20°N & 20°S

Demarquette ~ Pure Wild Chocolate 72% Limited Edition

Pure, wild grown Bolivian cocoa beans. I have only encountered this one other time with the wild Bolivian beans from Melt Chocolates also in London.

This is a limited edition chocolate bar from Demarquette. I guess it was part of an exclusive batch only made for the UK. Luckily I have a friend who lives in London, and has no problem picking up chocolate for me to review.

There is no information for this chocolate bar that I can find online. A few mentions of the 68% Wild Bolivian from Demarquette. All that I have learned about Bolivian beans so far, is that appararently cocoa grows wild in Bolivia, and that they are wild hybrid beans.

Normally I am stickler about having all the information, but these wild bars are kind of cool without information. It's one of the few times I will be fairly lenient about not having the info. Wild beans from Bolivia, and nothing to do but taste it.

Pure Wild Chocolate 72% Limited Edition

Type: Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, Wild Hybrid

Ingredients: Not Listed

Sample Size: 75g or 2.6oz

Appearance: Smooth, deep rich brown color, shiny surface, a little matted from being wrapped in plastic, but otherwise smooth.

Score: 93

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

Score: 93

Aroma: Awesome aroma, sweet, soft, woody, spicy, Almond Joy (almonds and coconuts), smokey. Once it's been opened up a bit that Almond Joy character softens into an almond butter aroma. Very nutty but soft and pretty. The nose was very aromatic but pretty with soft, delicate notes. It was a bit all over the place too with the wood and spiciness and then softening up into an almond butter. It does have soft roasted cocoa notes once it's been rubbed to open up it's aroma.

Score: 97

Taste: Rich roasted cocoa, sweet, soft, cinnamon, extremely low acidity, but fairly bitter, woody, nutty, dry, a little spicy, some hints of green fruits, but red fruits are dominating. Finishes clean, but has some lingering hints of nuts.

Score: 95

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

Score: 94

I loved the aroma on this chocolate. It was all over the place with being spicy and nutty. It was sweet smelling and sweet tasting but still fairly bitter and finished dry. Unusual chocolate, but certainly exciting trying to figure out all of it's nuances. 

This was a very interesting bar of chocolate. I should develop a category for "Thinking man's chocolate." I have a few of these come up where I had to sit back for a while and think about these chocolate. This was one of them.

Final Score: 94.4

score
A-

Demarquette ~ Araguani 72%

Demaquette Fine Chocolates

Another highly anticipated chocolate to taste from The British Chocolate Invasion. Demarquette in London. This bar is part of Demarquette's Pure Range Collection. A collection of single origin beans from around the world crafted into fine chocolate bars.

We have searched for the most interesting pure cocoas to satisfy any chocoholic's palate. You are invited to discover our creations made with award-winning cocoas from around the world. In this collection you will taste the strength of raw flavours found in cocoa and how they vary according to plantation, estate or geographical region. The only collection of its kind in the UK! Each cocoa has been carefully selected by British Chocolatier Marc Demarquette for its quality, finesse and unique aroma. The full ‘Pure Range’ collection of 16 exquisite and pure cocoas, which also includes the rare ‘wild’ Bolivian Cocoa, first introduced to the UK market by Demarquette in 2008, represents a truly sumptuous long-haul journey of highest quality cocoas - an unprecedented ‘Taste the World Through Chocolate’ experience!

This Bar: Araguani (72%) Bar

Demarquette has a nice website loaded with good information about their background and history on Marc Demarquette himself.

Marc-H. Demarquette was born in 1972 to a French father and Chinese mother in London, where he was raised before spending his educational years in Bath.

Following his undergraduate and post graduate studies at the universities of Brighton and Westminster, he started out his career as a Management Consultant at one of the leading consultancy firms in London working on high-profile projects within international blue-chip organisations.

A serious accident then made him re-think his priorities and he decided to leave the consultancy world in order to pursue a lifelong passion he had - Chocolate!

