20°N & 20°S

Mast Brothers ~ La Red de Guaconejo 74%

 

 

**Archived Notes

 

Organic Dominican Republic beans sourced from La Red de Guaconejo cooperative in the northern tropical part of the country.

 

 

La Red de Guaconejo 74%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 74%

Bean Varietal: Hispanola (Forastero/Criollo blend)

Ingredients: Cacao and cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5 oz

Batch #: 11091211

 

Appearance: Dark brown color, non-monogrammed molding, slightly dry looking, but not ashy, slight scuff marks on the top surface, shiny top surface, minor air bubbles on the back surface.

Score: 89

Snap: Mild snap, slightly firm with lightly crisp snap sound. Crumbly break lines.

Score: 90

Aroma: Soft aroma of bright acidic red cherries, pipe tobacco, and soft wood.

Score: 93

Taste: Deeply bitter, inky, sour and acidic, slight medicinal notes, earthy, cherries, pipe tobacco, buttery toast, soft wood, lingering bitterness.

Score: 84

Texture: Smooth, medium melt-time, creamy and a little chalky.

Score: 92

 

This was okay chocolate. Good but far from great. Though there are some flaws in it, I didn't seem to mind them as much for this bar. It has notes that I am usually not that fond of, but in this case, they work well on this bar. The medicinal notes worked. The acidity would have been fine along with the bright cherry flavors but it's the bitterness that left his bar unbalanced. So much bitterness it overtakes the whole bar.

Toast and jam. Those were the best flavors on this bar. I tried to not to be influenced by the package description indicating notes of pipe tobacco and cherries, but that is exactly what is all over this bar. Aroma and taste. It has good earthy medicinal tastes along with ink upfront and then bright cherries, toast, and tobacco. But the flavors were disjointed by the acidity and bitterness. It's almost like a dual bar. It really detracts from some of the richness in the flavors. You have to really burrough through bitterness before the lovely cherry, toast, and tobacco flavors come through. And then your palate is left with more lingering bitterness. If it were tamed a bit more, this would be lovely chocolate.

 

Final Score: 89.6

   score
  B+

Whole Foods Organic ~ Tanzania 72% Dark Chocolate

 

 

Organic and fair trade single origin beans from Tanzania made into chocolate bars from Whole Foods and processed in Belgium, to benefit the Tanzania Schoolhouse Project. A portion of the proceeds benefit the education of children in the Kyela District of Tanzania.

 

[Image via Hai Tanzania]

 

 

 

Tanzania Schoolhouse Project 72%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Probably Forastero

Ingredients: Chocolate liquor, cane sugar, cocoa butter. All organic.

Sample Size: 3.5 oz

 

Appearance: Smooth, non-monogrammed molding, but signature molded tablet, medium brown color, near blemish free bar on the surface, some very mild streaking on the back of the bar with some small air bubbles.

Score: 94

Snap: Firm snap with a lightly crisp snapping sound, clean break lines.

Score: 91

Aroma: Big bold aroma of roasted peanuts, big fruit and berries and ink.

Score: 92

Taste: Flowery and inky up front, deeply bitter, roasted cacao, toast, earthy, subdued fruits, roasted and nutty, slightly smoky lingering tastes on the finish.

Score: 93

Texture: Smooth, medium-slow melt time, Not silky smooth or chalky, but some where in between on it's texture.

Score: 91

 

Very nice bar. Great appearance. Virtually blemish free and that's awesome for a bar picked up at a grocery store. Nice molding good thickness on the bar, and even though it has overly large tablets, it's not too thick to bite into which has been an issue on other bars with large, fat tabs.

The aroma was nice and full. Big fruits and roasted peanuts. Some people like really deeply complicated aromas. I find it awesome when I can find layer upon layer in an aroma, but there is something to be said about a simple straight forward aroma too. Nothing too complicated. It is what it is.

The flavors are fairly straight forward as well. I don't want to say it's simple, but there wasn't a whole lot of nuance on this bar. Deeply bitter with lots of lingering bitterness. But sweet and floral up front and again big roasted cacao flavors and nuts. Some biscuit and toast flavors a little earthy and fruity.

This is really great eating chocolate. No thinking, no need to get too complicated about it. Store this in your desk at work for chocolate intermezzos, break this open and devour it quickly, melt it down for hot chocolate, chop it up and bake with it. I don't want to sound flippant about it, but it's very good chocolate for only $2.99. You can buy a ton of it to use for whatever and you are doing some good with it by buying it for it's charity purposes.

