20°N & 20°S

Marou ~ Dồng Nai 72%

 

This begins my journey with new bean-to-bar producers, Marou Faiseurs de Chocolat, in Saigon, Vietnam. Two Frenchmen, Samuel Maruta and Vincent Mourou-Rochebois, who moved to Vietnam and began producing their own bean-to-bar chocolate locally made right there from the source. Vietnam's first single origin bean-to-bar producer in the country.

I have been in close contact with Samuel via twitter discussing as of late, French cheeses, chocolate packaging, and little bit about their crazy adventures in Vietnam. It's been rather nice discussing these things. I am utterly fascinated by anyone who gives it all up to follow and pursue a dream. After all that's what we did with BeerAdvocate and now this venture which is small for now, with Chocolate Advocate. I am running into that a lot right now and running into a some great foodies and chefs from that side of the world interested in their local goods and interested in talking about it without pretencions and without ego. Genuine excitement for the work they do. It's not that people aren't discussing those things here, but it's been a while where it was only about passion and not about egos.

I thank Samuel and my new Aussie twitter pals who have been very engaging and without knowing it, encouraging me to come out of my shell more in regards to food. I consider myself an extreme amateur who is doing whatever I can to learn and read everything about chocolate. So when someone excepts me into their food folds, I feel honored. I can bring chocolate and beer to the table at least.

Thank you Samuel for sending me chocolate to review. I am always eternally grateful for samples being sent my way.

 

Sam and Vincent. Image via their blog.

 

Samuel tells me that to begin this journey I should start with this Dồng Nai 72%, the yellow label first. This bar is made with beans sourced from the Dồng Nai Provence of southern Vietnam just north of Hồ Chí Minh City.

A rare and delicate chocolate, made in small batched, from agro-forestry farms around Cat Tien National Park's Primeval Forest.

 

Image via Vietnam Travels.

 

Here is a link to their blog about briefly describing cacao history in Vietnam.

 

 

Dồng Nai 72%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa, cane sugar, and cocoa butter.

Sample Size: 100g

 

Appearance: Thick solid tablet monogrammed tablet, deep dark brown color, shiny, but the shine lost a lost of luster along the way with a lot of particle matter all over the bar.

Score: 91

Snap: Very deep, hard and firm snap, very loud snap sound, but very crumbly break lines.

Score: 92

Aroma: Roasted wood, coffee, pen ink, berries, slightly green, mildly medicinal, and some wild flower honey aromas lightly hanging on at the top of the aroma.

Score: 93

Taste: Very fruity, big wild flower honey flavors, cocoa-y, roasted char flavors, big sugars, deeply bitter, a little tart, pen ink (wood and berries), coffee with cream flavors, biscuits and cereal grains through retro-olfaction,

Score: 94

Texture: Starts off a little hard, but opens up with a good medium melt-time, it's pretty smooth but not overly silky.

Score: 92

 

Let's get to the bottom of this once and for all. What exactly does "pen ink" mean in my reviews? To me it's a flavor or aroma of roasted cacao that has big wood flavors and berries that sort of blend together and remind me of Bic pen ink. Surely you must have had one explode on you before and that smell and that taste (it's exploded on me for gnawing at the end of the pen) of the ink is very distinctive. It's what I think these blended berries and roasted tar and char aromas of some cacao reminds me of. When they blend together and there isn't a clear picture of what kind of berries or wood because the char is there. It's not very eloquent but then again I don't really care about that. I care about the exact memories, the flavor profiles it evokes.

This was great chocolate. There is a lot going on with the flavors. The aroma's and the flavors matched up very well too. Big fruits right off the bat, and then a surprising honey flavor, it's big with sugars but not unbalanced since this bar is very bitter. Some wood flavors and berries in the middle and some roasted cacao with char flavors. It finishes with coffee and cream notes and of course the cereal grains. It has some tartness to it, but it's really not acidic at all.

I do want to mention that the molding has everything to do with the giant snap quality of this bar. It's almost a little too hard without any definitive tablet indentations. I also didn't take it out on them too much over the particle matter all over the bar. The bar was still in great shape, no bloom, no major scratching and scuffing. But it did lend to a much more muted surface appearance. I am stickler for chocolate looking as pretty as it tastes.