Marc was introduced to good quality fine chocolate from a very early age when his French grandmother would treat him to the finest chocolates made by Gaston LeNotre when she visited him in London. He was fascinated by the great varieties in tastes and textures and admired the creativity of M. Lenotre whom he would later meet personally during his training as a Chocolatier.

His quest started with in-depth training at the prestigious Maison Lenôtre in Paris, where he was taught by world Masters and acquired the fine art of making artisan chocolates. He further fine-tuned his expert skills by learning with a number of Master Chocolatiers in France.

From the outset, his vision was to create exquisite hand-made chocolates, which are inspired by his cultural background, and the inspiration he seeks from the surrounding community.

His culture and experiences have inspired him to make the finest quality chocolates containing a wealth of superior ingredients sourced to the highest standards to ensure only the best is used, that on tasting will transport you back to magical experiences you have had and exotic places you have dreamed about.

These exquisite flavours will trigger your aspirations and have you marvelling at the combinations we use to tantalise your taste buds.

As well as freshly hand-making his fine chocolates for sale at the Demarquette boutique on Fulham Road in Chelsea, Marc was commissioned by Fortnum & Mason within just one year, to be the only permanently named and featured chocolatier within the store. He has created the 'Fortnum & Mason Bespoke Selection' of chocolates using a variety of the famous store's exclusive ingredients with exciting new flavours regularly being created and introduced.

"My chocolates are derived from pure passion. Passion for the traditional artisan craft and passion for the perfection of my finished product.

This I bring to you with an explosion of contemporary flavours that will stimulate your imagination and make you want to experience the full collection of artisan delights.

I command only the highest quality raw ingredients and select the finest cocoa butter to create a smooth chocolate that you can enjoy anytime.

A taste sensation."

Demarquette also offers a good amount of details in chocolate making from it's history, bean-to-bar making, and tasting guide.

Guide to Chocolate


I unfortunately, do not have a lot of information about this bar. I don't have Demarquette listed as a bean to bar producer, and it isn't listed who he sources his cocoa from. All I can say is that the bar is from Venezuela as mentioned on the package. Valrhona makes a bar under the name Araguani 72%. It could be courverture chocolate or beans from them, but nothing indicates that it is Valrhona. If it is by any chance Valrhona, they list their bean varietal as a hybrid blend of Criollo and Trinitario.

The ingredients are not listed for this bar of chocolate, but they do say this about the ingredients they typically use:

Our passion is chocolate!  And we are particularly selective when it comes to choosing the best quality, ethically grown and harvested, traceable varieties. We are very strict in our selection of growers and producers, who must adhere to only the highest standards in social responsibility.

Our cocoa butter is a traceable blend from Ecuador, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic and the sugar we use for our Caramel Chocolates is British Beet sugar.

We are passionate about taking fine chocolate in its purest form and hand-blending it with just a few simple yet powerfully flavoured fresh ingredients which further enhance the chocolate and create its own unique character. We use only the freshest ingredients sourced from local suppliers, where possible, in our chocolates and prepare them to strict specifications in our London Chocolaterie.

As with our chocolate, we carefully select our ingredients from traceable and ethical sources. The provenance of our fresh cream is paramount and we personally know the farmers whose dairy herds graze in Cornwall and Hampshire. Homegrown fruit and berries are picked from Marc's family orchard in the French Alps.

We do not add additional sugar to our chocolates but when necessary sweeten with our own aromatic blend of traceable honey - a natural inverted sugar - harvested from the sweet nectar of wild meadow flowers.

And above all we do not add palm oil, substitutes or any other synthetic or artificial flavourings to our chocolates.

Araguani 72%


Type: Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, but could be a hybrid of Criollo and Trinitario.

Ingredients: Not listed.

Sample Size: 75g or 2.6oz

Appearance: Smooth, shiny surface, deep rich brown. A few nicks here and there and a little bit of matting from the plastic wrapper, but otherwise very smooth.