 

Final Score: 92.2

   score
  B+

Fleurir ~ The Midwest Bar

 

 

 

Virginia chocolate from some Virginia pals for a Virginia girl. Thanks to Jeff Evans who sent this to me.  I may be a Masshole now, but I never forgot where I came from.

Jeff was nice enough to send up Fleurir bars in a big shipment of beer that was sent to us by Chuck Triplett. They had a good time at our Extreme Beer festival, and this was a very generous thank you. I have followed Fleurir on twitter checking out some of their truffle flavors like peanut butter and banana. They have been on my radar for a little while.

They are actually pretty funny too. Check out their "About Us" page.

Their blends and flavors on these regional inspired bars, in a way, remind of Chocolat Moderne. Different concepts as Chocolat Moderne is into art and art history, but the flavor blends with dried fruits and Valrhona chocolate blended bases is more what I was thinking. Although Fleurir is more artful in their packaging and their splatter painted molded bars.

 

 

The Midwest Bar

 

Type: Filled, blended bar.

Bean Varietal: N/A

Ingredients: Dark chocolate (cocoa bean, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin), Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa beans, soya lecithin), Michigan cherries, and black walnuts.

Sample Size: 75g or 2.7oz

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, standard non-monogrammed molding, very shiny, artful splatter paint design on the top surface of the bar, large visible walnuts and cherry fillings on the back side, Some drying by the walnuts, and some plastic matting marks on the top surface.

Score: 92

Snap: Good snap, mildly audible but firm, crumbly break lines.

Score: 90

Aroma: Soft aroma with mild smoky notes and nuts.

Score: 85

Taste: Sweet, a little tangy right up front, inky, and bitter cacao flavors, nutty, wood flavors, tart and tangy dried cherries, dry walnuts. Straight forward.

Score: 93

Texture: Smooth and hard up front, medium melt-time, nice chewy dried cherries, and crunchy walnuts.

Score: 91

 

I love the way this bar looks. Simple molding, even some pretty big plastic matting marks, but that could not detract from the brightness of the spattered paint design on top contrasting the dark brown color. Super shiny too.

Very straight forward bar. Bold Valrhona cacao with big woody flavors, mixed with nutty flavors and ink. I would be really awesome if I could identify the Valrhona in this bar. I am good, but not that good. Not yet anyway. And not with the fillings adding their own flavors.

The natural wood and nut flavors on the cacao are very different than the walnuts. The walnuts give added depth. They also do not dominate the bar because the cacao is so rich. I recently had a discussion about whether a chocolate maker should add more nuts to their candy bars. He said he was worried about the pecan flavor dominating the bar. I disagreed because it was the one flavor you were looking for and was sort of lacking. Also for textural reasons. But in this case, the walnuts, although they can be a more subtle flavored nut, prove me right. More is always better. The cherries don't even dominate this bar. It's all a nice harmony. The cherries give a nice tart bite, and then a textural change with chewy on top of the crunchy nuts. But they are present themselves and still leave the chocolate flavors as the dominant feature of the bar.

I find the walnut flavors and the difference in the nuttiness on the chocolate fun to taste and the best part as far as thinking in depth about this bar. They are so different. There were some lingering inky flavors and bitterness, but the sugars balanced this bar nicely as well as the dry nuts, and the tangy and tart cherries.

I hope the Midwest is happy with this bar because it tastes good. There is not a lot of guff with with bar. Just a pretty looking bar and a nice balance of flavors. Full flavors, but straight forward. The only thing weak about this was the aroma. Virtually nothing there but a little smokiness, and walnuts. Not very strong or dynamic.

 

Final Score: 90.2

   score
  B+

Gran Inka ~ 75%

 

 

Organic chocolate from Cooperative Narajillo in Peru. They focus on cacao and coffee production with sustainable efforts and fair trade ethics.

I picked this up in Canada. It unfortunately has zero shelf life. There was no "best before" date on the bar, so I have no idea how old it is. I did pick this up over Christmas in Quebec City. I have to be fair in my reviews about that. But most chocolate has a very long shelf life. All the chocolate I bought was new and had a more than a year on their "best before" dates which is why I took my time reviewing all the bars I bought. I had some time with with them and time to whittle down the rest of my library. On the Narajillo website, it says this bar has a 2 year shelf life. That's a pretty long time. I don't usually like things going past 6 months. This bar was also sealed in plastic. It should have held on longer than it did. At least in terms of it's appearance.