 

Final Score: 92.4

   score
  B+

Zaabär ~ Milk Chocolate with Guérande Sea Salt

 

A new chocolate company for me. Zaabär of Belgium. I picked this up in Quebec City. I wish I knew about them before now. I have been to Brussels twice in the last two years. It would have been nice to visit the shop. Those who aren't familiar with Brussels, it's completely choked out with bad Belgian "tourist" chocolate. Secret gems like this, Laurent Gerbaud, and Pierre Marcolini are some of Brussels saving graces.

 

The chocolate factory Zaabär was created at the end of 2007 by François-Jean Decarpentrie. “Zaabär”, name inspired by the Spices Bazaar of Istanbul, is a innovative concept : based on the association of Belgian chocolate and spices coming from all over the world.

The chocolate factory Zaabär also innovates by creating, in October 2008, the Zaabär Factory Shop, a chocolate manufacture and at the same time a point of sales and production. This 600 m² space marvellously designed, comparative to New York’s places, invites the visitors to discover the secrets of the chocolate maker’s craft. All the creations of the chocolate maker are sold in the shop, behind the factory.

Since 2009, the chocolate factory Zaabär organizes visits and chocolate classes to make truffles, spiced chocolate bars and chocolate shapes.

The chocolate factory Zaabär sells its chocolates in Belgium, of course , but also in France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan, in fine food stores, or qualitative confectioneries.

 

This bar comes part of their Duo series. Chocolate with spices.

Chocolate bars with spices. Each DUO combines with delicacy Belgian pure and fine chocolate with fruits, flowers and spices from the 4 corners of the world. The two 35gr-chocolate bars makes it possible to enjoy the surprising flavour of each tasteful combination. Vacuum packed, the chocolate bars preserve their flavour in an optimal way.

 

 Sel de Guérande (Medium) Brittany:

Roasting & Cooking - Sea Salt, All Natural

An unrefined natural salt, enriched with elements, especially magnesium, with a taste reminiscent of the sea and winds of Celtic Brittany. Guérande is harvested by hand and celebrated in kitchens throughout the world. Guérande is excellent as a finishing and well as a table salt.  

For hundreds of years, the inhabitants of the coastal town Guérande, have harvested salt by hand, using traditional Celtic methods. Today a cooperative of salt farmers continues to produce quality sea salt, which many argue is the ‘champagne’ of sea salts. A completely natural salt, it is light grey in color, rich in minerals, enhances flavors spectacularly, and is a favorite in kitchens throughout the world.

The grey color comes from the rain lightly disturbing the clay at the bottom of the salt ponds. Pure and unprocessed, the salt is dried slowly and then ground into a fine powder or left coarse. This is a proud table salt and a favorite with Celts for thousands of years.

Guérande enhances all recipes, and it is particularly good with seafood, steaks, or anything else you can find in a French kitchen, (although we haven’t yet tried it with frogs legs or snails).

 Via The Spice Lab

 

 

Chocolat au lait Sel de Guérande

 

Type: Flavored milk chocolate, 33.5%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa mass, salt, soya lecithin, natural vanilla.

Sample Size: 2 35g bars.

 

Appearance: Deep burnt caramel color with dark flecks in the chocolate. Monogrammed custom molding, small size tablet, shiny surface, little but of some surface matting from vacuum sealed packaging.

Score: 93

Snap: Firm snap, low and very dull snap sound, clean break lines.

Score: 89

Aroma: Soft muted aromas of cream and peanuts, lightly smoky.

Score: 91

Taste: Sweet, milky and creamy up front, large salt granules, very sweet and salty, nutty and smoky flavors from the chocolate. But really this is about sweet and salty and creamy milk flavors. The salt disintegrates any lingering creamy milk flavors that tend to hang on and and end up cloying on the finish. Very Euro tasting as far as milk chocolate goes. Some slight floral notes on the very end of the finish from retro-olfaction.

Score: 93

Texture: Creamy, soft, medium fast melt-time. Large coarse salt granules adds a crunchy texture. A little too coarse though towards the finish of the melt.

Score: 90

 

This was really great. Lots of salt for a very sweet bar of milk chocolate. Creamy and rich milk chocolate. But the creams did dominate the chocolate. It tasted like most European-style milk chocolates.Big sweet fatty creamy milk chocolate, little hints of smoke and some nuttiness, but the salt really dominates once you get to the middle of the melt. It's almost too salty at one point. I kind of enjoyed that because it helped wipe the palate clean and not leave cloying milk flavors behind. But it was a bit over powering in terms of balance. It leaves you with sugary cream versus salt.