Score: 94

Snap: A light snap with a slight underlying deep thud. Clean break lines.

Score: 92

Aroma: Rich cocoa, tobacco, nutty, smokey, a little spicy, soft floral notes, and raisins.

Score: 95

Taste: Deep rich cocoa, a bit of a bright green character, hints of cinnamon, big woody characters, berries, raisins, a slight hint of leather. Soft taste despite rich flavors. No sharp acidic notes, or astringency.

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth, medium soft, medium melt time.

Score: 94

The taste is what I am coming to understand as a very classic taste for South American cocoa beans especially of berries and deep rich cocoa. It's very classic tasting and rich. Simple and straight forward.

This is very different from a lot of British chocolate I have tasted so far. It's not as sweet. The British really like their chocolate a lot sweeter. It is a lot softer in the body. It's rich and full flavored, but very soft at the same time. I really like big bold bittersweet chocolate that isn't acidic or astringent.

Very good chocolate!

Final Score: 94.2

score
A-

L.A. Burdick ~ Madagascar 64%

L.A. Burdick

Single Source chocolate collection, Madagascar 64% semisweet chocolate bar.

Another website that doesn't offer a ton of information about their specific products. All I know for sure is that this is part of a collection of single origin bars that Burdick's makes. I have reviewed the Grenada bar so far, and have the Venezuela bar to go.







Madagascar 64%


Type: Semisweet, 64%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Unknown

Sample Size: 3.5 oz 100g



Appearance: Smooth, Shiny and glossy, a little bit matted in placed from the plastic wrapper, simple molding.

Score: 94

Snap: Deep, firm snap. Deep, but not crisp snap sound. Clean break lines.

Score: 93

Aroma: Big roasted cocoa, a little bit smokey, woody, fruity, sweet and sugary.

Score: 95

Taste: Sweet, roasted cocoa, tangy, orange citrus notes, bright cherries, and wood.

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth, moderately creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 94

I enjoyed this quite a bit. I think more sugar and lower cocoa percentages help tame a lot of the stringency and tartness Madagascar beans tend to have. Made it much more fruit forward and bright cherries came through.

It's pretty straight forward chocolate on the aroma and taste. It has all the classic hallmarks of Madagascar beans with the wood, and tart citrus notes, but the sweet and creamy texture make it fruitier and very enjoyable.

I have liked just about everything I have had from Burdick's. From their hot chocolate, to their truffles and their single origin bars. My only suggestion to them would be to include more information on their website about their products. Ingredients and more in depth information on the sources these beans are coming from.

Final Score: 94.4

score
A-

Patric Chocolate ~ Rio Caribe Superior 70%

Patric Chocolates

Another straight forward chocolate from the Paria Peninsula in Venezuela. See the map below and locate Rio Caribe on the top right hand side. That is the Paria Peninsula and the region this chocolate comes from.

From the website:

This single-estate chocolate, made with delectable cacao from Venezuela's Paria Peninsula, has robust and deeply satisfying chocolate flavor with notes of fresh cream, roasted almonds, coffee, walnuts, floral notes and subtle hints of dried apricot. This bar is the equal of and yet completely different than our Madagascar line of bars.

This chocolate was sent to me as part of a collection of Patric Chocolates from Alan McClure. This is his first single origin bar outside of Madagascar. He first released it in late 2009. He has 4 other bars all from Madagascar of various strengths. He is working on another single origin bar soon to be released, but he is very tight lipped about any clues on where it might be coming from.

Won't you give us any sort of a hint Alan?

Upon opening this chocolate, it immediately reminded me of smelling a Gueuze or sour, wild ales. Sometimes the aroma characteristics described may not sound like they are very appealing. With Sour ales it's not uncommon to have an aroma of band aids, medicinal aromas, or barnyard smells. Funky is the key word for these kinds of beers and I think funky is a good key word for the aroma of this chocolate.

This is all bean on the aroma. There are nothing but cocoa beans and sugar in the ingredients. No cocoa butter, or vanilla added. This is some pretty raw chocolate.