 

 

Gran Inka 75%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 75%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cocoa paste, cocoa powder, cane sugar, cocoa butter.

Sample Size: 32g

 

Appearance: Small, thin bar with simple non-monogrammed molding, dull brown, very dry and ashy bloom, some splotching on the bar or matting marks from the plastic seal, and nicked up at the ends of the bar with some particle matter.

Score: 45

Snap: Decent snap for a small and thin bar. Very firm and crisp snap with clean break lines. Nice and audible too.

Score: 92

Aroma: Soft aroma of roasted cacao and coffee grinds, some smokiness, and nuttiness. Dissipates very quickly though.

Score: 83

Taste: Coffee grinds, roasted cacao, sugars, bitter, very fruity, woody, nutty, lingering drying bitters on the palate with woody flavors hanging on.

Score: 91

Texture: Hard, slow melt-time, a little grainy and drying texture, but not gritty. No creaminess at all.

Score: 73

 

It has a really good taste on this bar, but I have to say overall this isn't that special. Worst dried up appearance I have seen on a bar in a long time and I have scraps (for face masks) longer than 3 years old. This bar should have been better than that.

It had a really soft aroma. It's muddled with coffee grinds on it's nose and taste. Since this coop also produces coffee, I am wondering if they are processed in the same place giving it some cross contamination. It reminds me a lot of Santander in Colombia. Same thing with the coffee flavors and they process coffee too.

It's flavors were quite pronounced though. They were good. Coffee grinds (which may or may not be a natural flavor profile), sweet sugars for a 75% that really turned out those big fruity flavors, woody, nutty, roasted cacao, and some nice bitters on it. But even though it did taste pretty good, there wasn't anything particularly fascinating about it. Just an average tasting bar of chocolate. But again the sugars were good. I prefer a little more since I happen to think it draws out more of the natural fruity flavors. The best way to test that is to try a 70% to 75% bar of chocolate, a bittersweet bar, versus a 60% to 65% semisweet. The difference is noticeable. Not just because of the cacao percentage but the sweeter sugars. It really makes it more fruity. It's not scientific, just something I have observed. So, something like this with a nice kick of sugar, helped it in my opinion.

Weak aroma, and hard, dry texture round out this less than stellar review.

 

Final Score: 76.8

  score
D+

 

Mast Brothers ~ Brooklyn Blend 73%

 

 

 

Mast Brothers Brooklyn Blend 73%

Lovely packaging. Meat-packing paper that looks like a southern quilt of patch work of their other wrappers. They really do pick the best papers for their packaging.

No listing on what beans were used for this blend. I should be able to guess by the taste, but I am rather miffed that their minimalist website has zero information about their products. Don't get me wrong, I love the Mast Brothers. I just wish basic information was provided. It's a blended bar so how about telling me which blends instead of this generic description on the back.

 

We have brought all of our favorite beans from around the world to create our first house blend. A balanced chocolate with hints of red wine, tobacco, and plum.

 

Are they suggesting they used every bean in rotation for their origin bars, or just their favorites? Maybe I am being too technical here, but it does help knowing some of the origins so you can understand certain flavor profiles and why certain flavors may or may not have worked. And don't tell me it's an industry secret either. That would be lame. Perhaps, the patch work paper is telling me which beans are in it?

 

Brooklyn Blend, 73%

 

Type: Blended bittersweet, 73%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, blend

Ingredients: Cacao and cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5oz

 

Appearance: Nice shiny surface, non-monogrammed molding, slightly ashy on the back with some minor particle matter on the back, but very minimal. Great shape.

Score: 93

Snap: Medium snap quality, a slight dull thud sound mixed with a mildly crisp snapping sound, crumbly break lines.

Score: 90

Aroma: Very subtle aroma. A little inky, some mild charred notes, a little tart, and soft smoke.

Score: 87

Taste: Sweet, astringent, tangy, slightly sour, fruity, cherries, citrus, wood, ink, tar, earthy, buttery biscuit finish.

Score: 92

Texture: Gritty, medium melt-time, drying and cloying on the palate.

Score: 83

 

Much better appearance and flavor than the previous reviewed Moho River. Shiny surface, and no streaking on the backside. Just a tiny bit of particles.

