Cuyagua is very remote and difficult to get to. I arrived at sunrise and spent the cool morning working with the farmers until their day was done. We crossed the Cuyagua river to a small clearing where they gathered round. I gave each farmer a chocolate bar that we made with their cocoa. They were so proud to see their village’s name on each of the bars.

We passed around one additional bar for each to sample. One old farmer came approached me and said: “This chocolate is like a river.” I thought this a very strange comment and so I asked him what he meant. He looked at me and said: “This chocolate takes you on a journey of flavor to all these wild wondrous places; the flavor goes on and on like a river.”

To this day, I get emotional when I think about this simple farmer. Here in this remote village was a simple farmer who in his heart was a poet. Somehow, our chocolate spoke to his soul and left a profound impression on him. This experience made me realize that we were making something truly special and caused me to redouble my efforts to respect each farmer’s hard work by making the best chocolate possible. It is my hope that this chocolate speaks to your soul in the same way that it spoke to the soul of this humble farmer.

Art Pollard
Founder / Head Chocolate Maker

 

“This chocolate is like a river.” This is a very true statement and I could tell immediately upon opening it and inhaling the aroma. Very complex, so many details and layers.

 

 

Each one of their bars has specific art work as well. This is an oil painting "Cocoa Flower" by Marcia Baldwin.

 

 

[Image via Surf-Forecast.com]

 

Coastal Venezuelan regions are world renowned for having some of the best cacao. But this chocolate is very different for anything else I have had to date from Venezuela. As far as the aroma goes anyway. I have come to recognize key hallmarks of certain regions where cocoa comes from. Coastal Venezuela generally has deep, robust characteristics and more funky, tar, toasted bread, earthy, and sometimes bright green or new wood characters, deeply roasted  or char characters, with deep berries. This of course, is a generalization and is highly subjective. But it's what I have personally come to recognize from chocolate bars being produced with beans from these coastal areas. Rio Caribe being the most intense region. And while this bar certainly has these hallmark tastes, the aroma masked all of that and allowed a nice "otherness" to be presented about this chocolate.

This chocolate however, is like a delicate flower in the middle of all that chaos of palate inundating flavor profiles. Like the pretty cactus flower that grows a brillaint pink on top of harsh cactus needles. More complicated and softer forcing you to find out it's secrets instead of being hit over the head with it's unique profile. Both on the taste and the aroma.

 

Click to enlarge images.

 

Cuyagua, 70%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Criollo,Trinitario, hybrid blends.

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

Sample Size: 2oz or 56g

Lot #: 3/4/85C

 

Appearance: Square tablet, small squares, monogrammed molding, a bit dusty on the surface, not so much bloom, but more like a mix of sugar dust and chocolate particles all over the surface. A few nicks as well. A medium dark brown chocolate color.

Score: 89

Snap: Excellent snap. Firm, crisp, clean break lines, and nice audible snap sound.

Score: 95

Aroma: Very complex. Slightly roasted aroma, sweet candy, tobacco leaves, mild smoky hints, oak wood, berries, mild hints of pen ink, light almonds.

Score: 97

Taste: Sweet sugars up front, deep and bold bitter cacao, tar, wood, mild coffee notes, complex berries, pen ink, soft and subtle flowery notes, and buttery toast notes on the finish with retro-olfaction.

Score: 96

Texture: Medium hard, medium melt time, and a creamy texture once it gets opened up.

Score: 91

 

I think it's become a running joke now with Amano bars on appearance. I never seem to get the immaculately pretty bars as far as surface issues goes. But I will hold on to the dream of getting a pristine bar. Kidding aside, it's not a big a deal these minor surface issues, but it does prevent a high score on Amano reviews. I have decided against weighted individual scores.

The aroma was a bit of surprise. As mentioned above, it had virtually no characteristics of what I have come to expect from coastal Venezuela beans. So much going on too. I truly believe Amano are masters at drawing out the true potential in chocolate. It had everything on it from sweet, sugary candy notes, to oak-y woods, and tobacco leaves. A bit of some smoky characteristics and and light, sweet almonds. So much going on. I had to sit with it for a while and really let it all sink in.

The taste had more of what I expect from this region. More tar flavors, toast, pen ink, and deep berries. I am struggling to identify the specific berries. Forgive me for being vague on that. But there were nice mild coffee flavors and wood, but most surprising was a sweet and flowery taste hidden underneath all it's layers.

It's quite intense on the palate, yet the flavors are subtle. Some pop out more than others, but usually from what I have noticed about coastal Venezuelan beans, is that it's robust through and through and there are very specific flavors. Usually they are front and center and all of the nuances are harder to detect. This is however, let's everything come out and play. Delicacies and bold flavors alike all share equal footing.