Technically this was imbalanced and overly salty, but I got to say I liked it. The salt totally rips up that cream dominance. It prevents it from becoming cloying. But at the same time, the rich fatty milky chocolate was too sweet and needed that taming. They just might want to ease up a bit on the salt to do that.

I was hoping for a much bigger aroma with the bar being vacuum sealed. It was fairly soft. Only a few notes to talk about. As someone noted on Twitter, the packaging reminded of them of a pharmaceutical packaging. I tend to agree with that, but I like the idea of the vacuum seal. Anything to hold aromas intact. But in this case the chocolate didn't have much of an aroma. The rest of packaging I liked very much. Textured box packaging with a duo sleeve for both bars and closes up like a book. I like it and I think it looks real nice.

 

Final Score: 91.2

   score
  B+

20°N & 20°S Presents: The Top 10 List for 2011-2012

 

 

 

I am doing things a little bit different this time around. Last year's Top Ten was based on the top ten chocolate makers. This year's list is based solely on the individual bars I have tasted to date. There are some chocolate makers whom I haven't gotten to yet for tasting like Potomac Chocolate or Soma Chocolate. A lot of my fellow chocolate aficionados have been waiting for those reviews on my blog, but I haven't had a chance to taste them yet. This list is only about what has been tasted thus far.

Having said that, I make this my official pledge to taste as many new products as I can. I have many new reviews on the way. The rest of 2012 will be an exciting year for me in regards to reviewing.

Without further ado, I present the Top Ten List for 2011-2012.

 

1. Amano Cuyagua

Once again, Amano takes the top spot for the best bar of chocolate I had all year. Limited edition bar made of coastal Venezuelan cacao with an amazing aroma and flavor profile. Fantastic bar of chocolate.

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

 

2. Patric Chocolate Salty Signature Seventy

Just barely made it on to the list with this one. I reviewed this one over the weekend and was blown away with how good it was. I am so glad I managed to review it before the top ten list. I would have been upset to wait another year just to tell you about how good this bar was.

A wonderfully bold blended bar of chocolate with different origin cacao's and flavored with exotic salts. A truly incredible flavor profile and balance of intense flavors. Patric is really killing it with simplicity and true understanding of how to coax the best potential out cacao beans.

 

3. Ritual Chocolate Costa Rica 75%

A new bean-to-bar producer on the American chocolate scene. They sent me a sample of their 2009 vintage cacao bar. A big bold bar of chocolate with some floral flavors and an amazing aroma and flavor of Blackstrap molasses.

Very cool bar of chocolate and cool people behind the company. Passionate and talented. You will be hearing more and more about them as the progress with their range of bars.

 

4. Rogue Chocolatier Sambirano 70%

Aside from being a temperamental chocolatier and difficult to talk to about chocolate sometimes, Colin Gasko's Sambirano bar is by far and away one of the best in the world. He has released newer origin bars from Peru and Bolivia, but in my opinion they fail to cast a shadow on the greatness of his Sambirano bar. It was in my top ten last year, and continues it's dominance again for being one of the best bars I have tasted period. Although Mr. Gasko complains incessantly about how hard it is making chocolate, and how difficult it is to maintain a solid profile of spectacular chocolate in this business, and often discouraging others to make chocolate, his products nonetheless, prove to be some of the best chocolate in the world, not just the United States.

 

5. Mitzi Blue Mit Liebe

Gorgeous white chocolate with pretty flower petals sprinkled on top for that extra special appearance. Incredibly flavorful and creamy white chocolate. It was meant to be a gift from my friend Angelo Scarnera and his lovely sister Simone. But it ended up being amazing white chocolate worthy of changing the minds of those who swear they hate white chocolate. It was simply fantastic.

 

6. L'Artisan du Chocolat Limited Edition Bali 72%

This wasn't the absolute best bar of chocolate I have ever had, but it was certainly one of the coolest bars with a great natural flavor profile of bananas. An insanely good aroma and very interesting flavor profile. This bar really took a big step outside of the norm.

Aroma: Big sweet aroma of ripened bananas, spicy, peppery, smoky, almonds, wood, earthy, inky.

Score: 96

Taste: Sweet, cocoa-y like powdered hot chocolate, mellow and mild, lightly bitter, tiny hints of acidity, fruity, peanuts, lingering banana flavors, and coffee grinds. Way later in the finish were mild hints of cinnamon toast.