The aroma and texture were the weakest things about this bar. It's really so subtle and soft. Not a lot of dynamic there on the aroma. The texture was overly drying, cloying, and gritty. It started off smooth due to the molding and I hoped it stayed that way, but it really opened up gritty. Not a fan of stone grinding. I should say stone grinding that doesn't finish the job. I have had bars from Mast that are texturally fantastic. But sometimes you get a miss. This is a miss.

The flavor is strong. Big and fruity. There is definitely Madagascar in this bar with th bright citrus and acidic notes and cherries in the fruits. There is also some ink and big wood flavors. I think the earthiness is either from the Dominican Republic beans or something coastal in Northern Venezuela. Something that has those funky ink, char, and tar flavors. Those flavors are present too. But the fruits win on this bar. And the lingering buttery biscuit notes. It's just unbalanced with the acidity and astringency.

The flavors listed on the bar were once again not what I tasted. I didn't get plums, or tobacco. Red wine maybe with it's fruitness, drying texture, and acidity. But that wasn't really it. No influencing either with just reading and suggesting the words. That can happen which is another reason why I don't like flavors listed on bars.

I have had this bar fresh from the source and sat at the Radegast German Beer Hall next door and enjoyed it with some Munich Dunkels with it. I have done the same with their Occumare too. It's a wonderful experience. But better to eat it right there on the spot. When the chocolate is a mere hours old, not old enough have fully breathed yet, and the beers are cold, malty, and biscuit-y to help tone down that astringency.

I am beginning to worry about the Mast Brothers and their consistency issues. There seems to be a hallmark with acidity and astringent bars. It's not a good hallmark to have. I fear they are creating way too many new products, new bars from new origins without addressing these technical marks. You can get far on the fact that most people don't understand where it's a technical flaw or a desired effect like the smoke in the Papua New Guinea. But it's not going to last for long with other bean-to-bar producers who are effectively producing flawless chocolate. I praise and commend the Mast Brothers. I admire them greatly and was one of their original fans and enamored with their products. But as my palate has grown and expanded, so have my eyes or my palate rather, been opened to the undeniable flaws all over their products. I need them to slow down and tweak, tweak, tweak their recipes and start refining their ways. They could be the American masters if they focused a little bit more on their classics, even this house blend. Less grittiness, less acidity, less astringency. More rich flavors, more true flavors of the cacao that's not being trounced by the aforementioned issues.

 

Final Score: 89

   score
    B

Mast Brothers ~ Moho River 70%

 

 

 

Mast Brothers Moho River 70% from Belize. Tropical lush area right in central America. Perfect conditions for cacao growing. Historically some of the original landscapes for the Mayan civilization and their history with cacao.

 

[Image via Adventure Smith Explorations]

 

The Moho River is located at the southern tip of the country by Punta Gorda. The packaging mentions the beans being sourced from a cooperative, I am assuming the Toledo Cacao Growers Association. This is also set up with tours and adventure traveling to Belize with The Cotton Lodge.

This is a good article for some information about The Cotton Lodge via Sacred Earth Travel.

 

Moho River 70%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cacao, cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5oz

Lot # 22111111

 

Appearance: Simple non-monogrammed molding, muted ashy brown color, streaking on the back of the bar, light and superficial scuffing on the front side of the bar, shiny molded surface.

Score: 89

Snap: Light to medium snap, mildly firm, slight crisp sound, and clean break lines.

Score: 90

Aroma: Funky! Big bold and bright cherries, wood, tart, a little inky, char, medicinal like Robitussin cough syrup. Once it breathed a bit, it became more raisin-y.

Score: 89

Taste: Bitter, medicinal, cough syrup, cherries, ink, char, acidic, tangy, big wood flavors, earthy, and some biscuit-y flavors.

Score: 86

Texture: Smooth, medium melt-time, a little dry and chalky at the end, but over all creamy and smooth.

Score: 92

 

If you like funk, you will like this bar. This is very reminiscent of Rio Caribe beans only this is much more fruity and bright versus the overly charred characteristics of Rio Caribe. I was hoping the cough syrup aroma wouldn't be significant on the flavor, but unfortunately it was all over the flavor. Big bold cherries, bright acidity, some wood and char flavors, but an undeniable medicinal quality that made it like cough syrup with the cherries. It's not bad chocolate, it's just not the kind of flavors I enjoy.