This is why it's unlike anything I have ever had before. The aroma is soft, and gives off this impression of a delicate chocolate, the flavors are bold and complex yet soft at the same time. They show themselves without kicking you in the face. This is why I compared it to a cactus flower. A pretty little delicacy among giant and not so pretty flavor descriptions. It's as if this is the true nature of these regional beans and it should be kept a secret. Don't let anyone know just how dynamic these beans really are, let them think the region is rustic, bold, and unforgiving on your palate. That this is a region for bitter palate adventurers. Meanwhile, the rest of us will covet these glimpses underneath Venezuela's skirt.

Okay, okay, maybe I am romanticizing this a bit too much, but I am very happy with this chocolate. Not since Rogue Chocolatier's Sambirano, have I been this excited about a flavor experience. And not since Amano's own Dos Rios, have I been this intrigued by an aroma. If this chocolate were just a tad softer, I think it would be a damn near perfect representation of highest quality Venezuelan chocolate.

It's just really nice being reminded just how good chocolate really can be.

 

Final Score: 93.6

   score
   A-

Santander ~ Dark Chocolate 65%

 

 

 

 

My first experience with Santander from Colombia. A bean-to-bar producer in the north eastern part of the country, in a state called Santander. With beans sourced from 3 different municipalities, San Vicente de Chucurí, El Carmen, Rionegro and Landázuri.

 

Images via Wikipedia, and Zonu.com.

 

A fair trade company with corporate distribution that focuses on fair treatment to farmers and their families.

Via their website and Compañía Nacional de Chocolates.

• Fair prices and cash payments to growers.
• Permanent attention to maintaining good working conditions for all our personnel.
• Contribution to the wellbeing of workers and their families.
• Support to research and new technological developments at the Company’s agriculture farm.
• Promotion of sustainable and friendly agricultural practices.
• Establishment of a new farm with other sector members.
• Strengthening of cooperatives and growers associations.
• Improvements to growers’ competitiveness and returns, emphasizing sustainable environmental management of crops.
• Active participation in the Cocoa National Council, the Sector’s Policy Committee and the Technical Committees that direct and determine the sector’s future.
• Sponsorship of educational programs in cooperation with the Presidency of the Republic.
• Execution of the educational program “Nacional de Chocolates loves children” in existence for more than ten years.

 

 

 

Dark Chocolate 65%

 

Type: Semisweet, 65%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario, Criollo, blends.

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

Sample Size: 2.46 oz or 70g

 

Appearance: Large squared tablet with monogrammed molding. Deep dark brown, smooth surface with some very minor streaking on the surface.

Score: 92

Snap: Very firm snap, clean break lines, and nice audible snap sound.

Score: 93

Aroma: Opens up buttery, woody, and sweet. Then comes the big peanuts and coffee aromas. At first the nuttiness was a little bit almond-like. Then it opens up and it's all peanut butter and coffee. The coffee is a very rich brew on the aroma, a slight hint of honey and flowers, and a wee bit of spiciness on the aroma.

Score: 93

Taste: Sweet, roasted cacao, more sugars, big, flavorful, lightly astringent, fairly bitter for 65%, coffee, peanuts, peanut butter, slight hints of berries and a little spicy character in the center.

Score: 91

Texture: A little hard, medium-fast melt time, slightly creamy when it opens up, smooth texture.

Score: 92

 

I am wondering how much is natural and how much is a bit of forced influence on the aroma with the big coffee notes? They have bars with coffee beans in them and espresso, so how much of those bars are influencing the aroma or is this a natural effect with coffee being grown close by the cacao itself?

Whatever the answer is, I am loving the aroma. It's big roasted coffee and peanut butter. When I first opened this bar, it was very different. Almonds on the aroma with huge sweet butter notes and wood. After about 30 seconds to a full minute, the peanuts on this bar and coffee take over. The coffee is almost a layered effect with the peanuts. You don't smell the roasted coffee at first because of the peanuts, but the finish of the aroma is all fresh, and strong brewed coffee.

I lightly tanked the taste score on this chocolate not because of the flavor profile and character markers, but because of the excessive sugars. There were too much sugars in this bar and they interfered with the flavor profile.

The bar is a bit inundated with coffee which leads me once again to ask, is the coffee a natural effect from the cacao growing close to coffee? Or is it from the factory where the other coffee chocolate bars are made. Based on how roast-y the aroma is and how much it's like brewed coffee on the taste, I am going to say it's from the factory.

Peanuts, and a mix of peanut butter. I realize that sounds strange but it has distinctive peanut flavors and commercial peanut butter tastes. There are some spicy notes in there, and some deep berries, but all of that get interfered with by the sugar, coffee, and peanut flavors.

I think this will be good to melt down in some milk or almond milk for a steamed hot chocolate. It's very sweet, but it does have big flavors that would make for a nice roast-y hot chocolate. It might be April now, but I live in New England. There is still time for a cold night that requires a hot chocolate.

 

Final Score: 92.2

   score
  B+