Score: 92

 

7. Slitti Super Novanta Amazzonia 90%

An excellent example of bold and deeply bitter cacao with zero bitterness and astringency. A hallmark of Italian chocolatiers that I have come to love. They just know how to tame cacao and really master the bolder stronger cacao percentage bars without kicking you in the face and allowing you to actually enjoy something so strong and bitter. I haven't been a big fan of 100% bars or uber high percentages like this. Sometimes it's just too much and too raw. But this was handled so well that you could actually taste good flavor profiles in it. It wasn't dominated by pure bitterness.

 

8. Zotter "Hand-Scooped" Scotch Whisky

Filled bar with a scotch whisky center and chocolate dipped in 70% cacao. Though this is more of a candy bar, this was a really cool bar to eat. I am not a fan of scotch at all, but this was handled real well and tasted quite amazing. I wanted to remind my readers that it's not always about the dark bars of chocolate.

 

9. Xocolatl de David Country Ham

A special bar made for Cochon 555, this bar of chocolate proves that you don't have to be stingy with pork products in your bars. Big bold chocolate and salty ham makes for the perfect sweet and salty combination. Nothing soft about this bar at all in terms of flavors. And what's not to love about having Benton's Ham in your chocolate?

 

10. Durand Madagascar Criollo 70%

I didn't want to like this bar, but I ended up loving it. I get pissy about the term Criollo being branded and labeled on everything now. Generally it's false, and means the price of the bar just went up at least $3 more dollars. But this bar really did have good flavor. The aroma could have been more had it not been poorly packaged, but at the end of the day, this bar ended up being very sophisticated chocolate.

 

Honorable Mentions:

Dick Taylor Black Fig

Mast Brothers Papua New Guinea 71%

Chocolat Bonnat for texture.

 

Best Hot Chocolate: William Curley House Blend

Honorable Mentions:

       Whole Food's Allegro Peru 68%

       Eríco Tanzanie 75%

Best Dairy-free: Zotter Lobooko Soya & Green Tea

Best Caramel: William Curley Assam Caramel Mou

Best Truffle/Bon Bon: Amano Dos Rios Palet D'Or

Best Chocolate Covered: Elaine Hsieh Pecan Clusters

Best Brownies: Homemade French Fleur de Sel Caramel Brownies with TCHO Baking Drops

Best Flavored Bar: Patric Chocolate PBJ OMG

Best Filled: Chuao Potato Chips in Milk Chocolate

Best Baking Chocolate: TCHO Baking Drops

Best White Chocolate: Askinosie White Chocolate with Davao Cocoa Nibs

Most Creative Use Of Chocolate: Hungry Mother's Lard Ice Cream with Smoked Chocolate Sauce, Toasted Sorghum Marshmallow, and Pork Rind for Cochon 555 in Boston.

 

Biggest Disappointments:

Pralus Chuao 75%

Mast Brothers Crown Maple

Zotter "Hand-Scooped" Bacon Bits

Patric Chocolate ~ Salty Signature Seventy

 

 

It's been a long time for me and my old pal, Alan McClure. Singing his praises behind every chocolate conversation. "I know that guy, he is a cool dude, and he is one of the few who truly gets it and creates truly good chocolate in this country." Truly!

Not too thrilled with the new packaging. Though it's hardly new now. He used to have much more sophisticated packaging, albeit a little same-y to the other bars out there. My homie has gone a little hipster on me. But whatever my opinions are, it's working. New products are being created, new collaborations, and new people out there talking about this fine American-made bean-to-bar chocolate.

I had a go with one of his newer creations called PBJ OMG. As silly as that lame name is, it ends being exactly what it is. He blended peanut butter into one of his more jammy/fruity bars of Madagascar chocolate to create a peanut butter and natural jelly flavored bar. It's fucking exceptional. I didn't review it, but I ordered it again with a promise to this blog to have that review up soon.

I was also lucky enough to get my hands on Deep Ellum Brewing Co.'s Double Cherry Chocolate Double Brown Stout. It's really a Baltic Porter all suped-up with Patric's Madagascar nibs and cherries. It's fucking delicious. Extremely limited edition, 300 bottles made, and my lucky ass got TWO of them. Thanks to the kind people at Deep Ellum.

There see what I've gone and done? Two F bombs in one review and in praise.

This review is about Patric's signature bar of blended cacao, and flavored with exotic sea salts. Limited edition bar with only 950 made. I bought four bars. I gave one away so far to my favorite restaurant owner, reviewing this one, and sitting on two to share with worthy friends.