I felt like I should explain the aroma ahead of time because it might not seem palatable for some readers. And with some of these funkier aromas, it might not make sense why this chocolate scored as high as it did. It's because of how natural it is and how distinctive these aromas were. Not to mention, it technically hits all the right marks for reviewing. It's a thinking chocolate and not what I would call a beginners chocolate.

Rio Caribe Superior 70%

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varital: Hybrid, Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans and sugar.

Sample Size: 50g or 1.75 oz

Lot #: 101830

Appearance: Smooth, shiny, glossy, simple monogrammed molding. Deep, rich, dark brown color.

Score: 97

Snap: Good firm, crisp snap, though a touch lighter in sound than I would have though. Clean break lines.

Score: 94

Aroma: Huge roasted cocoa, bitter, strongly medicinal, minty, rubber, tar, burnt coffee, slightly minty, some complex fruits and apricots underneath the robust roasted characters.

Score: 92

Taste: Sugar in the very first taste, then it opens up into medicinal flavors, burnt coffee, tar, rubber, roasted cocoa, cinnamon, oak.

Score: 94

Texture: Soft, smooth, creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 95

This is very complex chocolate. It's very robust and bitter, but has strong individual flavors. It's like each individual flavor is an attention getter vying for your time and attention amongst the other flavors. There are fruits, but they are hard to identify with all the other strong flavors coming through. There were apricots on the nose, but hard to pinpoint on the taste.

This is a great chocolate for those who like things complicated and bitter. It's very natural and untamed like those funky wild ales I was talking about earlier.

I am not even sure if I really like this chocolate, I think I just like how raw and aggressive it is.  This is not a beginners chocolate.

Final Score: 94.4

score
A-

Rogue Chocolatier ~ Rio Caribe 70%

Rogue Chocolatier

Between Angelo Scarnera, the good friend of mine from London, who brought on the British Chocolate Invasion and Emily Shartin, the chocolate buyer from Formaggio Kitchen, the other good friend of mine who trades me chocolate all the time, I don't know who is the bigger hero of my blog so far.

I was reading tweets from Rogue about fresh batches of Rio Caribe being made and a week or two later, Emily came to me at a beer dinner with this bar as a gift. This is the second Rogue bar from Emily. After being in love with Rogue's Sambirano bar from Madagascar, I have been more than ready to try more chocolate from Colin Gasko. The Sambirano is still to this day one of the highest rated chocolates on this blog.

From Formaggio Kitchen:

Colin's chocolates are made in tiny batches where he controls every aspect of production from the roasting of the beans to the winnowing and grinding.

Colin's latest bar is this Rio Caribe - made using a select grade of Trinitario cacao from a single estate on the Paria Peninsula in far eastern Venezuela.  The family that runs the estate maintains very high quality standards and Colin has been working closely with them as the first U.S. importer of their beans.

 

[First Image via the Caracas Chronicles and last image via Wikimedia Commons]

I love this last image of the Paria Peninsula. I get that these images are probably overkill in highlighting where the Paria Peninsula is, but that last image from Nasa is gorgeous.







Rio Caribe 70%

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, Tahitian Vanilla.

Sample Size: 60g or 2.12oz



Appearance: Smooth, shiny, very simply molding, no lines, a bit of chocolate particles on the bar.

Score: 94

Snap: Firmer than expected snap. It's a thin bar but had a nice crisp snap. Clean break lines.

Score: 93

Aroma: Big roasted cocoa, slightly herbal and medicinal, minty, hints of citrus, soft hints of fruit and a tiny bit floral.

Score:  93

Taste: Bitter, aggressive roasted cocoa, a little astringent, tangy, citrus, cedar wood, and cherries.

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth, creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 94

The nose was aggressive at first but then softened up quite a bit. I didn't think the flavor would be as big as it actually was. The texture is fantastic, smooth and creamy. But the bitterness dries up the palate quickly so you almost forget how creamy it is unless it's melting on your tongue.