The aroma was very strong with the same characteristics of the flavor. Once it breathed a bit there was a nice raisin aroma, but not on the flavor. The package says it has notes of raisins, plums, and sarsaparilla. I didn't get any of that but the raisins on the aroma. This is why I don't like flavor notes on packages. Sometimes it's there in bold ways like Amano's Dos Rios. Can't deny that bergamot. But often times, if chocolate breathes or ages, those flavors change in big ways. Not to mention taste being subjective. I don't know what to say about this chocolate, but it's very funky. The flavors are a bit all over the place. It's bitter and acidic, fruity and medicinal, and a little earthy and biscuit-y on the second and third tastes. It's interesting in that regards, but not my favorite flavor profiles. I was really hoping for that sarsaparilla flavor too. That would have been great.

 

Final Score: 89.2

   score
    B

Xocolatl de David ~ Raleigh Bars

 

 

 

Handmade candy bars by Xocolatl de David in Portland, Oregon. Created for the affable Pine State Biscuits in Portland.

 

A few years back, my friends at the world renown Pine State Biscuits here in Portland asked me to create something for them to sell at their restaurant.  More specifically, a candy bar.  They bugged me for a good 3 months before I came up with the first and only prototype. It was so well received that I knew I was not going to be able to sell it just at Pine State Biscuits. To thank them I named it after the founder of the "Pine State" (North Carolina, for those not in the know), Sir Walter Raleigh.

To me the classic candy bar is, nougat, caramel, and nuts coated in chocolate.  I created mine with a southern vein since Pine State Biscuits is a southern style restaurant.  

 [Original Raleigh Bar]

Chocolate Pecan Nougat & Salted Caramel, coated in 72% Chocolate from Ecuador.

 

 

Bourbon Caramel

Buffalo Trace Bourbon Caramel, pecan chocolate nougat, 72% dark chocolate from Ecuador.

 

 

Visually this one was a little disappointing with the ashy appearance. But that's superficial for the huge flavors on this bar. Huge flavors except for the bourbon that is. Cutting into the bar I cut right through a pecan bit. Sadly it was the only real bit of pecan in the bar. I found this to be an issue as well with Liddabit's The Snacker bar. Handmade candy bars from Brooklyn, NY. Skimpy on the nuts and I am not sure why. In this case, the size of the bars maybe be a reason why. They are only about 2 inches long. But if they make them in bulk batches and strips only to be cut smaller, it doesn't completely make sense. Still, a small detail compared to the over all flavor but an issue with texture. You need those crunchy nuts to break up the chewy nougat and caramel mou consistency.

The aroma was dominated by the rich and full Ecuador chocolate. 72% and fairly bitter. It interacted nicely with the flavors of the burnt caramel and the chewy nougat. Salty caramel and sweet nougat. Lot's of contrasting flavors giving it an up and down quality for the palate. No one taste or flavor is the focus. I wished the aroma had more bourbon on it. Buffalo Trace is a big woody bourbon perfect for things like this and chocolate. I use it for my own Bourbon Pecan Truffles. But the subtle use of it in the caramel left everything else to dominate. The good news is though, the bourbon is present in the flavor but not really until the finish. It's lighter, but definitely distinguishable. The salt and then the sweet sugars dominate with the bitter chocolate leave the bourbon hanging on in the finish.

Texturally the caramel was awesome. It's burnt and salty at the same time with a gorgeous burnt rust color. It has a texture midway between runny caramel and caramel mou. The nougat was also soft and chewy. Right where you want it to be. Not too hard and not too chewy. Soft and easy. It just needed that extra crunch with more pecans.

It's an excellent bar full of big flavors, but it needs more pecans and more bourbon. I could be a raging alcoholic who just wants more booze at any cost, but realistically it's a subtle approach with the bourbon. It's the right size for all the flavors it packs and for how sweet and rich it is. The salt balances it out and makes it addicting like a fat crack rock. Not that I know anything about that. I wonder if David Briggs could make this even more ridiculously good by adding caramelized or cinnamon sugar pecans in the nougat.

 

 

Bacon Caramel

Bacon Caramel, pecan nougat, and 72% Ecuador chocolate.

 

 

Much better appearance with a shiny surface. The aroma dominates with big smoky bacon and rich chocolate. Did I mention crack in the previous review? Yeah, times that by 10 for this bar.

Same issues with the skimpy pecans. Again, it needs that break up with the chewy caramel and chewy nougat. I also think this could have benefited from crispy bacon in the caramel for added texture. It certainly had all the bacon flavor, but the crunch factor was missing again. It should be like their Country Ham bar. As with the bourbon bar, I could be a raging bacon-holic in my need for more bacon in this bar, but realistically it's a textural issue. It needs crunch some where, why not add bacon bits?