 

On a foundation of our incomparable Signature 70% blend, we have sprinkled Prussian Blue salt, for sparkle, and Bali Sea Salt, for crunch. We sourced both of these salts with the advice and help of The Meadow in NYC, home of the world's best Selmelier: Mark Bitterman, author of Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral.

 

Salty Signature Seventy

 

Type: Flavored bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Blend

Ingredients: Cacao, cane sugar, cocoa butter, and salt.

Sample Size: 65g or 2.3oz

 

Appearance: Signature monogrammed splatter paint custom molding, Matted finish from the molding, back surface lightly sprinkled with salt. A little dry looking on the backside, and flow marks from filling.

Score: 87

Snap: Excellent snap. Very firm, crisp, nice loud snap, and clean break lines.

Score: 94

Aroma: Softer aroma than expected. Pen ink, a little rubber and char, soft roasted cacao, slightly floral, and some tiny hints of blueberries. Really faint though.

Score: 91

Taste: Salt up front, strong fruity flavors, tar, pen ink, a little tart, sweet sugars, berries, coffee flavors, wood, floral spiciness.

Score: 95

Texture: Nice gritty salt, then it opens up to a perfect medium melt time. Just long enough for all of the big huge flavors to take center stage. Creamy with a slight drying effect.

Score: 91

 

Aside from the gorgeous salt, and the shine that barely peeks out of the monogrammed molding, I am just not in love with the new molding. I liked it better with it was a tablet with monogrammed P's. It was much simpler, and more beautiful. Had better shine and sophistication.

Don't hate me Alan.

I am positive this bar is blended with Madagascar and Rio Caribe. All the hallmarks are there. Huge jammy fruits from the Madagascar, and tar, pen ink, and rubber from the Rio Caribe. Rio Caribe is by far and away not my favorite region for cacao, but Patric's stood out as the most robust and layerd versions of that origin. And blended with the Madagascar, it really softens up the Rio Caribe, but it doesn't deflect it's own big huge flavors. I am not sure if anything else was blended into this bar. These two origins dominate, but I would like to know where that insanely good spicy floral note comes from. 

The palate is totally dominated immediately by gorgeous salt, but then it melts away allowing a huge roller coaster of flavors to take over. The dank and dirty Rio Caribe flavors of pen ink, char, and rubber, then big bold sugars dominate the bar and huge fruits pop out, then this gorgeous floral spiciness takes over. It's simply amazing that last part. Best part of the entire bar in fact.

The aroma is fairly soft leaving only the less desirable aromas of Rio Caribe coming through. It doesn't leave any impression of the roller coaster about to invade your palate.

At first, I thought the salt sprinkled on top might have been a little skimpy just based on appearance. But tasting it, it was well balanced. You forget how big some of these salts can be and it ends up being the first huge flavor impact the palate is fronted with. Well balanced with extremes though. Big salt, big fruit, and bold sugars. They each take their turn presenting themselves. A well balance of the blended cacaos.

I freaking loved this bar. Probably one of the best bars I have had all year. No Bullshit. The letter grade is only reflective of the molding and mildly about the aroma and texture. This bar is still one of the best tasting bars I have had in a while.

 

Final Score: 91.6

   score
  B+

Weiss ~ Kacinkoa 85%

 

 

 

French chocolatiers since 1882.

Via the Weiss website and translated from Google:

The young Alsatian chocolatier confectioner Eugene Weiss founded his chocolate factory in Saint-Etienne in 1882. He is the inventor of the Top Chocolate, or the art of assembling the various soils beans to create a chocolate aroma of great subtlety and rare regularity. He also became a master in the preparation of praline he imagines in his famous Nougastelles always manufactured to the original recipe.

Chocolaterie Weiss is one of the last French chocolate to control the entire manufacturing: selection of beans, assembly, roasting the old to the gas ball, crushing, cocoa grinder, mixer, grinding and conching (the conching is the last essential step that will give the chocolate all its finesse and smoothness).

Complex aromas, slightly sweet, silky and fine quoits, a rare long finish: discover why chocolate lovers recognize Weiss eyes closed.

Weiss provides an authentic chocolate of rare purity, pure cocoa butter, no added vegetable fats, and offers mostly chocolate candy hazoïque without preservatives or coloring.

Weiss uses only beans of noble origins from the best vineyards in the world: Venezuela, Ecuador, Trinidad ...

Weiss chooses the best beans high, knowing the combine, according to the desired mixtures, the Trinitario cocoa from Trinidad & Tobago, the Venezuelan Rio Caribe Forastero or Ivory Coast, whose power is needed to spice up some specialties.