This is a very straight forward robust bar of chocolate. The aroma and flavors present themselves in a very matter-of-fact way.

I may have been influenced on the taste after reading this description from Formaggio Kitchen using Colin's tasting notes, but it's pretty accurate in my opinion.

The bar is made with 70% cacao content and Colin adds a touch of cocoa butter for a silkier mouthfeel. As with most of Colin's chocolates, we found his tasting notes to be spot on - look for notes of blood orange, nuts and coffee with a perfect snap and smooth melting texture on the palate.

I liked the cherries and cedar wood the most. It's a fairly robust bar of chocolate and to have such distinctive notes come through all the bitterness was fantastic in my opinion. Colin has really mastered chocolate making.

Final Score: 94

score
A-

El Rey ~ Cariaco - Rio Caribe 60.5%

El Rey

Cariaco Semi Sweet Chocolate 60.5%: Has a high percentage of cacao liquor and an ample percentage of cacao butter, giving it a smooth texture without compromising a strong robust cacao flavor. Its silky fluid texture is perfectly balanced to create a long lingering cacao taste. The name Cariaco comes from a gulf on the eastern coast of Venezuela where its notorious high nutrients allow cacao to flourish.

This premium chocolate has been manufactured using only the famed Rio Caribe Cacao Bean from the north eastern region of Venezuela. This area, traditionally known as Oriente, has been producing this classic world-sought-after bean since the early days of the colony in the mid-1600's. The concept of "Appellation d'origine contrôlée" denomination of origin in use in the wine industry around the world, together with the very high quality of the raw material with its distinctive taste and aroma have been blended to produce this delicacy.

Single origin semisweet chocolate for a change here on this blog. This bar was given to me in a gift bag from the open house at Aroa Fine Chocolates, I attended a few weeks ago. A fine chocolatier and patisserie in Boston who  exclusively work with El Rey chocolates. 

About El Rey: 

We at Chocolates El Rey take personal pride in this assertion because since our founding in 1929 we have utilized only this premium grade, locally grown raw material in the formulation of all our products. And we make, quite simply, the best chocolate in Venezuela. Today , as our products cross new borders and serve new consumers, we are confident that these will indeed establish a new and exciting dimension of excellence in a market with well-defined standards in which novelties are few and far between.

We’re a family business, one of the oldest chocolate manufacturers in Venezuela – in fact, one of the oldest industrial concerns in the country and we have built our reputation on basic principles of uncompromising quality, team effort, constant technological innovation and by earning the satisfaction of our customers.

All of us at Chocolates El Rey family take great pleasure in introducing you to the very delicate but intrinsic balance of flavor and aroma, as well as the subtle, lingering delight of El Rey chocolate – The King of chocolate made with the King of cacao.

[Map via Wikipedia]

You can see Rio Caribe, all the way to the top right of the first map. The second map is showing you the state of Sucre where Rio Caribe is located.

Cariaco - Rio Caribe 60.5%

Type: Semisweet, 60.5%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Rio Caribe liquor, refined sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural vanilla.

Sample Size: 80g or 2.8oz

Appearance: A little dusty and muted, maybe the beginnings of sugar bloom. A softer deep brown color, simple, monogrammed molding.

Score: 87

Snap: Lightly subdued snap, but crisp with clean break lines.

Score: 91

Aroma: Sweet, sugary, caramel-like, buttery, soft roasted cocoa, soft muted fruits.

Score: 92

Taste: Fresh green tobacco leaves, slight hints of smokiness, fruity, sweet, soft roasted cocoa.

Score: 94

Texture: Soft, smooth, medium melt time.

Score: 93

This was a very soft bar over all in flavor and in aroma. It had soft rounded edges, big sweet, sugary and caramel-like nose and taste. I was surprised by the fresh tobacco taste but still had a very mild smokiness to it. It added a nice green brightness to the otherwise subdued and sugary bar. A nice, soft roasted cocoa flavor rounds out the bar.