The chocolate has a less dominating flavor on this bar, but it's bitterness is very present. Bitters not acidity. The salty burnt caramel wins again, and the nougat rounds out the sweetness. The dominate flavor though is of course the smoky bacon. It's all in there. Sweet, salty, burnt sugars, chewy nougat and smoky bacon. How could you not love this thing? It's very sweet and rich. When you do get a bit of pecan in the bar, it adds a really nice layer of depth to the flavor. Needs moar!

Marou ~ Bà Rịa 76%

 

 

Le sigh, le sad face, le shit....

My final review with Marou. It feels kind of sad. But I can't complain. This has been a very generous offering of samples sent to me and I have really enjoyed writing about them. Not since Alan McClure have I felt this connected to a chocolate maker and talked to them through each review and learned more as the reviewing went on. And talk about a geography lesson. I knew next to nothing about Vietnam. My least favorite subject involving wars. This was a nice way to set all that stuff aside explore the southern tip of the country by way of cacao.

Our final stop takes us to the Bà Rịa-Vang Tau province just a little bit north-east of Ho Chi Minh City. Beans sourced directly from family farms. You can one of the other surrounding provinces from the other bars.

 

[Image via vietecon.org]

 

 

Bà Rịa 76%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 76%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Cacao, cane sugar, and cocoa butter.

Sample Size: 100g

 

Appearance: Dark brown surface, but an ashy lighter brown interior. More like a subdued mahogany color. Monogrammed molding, a little scuffed and a little bit of particle matter, but over all in great shape. Still fairly shiny and looking good.

Score: 91

Snap: Good firm snap, not too hard this time. Crisp snapping sound. Slightly crumbly break lines, asymmetrical break lines against it's own molding lines.

Score: 92

Aroma: Very inky right up front, roasted cacao, char, subdued earthiness, brewed coffee through retro-olfaction, and a soft, mild sweet aroma on top like honey. Not a direct wild flour smell, but a sticky sweet smell sitting on top.

Score: 93

Taste: Big fruits right up front, tannins, sour and acidic, big wood flavors, char, roasted coffee flavors and bitterness, very faint traces of grapes or jam in the fruit flavor, lemon rind finish. A lot of lingering flavors on the palate. A tad cloying.

Score: 87

Texture: Smoother texture, medium melt-time, creamy center once it begins opening up. Not too hard despite it's thickness.

Score: 92

 

The final bar and it held up well. Really great shape. Different color from the others. An interesting ashy mahogany color. No significant scuffing or damage from transport.

The snap was so much different than all the others. Same thick molding, but this chocolate was so much different for some reason. It snapped easier, and felt almost airy compared to the other bars. Crumbly and asymmetric break lines, but still so much more pleasant the others. Great crisp sound too.

Very straight forward and big aroma. Just the brewed coffee from retro-olfaction that isn't exactly clear until you breathe back, but it's definitely there. Big fruits, a little sweet, but some tangy acids that get a little aggressive. It's not totally un-welcomed, but definitely toeing that line. I think the sugars and the big fruits help hold it at bay, but it is very aggressive on the flavor and sour, tart notes. It has some deep bitters, and bold wood flavors as well.

Samuel said this one was the fruitiest one of the bunch, but to be honest, the fruits on the Bển Tre 78% were better. They were only competing with bitterness. The fruits compete with too much sour on this bar so it's hard to focus on them. But I will say, just for a second, I got some jamminess (probably not a real word), a split second of the taste of grapes. The wood flavors and char add a nice depth and something great in the bar than just the strong bitterness.

The texture was much nicer than the Bển Tre though. Much smoother. Same melt-time, same creaminess that opens up in the center, but not hard like the others. None of the drying chalkiness observed on the other bar.

This bar hits all the technical marks, but the acidity and sourness is just too much for me personally. It's still good chocolate, but I would say it's the least favorite for me out of the group. The Dồng Nai 72% wa by far the best. Really interesting chocolate, all 4 bars. Each very different than one and other and the regions the beans are coming from are not very far apart from one and other

Marou has proved to be a great new company with a very unique perspective by actually living in the jungles where their beans are sourced from. I hope to see more of their presence in the U.S. But I know a certain Bangkok chef eagerly awaiting his chance to try something sourced pretty much locally from his point of view. I patiently await Bangkok street-food and S.E. Asian chocolate fusion dishes......

