73% dark chocolate using beans from the Dominican Republic. As in previous reviews of Montezuma's, they use all organic ingredients, and do well to highlight all the proper stamps for their products.
Traces of nuts.
Genetically Modified Free.
Additive and Coloring Free.
Soy Free.
British Made.
Preservative Free.
Vegetarian.
Organic.
Vegan.
Gluten Free
May contain traces of milk.
I always laugh at the conundrum of the Vegan stamp, but the possibility of milk stamp at the end. This is also fair trade chocolate.
Click to emlarge images.
Type: Bittersweet
Bean Varietal: Trinitario
Ingredients: Organic cocoa solids (73%), Organic sugar (26%), Organic Vanilla (less than 1%).
Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz
Appearance: Smooth and simple non-monogrammed molding. A few matted spots from the plastic wrap, a tiny bit ashy, but still very shiny and smooth. Thick bar, simple lined pattern for the molding. It's also very dark brown in color.
Score: 89
Snap: Very firm snap, loud hard snap sound, clean break lines.
Score: 97
Aroma: Big roasted cocoa aromas, smoky, rich roasted coffee notes, nutty almonds, coconut, lightly floral.
Score: 94
Taste: Bitter right up front, a little inky, slow to open up, roasted cocoa, rich wood flavors especially new wood flavors and cedar wood, very subdued berry flavors hidden underneath the big wood flavors, lingering nutty flavors on the finish. Long flavor experience. Due to the medium-long melt time it took it's time to open up giving more than enough time to think about this chocolate and it's flavor profiles.
Score: 94
Texture: Smooth and creamy, but medium-long melt time.
Score: 95
This is fairly straight forward chocolate. It takes it's time to open up allowing you to get the full impact of it's flavors. There is nothing exactly exotic about the flavors, but the wood and nuttiness of this chocolate is fantastic. It's wonderfully rich, very bitter right up front but it doesn't discourage any of the other rich flavors to come through. There is an inky, berry flavor in this chocolate but it's very slight and hidden underneath all the nutty flavors and wood. Still fun to try and find it.
I almost want to melt it down for hot chocolate because of the rich woody and nutty flavors on it. Add some sugar, vanilla, and steamed milk, and maybe some cayenne or a smoky chili pepper to it.
The matted appearance from the plastic drags this score down a bit, but I need to say that I love this kind of protection for the chocolate. It keeps the aromas and flavors sealed for a longer shelf life. Most people don't know that chocolate can last for a very long period of time. The purists will tell you to consume in a few weeks after it was molded to a few months for optimum flavor profile. They are absolutely right, but chocolate can keep for a while.
Final Score: 93.8
A-
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