Weiss is as uncompromising in the selection of its raw materials. The ingredients in the composition of confectionery are rigorously selected pod natural vanilla, honey Pilat, almonds of Valencia in Spain and Marconas, Piedmont hazelnuts and Rome, oranges South of the Iberian Peninsula and apricot Luberon , Ceylon tea and jasmine tea, pure Arabica coffee, old kirsch, cognac ... and, the highlight, the 22-carat gold that covers the famous Or Palets

"My passion, my art.
Chocolate as love
Is an eternal source of inspiration
Rich of the noblest emotions. "

Eugene Weiss (1858-1939)

 

 

 

Kacinkoa 85%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 85%

Bean Varietal: Blended

Ingredients: Cocoa, sugar, cocoa butter, GMO-Free soy lecithin.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

 

Appearance: Patterned molding without monogram, deep dark brown, ashy, a little dusty with light sugar bloom, particle matter all over the bar from rough handling either from store in Quebec City where purchased, or in shipping, lined molding marks on the back surface.

Score: 87

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

Score: 92

Aroma: Big aroma of almonds, vanilla, coconuts, smoke, and aged wood.

Score: 93

Taste: Cocoa-y, almonds, wood, spicy, earthy, *moldy, deeply bitter, cinnamon, tart, some slight hints of grapes. Lingering but very faint hints of tar from retro-olfaction and hints of notebook paper.

Score: 92

Texture: Creamy with a medium melt-time, but drying and a little bit gritty with some large particles, and chalky.

Score: 86

 

I really liked the molding. Aside from the bloom and particles, the pattern was nice and good size small tablets for tasting.

This was some pretty funky chocolate. I kind of liked it because of that. I don't know for sure if it's flawed chocolate or not, but the taste was very different than what I am used to. Like the so-called flaws of the Papua New Guinea beans at the moment. Some people don't know what to do with the smoked beans, and others handle it just fine. I like it when things taste different. This had big coconut, almonds and dried wood flavors, but more curiously were the earthy moldy flavors with grape and tar flavors on the finish. *I know that sounds bad to say mold flavors, but it didn't find it bad. It wasn't moldy chocolate, it just had very deep rustic earthy flavors. Like the time the Mast Brothers had a bar that smelled exactly like potting soil.

This is very deep chocolate as it's 85%, big strong, musty, and earthy with pleasant almonds and coconuts in it. Very different. I don't know the ratios of this blend, but I'd say African beans give the almonds and coconut flavors. Maybe some hints of Rio Caribe in this but small traces of it for the tar and deep bitter factor. I can't say for sure what makes it so earthy.

Very interesting. I would like to take a bar of this to wine tasting and try and find a good fruity counterpart to offset it's deep bitterness and earthiness. Normally I would suggest a beer, but I want to see what this funky thing would be like with wine.

 

Final Score: 90

   score
    B

Bonnat ~ Madagascar 75%

 

 

 

Madagascar 75%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 75%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, but most likely Trinitario.

Ingredients: Cocoa, cocoa butter, sugar.

Sample Size: 100g

Lot #: A

 

Appearance: Broken bar, scratched, nicked, and scuffed surface, muted shine, rich mahogany color, monogrammed signature Bonnat molding.

Score: 83

Snap: Firm snap, but dull snap sound, a little softer than usual. Clean break lines.

Score: 87

Aroma: Smoky, very jammy, tart, soft and floral.

Score: 94

Taste: Tart and tangy, deeply bitter, very fruity, big wood flavors, tart jam flavor, tar, roasted cacao, mild hints of coffee grinds, deeply hidden pen ink and red wine.

Score: 93

Texture: Silky and chalky at the same time. A little out of synch with the balance. It has extraordinary melt time and is creamy, but not smooth. It's fairly chalky. Not what I am used to Bonnat texture.

Score: 89

 

Here is the direct opposite of the Ceylan bar I reviewed before this. This had a nice aroma, and a much fuller and brighter taste than the Ceylan, but texturally it was odd. Unbalanced and chalky with a fast melt time. I was torn about what to score it. The flavors are all about jam. Big fruity jam on the aroma and flavor. It's tart and full bodied with big wood flavors. It's quite big on the flavor. The aroma was still fairly soft, but more distinctive.

I am miffed about why the snap was weak too. It wasn't pathetic, but again, it wasn't the quality I am used to with Bonnat. Such a mixed bag for this bar of chocolate. Full flavor, nice aroma, lame snap and texture. This will be good to chop up and bake something with so not all is lost.