 

Final Score: 91

   score
  B+

Marou ~ Bển Tre 78%

 

 

 

My third bar from Marou, Faiseurs de Chocolat. French chocolatiers whom uprooted their lives and moved to Ho Chi Minh City and became chocolatiers using cacao beans directly from their source.

Bển Tre province of Vietnam. Situated on the Mekong Delta just below Tiền Giang in southern Vietnam. Rich crop producing area known for coconuts as well as durians, and mangoes.

Hot and tropical, a natural fit for cacao production.

 

[Image via: Traveling Vietnam Tours]

 

In the last two reviews, molding and appearance were the subject of some of the lower marks received on the bars. After talking to Samuel about it I learned a bit more about the molding of their bars. As Samuel noted, one of the reasons for the thick molded bars is due to the heat in Vietnam. You can get by with regular molding or they would melt too quickly. I should have probably made that connection myself, but it is an interesting approach.

Just today they blogged about the evolution of their molding from metal baking pans to custom moldings.

Breaking the Mold.

The shipping is one of the reasons for some of the more superficial appearance issues. This bar unfortunately, took more of the brunt than the others. It's not easy getting bars from Vietnam to Michigan and then off to Cambridge. I take those factors into accountability when reviewing the bars. Ultimately it's about the taste.

 

 

Bển Tre 78%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 78%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa, cane sugar, cocoa butter.

Sample Size: 100g

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, monogrammed molding, broken in two pieces with lot's of particle matter on the bar and some scuffing. Couple of air bubbles in the chocolate once snapped open.

Score: 87

Snap: Very hard snap, loud audible snap sound, crumbly break lines.

Score: 89

Aroma: Big aroma of roasted cacao, a little sweet smelling, fruits, inky, tar, brewed coffee, mild floral aromas, and a spicy character than almost comes off like a faint cinnamon aroma.

Score: 94

Taste: A mild hint of cinnamon right up front coupled with a bit of mustiness. Bold, very bitter, lot's of big fruit, charred cacao, inky with deep wood flavors, a little acidic, toasted biscuit flavors, very subtle floral flavors towards the finish. Lingering toast flavors on the finish.

Score: 92

Texture: A little hard, medium melt-time, a little chalky and slightly drying on the palate, but it does have a medium balance with the creaminess and rawness of the chalky texture.

Score: 89

 

I realize the transport issues took the worst toll on this bar in particular so I didn't take too much off for that in rating it as I mentioned before, but the effects were undeniable and it lost it's luster and some shine from all the particles and forced ashy appearance from those particles. There was some scuffing but it was very minor. Again, this is a tough call on rating when external issues are the problem and not the skills of the chocolate makers. I have to give it a grade but I always let my readers know if there are caviats to consider.

Again with the hard snap. It makes sense now that I understand the heat issues in the region they are at, but still makes it hard to break up. Although this one wasn't as hard biting into as the previous bars had been. Still, too thick for this climate.

The aroma was quite big with a lot of individual nuances. Sometimes the smells sort of blend together and that's when I get generic descriptors like pen ink. But this aroma had a lot going on and presented themselves separately. An interesting cinnamon-like aroma on this bar after all the big char and fruity aromas made it interesting.

The flavor was big. It's 78% so it warns you about how bold it's going to be but the flavor isn't as dynamic as it's aroma. And by dymanic, I just mean it's not as nuanced. It's very straight forward. Very bitter, a little bit acidic, but it had a huge fruity flavor. I wish it carried the coconut flavors the cacao trees grow next to in this region. That would have been awesome. Natural coconut without vanillas forcing it out. Like the Bali bar from Artisan du Chocolat with the natural banana flavors from growing in the same terroir.

It does have that slight hint of cinnamon on the opening taste, but that's quickly overtaken by the bitterness and fruits. Bold wood flavors, a little mustiness. It's such a mixed bag of dank rawness and big fruity complexity. Very big flavored chocolate. This is for the fans who like their palates aggressively inundated. The fruit in it made me want to bake with it. I think this would be some of the worlds best baking chocolate. It's also making me think about wine pairings. I am wondering which way is the right way to go with something like this. Sweeter ports or muscats to address the bold and deep bitters? Or pair a dry red with similar deep bitter flavors essentially canceling each other out to bring out even more of the fruits? I will have to take what's left of this bar and test it out at one of my local watering holes.

The texture had a confusing blend of chalkiness and creaminess. Good melt-time, but a little drying on the palate. It roughed up my palate a bit. A combination of the bitters and the texture.