Final Score: 91.4

score
B+

Paul A. Young ~ Venezuela 86%

Part two of my reviews for Paul A. Young chocolates. I received four chocolate bars from Paul A. Young from my friend Angelo as part of the British Chocolate Invasion. Introductions were already made with the first post, so I will just get right to the review.

The origins of the beans come from Venezuela, though I am not sure which region they are from. I also can't be sure of the bean varietal. They are also most likely beans from Valrhona, as Paul Young primarily uses Valrhona cocoa for his products.

Venezuela 86%

Type: Bittersweet, 86%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

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

Sample Size: 50g or about 2oz


Appearance: Very dark brown color, smooth, shiny, square bar, simple molding but steaks on the top side of the bar.

Score: 89

Snap: Strong, firm snap, deep snap sound, clean break lines.

Score: 96

Aroma: Berries, soft aroma, lightly smokey, and lightly floral.

Score: 93

Taste: Very bitter, roasted cocoa, dry, berries notes were fighting hard to make their presence known but bitterness over takes any subtleties, barely any sweetness, wood, tar finish.

Score: 95

Texture: Hard, dry, smooth, slow melt time.

Score: 92

Very robust and bitter chocolate. But just enough room for a bit of sugar to prevent it from being too bitter. Very bold roasted cocoa flavors, berry and wood flavors present, but quickly overtaken by bitterness. No astringency, and finishes very dry.

This is a big palate killing chocolate. A good chocolate for those who put no cream or sugar in their coffee. Those bitter-heads, similar to the hophead and bitter fanatics with beer. Less malts for the beer and all hops, and less sugar and cocoa fats for the chocolate.

I think technically this hits all the marks of a very bitter chocolate, but it was just a bit too bitter for my palate. Certainly not as bitter as the 100% bars, but 86% is pretty high up there.

Final Score: 93

score
A-

Paul A. Young ~ Venezuela 72%

And so the British Chocolate Invasion continues. This time with Paul A. Young. A celebrated chocolatier and patissier from the London who works with fine chocolates such as Valrhona, Amedei, and Michel Cluizel. 

 

Based on this article, it appears he largely uses Valrhona Cocoa for a lot of his creations. This is a fun article about a private chocolate lesson with Paul Young himself.

A Night With Paul A Young: Chocolate Artisan

Check out the brownies in that article. The writer talks about Sea Salt Caramel brownies. Someone would get hurt if they stood in my way for some of those!

              

[Paul Young image via Wikipedia.]

About Paul Young via his website:

Paul Young is a Chocolatier/Patissiere born in Yorkshire and raised in the small mining town of Trimdon Station, Co. Durham.

After studying hotel catering and management at New College, Durham and Leeds Metropolitan University, Paul worked through the ranks in some of Yorkshire's finest restaurants. Next came an offer from Marco Pierre White, which took Paul to The Criterion Brasserie, London where he worked as Pastry chef in this most demanding of roles. After working through the ranks and establishments of Marco Pierre White, Paul gained the high profile role of Head Pastry chef at Quo Vadis, Soho.

With a change in direction Paul then worked with Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury's to develop some of today's best selling products, with two nominations for The Award of Excellence for his development work.

Paul has appeared on BBC2's Food and Drink, ITV's This Morning, Sky One's Taste and Carlton Food Network. He is a regular guest chef on UK-TV Food's Great Food Live, and gives live demonstrations at various events, including Henrietta Green's food lovers fairs, Covent Garden.

In 2006 Paul was invited to be an honorary member of the Academy of Chocolate.

One thing I am getting miffed about is the lack of information on some of these chocolate websites. What kind of chocolate are they using? And what are the bean varietals they are using? Even if they only say hybrid or blend of beans, I still want to know. That doesn't mean I can't email them for the information, but I believe it should be posted on their websites. If you mean business, put up all the information you can about your products. Especially since this chocolatier uses different chocolates from around the world. I don't know much about the chocolate is being used for this bar accept that it's from Venezuela. Using Amedei would be a world of difference from Valrhona.