 

Final Score: 89.2

 

   score
    B

Bonnat ~ Ceylan 75%

 

 

 

Single origin Sri Lankan cacao made by French Chocolatier, Bonnat. Sri Lanka is just barely apart of that optimal range for cacao growing. But the conditions were right and here we are with the finished product.

 

I don't know really anything about Sri Lankan Cacao, but I found a good source for some quick information from The Spice Council. Word is that the whole island is a fragrant beast (The Perfume Isle) with the spices and terroir impacting some of the aromas and flavors.

 

Ceylan 75%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 75%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cocoa, cocoa butter, and sugar.

Sample size: 100g

Lot #: A

 

Appearance: Signature Bonnat molding, large tablet with small tablets easy for breaking and tasting, soft brown color, shiny surface with a few matting marks on the surface.

Score: 91

Snap: Excellent snap. Nice and audible, clean break lines, very firm snap.

Score: 93

Aroma: Soft berries, a little tart, light roasted cacao, mildly smoky, slight aromas of tobacco and wood.

Score: 89

Taste: Deeply bitter, a little acidic, but not astringent, very mellow flavors, oak wood, char, rubber, roasted cacao, very subdued berries and toasted biscuit flavors, and soft hints of floral vanilla. Some lingering fruits left on the palate, like a soft nectarine and strawberry flavor mixed with cream. Like a lassi maybe. Can't put my finger exactly on it.

Score: 90

Texture: A little hard in the beginning, but then opens up to an insanely silky smooth texture with a medium fast melt-time.

Score: 96

 

Bonnat just slays me with their texture. I don't know they manage it, but it's my favorite. It's like pure silk and creaminess. This bar was a little hard at first but then the true texture revealed itself. It's one of the reasons Bonnat was on my Top Ten last year and probably will be on there again this year too for the texture.

I expected more from the flavors and aroma. It was very soft on those areas. If Sri Lanaka is a big flavorful spice island, then how come this are didn't really reflect that? I can't speak for where cacao is grown, but certain Asian bars are known to have picked up very distinctive banana flavors and other flavors that terroir. I expected more flavors like that the present themselves. Cool mango/strawberry lassi flavors on the finish but very soft. It's a nice way to leave the bar instead of the more dominant char and rubber flavors in the beginning.

The flavors and aromas were just average, but again the texture of this bar is the major defining factor. I wish I could see the techniques they use to make their bars.

 

Final Score: 91.8

   score
  B+

PB Crave ~ Razzle Dazzle

 

 

Razzle Dazzle

Raspberry, dark chocolate, white chocolate, honey flavored peanut butter.

 

Okay so this review might be a little random for Chocolate Advocate, but there is chocolate in this product so it totally counts. Who am I to say no? Once again we start our story with an, "I am just kidding if you're just kidding. But I am serious if you're serious" post. Random people following each other on twitter and then I happen to see a tweet about sending out samples to bloggers. I am not going to lie, I asked about it and the next thing I know, not one, but four jars of peanut butter ended up on my door step. Insanely generous! They asked if I blogged, and I said yes but only about chocolate but this totally counts. They told me all of their products have chocolate, hence the four jars being sent out.

 

I was worried about it at first. It boasts as an all natural peanut butter. I have issues with natural peanut butter. It's always wrong. It's never salty enough, never creamy enough, always overly oily and then the rest of the peanut butter ends up dried out because of that separation. Commercialized peanut butter is the only form of food blasphemy I willfully except. That and the McDonald's McRib. Bring on the hydrogenated oils, sugars, salt, and pure processed grossness. Just so long as that texture is silky smooth and can last through four nuclear holocausts in my pantry, I will be all set.

But honestly this peanut butter was a huge surprise. Not only did it taste really good, all the flavors worked out wonderfully, but the texture was smooth. It did have a little bit of oils on top, but it wasn't swimming in it and it didn't completely separate. It just needed a little bit of stirring up. But again, smooth, right balance of salt, a little sweeter than a normal peanut butter and a minor lingering raspberry extract taste that hung on longer than it should, but other wise a fantastic natural peanut butter. I am so happy I can finally enjoy and all natural peanut butter.

 

Not only that, but the flavors meant no jam necessary. See I like my peanut butter in the morning time on toasted English muffins. Normally I put PB&J on it, but this just needed a little schmear of the good stuff and that's it. Honey, white chocolate, chocolate, and raspberry. Seriously, how can you go wrong?