This bar is for the hardcore bitter fans. It's so robust and bitter yet holds it's own with a big fruit taste and even some faint traces of a floral aspect to it.  If you like your coffee black and heavily roasted, you will love this.

 

Final Score: 90.2

   score
  B+

Marou ~ Tiền Giang 70%

 

 

La deuxième ronde avec Marou, Faiseurs de Chocolat. Première dégustation avec leur barre d'origine unique à partir de Vietnam, Dong Nai 72% a été une expérience très jolie. Le Tien Giang à 70% aujourd'hui.

Samuel Maruta m'a honoré par Tweeting que mon premier examen de Dong Nai 72% étaient leur premier avis REAL. Je ne sais pas ce que mes opinions apporter à la table parfois, mais tout ce que je peux faire, c'est de rester vrai. Bonne ou mauvaise. Dong Nai a été très bonne.

Je suis amoureuse de leur emballage. Très simple et toujours très asiatique dans le thème. Elle coule très bien avec qui ces chocolatiers sont.

Blame my translator if the above is mangled in anyway.

 

Tiền Giang province on the Mekong Delta. Lush areas ripe for chocolate growing. It makes sense and in a way reminds of some of the delta river valleys in Madagascar. Not that I have been to compare the two. I am sure Vietnam is much hotter, and perhaps more jungle, but from what I gather the conditions seem similar. 

 

 

This full bodied chocolate owes its  spice and fruit notes to the organic Trinitario beans grown by farmers on the Cho Gao co-op in the Mekong Delta.

 

 

Tiền Giang 70%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Cacao, cane sugar, cocoa butter.

Sample Size: 100g

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, shiny surface, monogrammed custom molding, very slight scuffing and particle matter.

Score: 92

Snap: Very hard snap, too hard,  loud cracking sound, crumbling break lines.

Score: 88

Aroma: Very tart and citric aroma, char with some underlying rubbery tar notes, a little medicinal, aged wood, and fruity berries. Hard to find but subtly there are some coffee grinds and very faint cinnamon aromas.

Score: 92

Taste: Bold fruits up front, floral flavors mixed in with the berries, tart and acidic, deeply bitter, nutty biscuit flavors on the finish from retro-olfaction

Score: 87

Texture: Fairly hard. Hard to bite into, hard to snap, but it doesn't take too long to open up once in the mouth. Medium melt-time, nice creamy texture once it opens up, nice smooth texture.

Score: 91

 

Much cleaner appearance this time. I wasn't hard on my last review with appearance realizing that these bars did come all the way from Vietnam to Michigan, and finally to Cambridge. But this bar was in much better shape.

Really hard though due to it's thickness. It has a gloriously loud, cracking snap, but it left a lot of crumbles and broke half way down the center. Needs a little bit deeper grooves in the molding for an easier snap and easier bite size pieces. This also made it a problem biting into. It melts with a nice even medium melt-time, and has a nice smooth texture, but I ended up having to snap it into bite size bits with my hands. But once it's in the mouth and the melt begins, it has very nice texture. That's what I scored it on, but I have to make a note here about biting into it. A little too thick.

It's aroma was strong and citrus-y. It had big fruits, but also big aged wood aromas that mingled with the berries and fruitiness and left a medicinal aroma as an effect of that. Some char aromas from the roasting, and some slightly inky qualities. And just barely there, I had to really inhale this aroma for a while, but there are some coffee grinds and cinnamon aromas coming off this bar. Super light though.

The flavors were much more straight forward. Big huge fruit flavors and bold berries right up front with a soft layer of floral elegance lightly hanging on top of the big fruits, good balance of sugars, but very tart and acidic. Tart but not sharp. Very bitter but sort of rounded out by the big fruit flavors of this chocolate. Very distinctive nutty biscuit flavors on the finish. Bitter lingering after taste that holds on to the palate tightly.

I wanted to rate this higher on the flavor because the nuttiness, the floral aspect, and big full fruit flavors were stellar. But there is a bit of an acidity issue and a bit of some wild bitterness that dominates the palate. The flavors were so big and bright that they could stand up to the bitterness, but eventually the palate is overtaken.

I really want to stress that these are minor issues for me personally. I liked how big and bold the flavors were. Pretty straight forward and not a lot of hard-to-find nuances. It is what is is. But in the interest of fairness for reviewing, there were some mistakes with this bar. Tame the acid and bitterness and thin out the molding a little bit.

 

Final Score: 90

   score
    B