One other thing to note, a minimum of 2% of the sales of each jar of peanut butter goes to help Project Peanut Butter. Please read more about it here.

Cookie Nookie, Choco Choco, and Coco Banana flavors will be coming up as soon I can get through one jar at a time.

Galler ~ Éclats de Cacao 70%

 

 

Éclats de Cacao 70% (Cocoa Nibs)

 

Type: Filled, bittersweet 70%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cocoa paste, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, natural vanilla aroma, and cocoa nibs.

Sample Size: 80g or 2.8oz

Lot# L1531108

 

Appearance:Smooth textured surface from molding, thin tablet with long tablet squares, monogrammed molding, bubbly texture on the back surface from nibs.

Score: 91

Snap: Nice clean and firm snap, good snap sound, clean break lines.

Score: 92

Aroma: Very light aroma, soft almonds, smoky, oak wood, vanilla, and a little spicy.

Score: 92

Taste: Slightly sharp and acidic at first, cocoa-y, vanilla, sweet, subdued fruits, biscuit flavors, nutty nibs, smoky hints, lingering strawberry hints.

Score: 89

Texture: A little hard and waxy at first but smooth once it opens up, medium melt-time, crispy nibs, but overly milled and too small.

Score: 88

 

**Archived Notes

This bar was okay. I think the flavors were a little stronger on this bar than the regular 70% due to the nibs, but the aroma was much softer. I liked the cocoa nibs in it, but they shouldn't have been broken down or chopped as much. While they were crispy and good, they were too small for good texture.

Same texture as the regular 70% but with the added bonus of the nibs, but again I wished they were bigger nibs. It was a litle sharp in the flavor at first but then really mellows out. It has a nice cocoa-y flavor up front, some subdued fruits, a little biscuit-y, and some nice nutty flavors with the nibs and a lingering strawberry flavor.

Decent bar of chocolate, but nothing to really write home about.

 

Final Score: 90.4

 

   score
  B+

Galler ~ Noir Intense 70%

 

 

** Archived notes.

 

Chocolate I picked up in Bruges while traveling on the Bon Beer Amsterdam/Belgium Beer Boat cruise. I gave Galler a second chance after having a not-so-pleasant visit in their Brussels shop in Central Place in 2010. The customer service in the Bruges shop was phenomenal. Knowledgeable staff, generous with samples, and recommended their dark bars for review. I was so happy to leave their shop with redeemed feelings.

I don't know where the origin of this chocolate comes from but it reminds me of something from Africa. Ghana or Ivory Coast. I don't know for sure but I am guessing that might be where this cacao is from. It's very frustrating with so little information given. There is a lot of detail crammed on the the back of the bar about ingredients and nutrition content in multiple languages, but zero information about the beans. And nothing on the website either.

 

 

Noir Intense 70%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cocoa paste, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, natural vanilla aroma.

Sample Size: 80g or 2.8oz

Lot #: L2661111

 

Appearance: Long and wide tablet, long rectangle tablets,  deep dark color, monogrammed molding, matted surface from signature molding, odd circular pattern on top surface, very shiny bar on the back side.

Score: 90

Snap: Good firm snap, crisp snapping sound, a little crumbly on the break lines, but very decent snap for a thin-ish bar.

Score: 92

Aroma: Very potent aroma. Heavy vanilla, smoke, peanuts, and almonds.

Score: 94

Taste: Rich, bitter, cocoa powder, very bitter, low acids, buttery, peanuts, char, toast.

Score: 83

Texture: A little hard and waxy, but is relatively smooth, has a drying quality to it, medium melt-time.

Score: 87

 

Odd bar of chocolate. The aroma was very strong and fragrant, but the flavor doesn't quite match it's aroma. The flavor is completely dominated by bitters. It completely coats and dominates the palate. It's starts off with a good balance of sugars and cocoa-y powder flavors, and then the bitter over takes the palate. The only thing really coming through is some peanuts on the finish and roasted cacao flavors like char and toast.

It wasn't a bad bar of chocolate, it was just deceptive and misleading with it's dominate aroma. I wanted the vanilla and sugars to come out more, but the bitters really overtake everything. I think this could have been more more then it was. A better balance of the sweet and floral notes and the rich nutty flavors with the bitters.

What is vanilla aroma anyway? In terms of an ingredient for chocolate.

Final Score: 89.2

 

   score
    B