At least there was the article highlighted at the beginning of this post which clues us in that this is more than likely a Venezuelan bar using Valrhona cocoa. That article makes me want to visit the shop and try some of the pastries. I too would like a private chocolate making lesson!

Venezuela 72%

Type: Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

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

Sample Size: 50g or about 2 oz

Appearance: Smooth bar, simple molding, square shape, shiny, deep dark color, but some odd streaking on the top of the bar.

Score: 89

Snap: Firm, crisp snap, deep snap sound with clean break lines.

Score: 96

Aroma: Berries, smoke, tobacco, a light perfume-y aroma like lilacs, and roasted cocoa. Very soft aroma.

Score: 92

Taste: Starts off sweet and soft, then opens into deep roasted cocoa, big and bold, lightly acidic, big berry taste, very slight hints of citrus, wood on the finish. Finishes sweet like it started.

Score: 97

Texture: Very smooth, medium melt time.

Score: 96

Starts off sweet like a lot of British chocolate seems to do, but then finishes quite differently. Not too much sugar that seems to tone down the big roasted flavors and other subtleties the chocolate may have. This has the big roasted cocoa flavors, berries, and a touch of flowers as indicated on the aroma.
It tastes very different than some of the British chocolates I have tasted so far.

It has all the classic hallmarks of South American cacao, but if I were a better taster i would be able to pin point the exact region in Venezuela this comes from. There are 8 distinctive regions chocolate is grown in Venezuela. I am just not there yet. But I will be.

Final Score: 94

score
A-

The Grenada Chocolate Company ~ Organic Dark Chocolate 71%

An organic chocolate bar from The Grenada Chocolate Co. coming to me once again as part of the British Chocolate Invasion.

As previously mentioned with the review Melt's Wild Bar, they work with Mott Green and the Grenada Chocolate co. as one of the sources for their cocoa.

This is a quick but excellent video about The Grenada Chocolate Co.

Radical Chocolate by Eti Peleg.

From their website:

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.

They also detail their process of bean-to-bar from start to finish with their antique and custom machinery.

Virtual Tour

 





Organic Dark Chocolate 71%

Type: Bittersweet 71%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Organic cocoa beans, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, organic soya lecithin, organic vanilla beans. *Organic cocoa  solids 71% min.

Sample Size: 3oz or 85g

Appearance: Smooth, shiny, deep dark brown color, simple molding.Couple of air bubbles throughout the top of the bar.

Score: 93

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

Score: 96

Aroma: Nutty, peppery, dry wood, muted fruits, smokey tobacco, and light hints of tar, very slight floral hints.

Score: 94

Taste: Deep, rich, roasted cocoa, very bold flavors, very bitter, but not acidic, bark, wood, big bright green bananas, papayas, bitter lemon twist (peel) earthy. Very complex.

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth, hard, slow melt time.

Score: 92

Thinking mans chocolate. This is very deep, bold, and complex. Most of the flavors were very apparent, but the green notes were hard to identify at first. I keep saying to my husband, "there is something green on this what is it?" He got more of the bitter lemon twist, and I was thinking the green was more like papayas and green unripened bananas. We both agreed on the wood and bark notes and earthiness.

This is fantastic chocolate. This would be great to give to a chocolate expert in a blind tasting just to watch them mull it over. I personally had to take several bites of it just to think about the taste.

Final Score: 94.2

score
A-

Melt ~ Wild Bar 68%

 

Wild Bar from Melt Chocolates in London. A full service chocolate shop with truffles, caramels, barks, bars, single origin hot chocolates, and seasonal offerings.

You can find Melt all over London with their shop in Nottinghill, at Lidgates, Selfridges, and at Whole Foods in Kensington.

Lovely packaging presented in a square shape and not the traditional bar shape. This bar came to me as part of the British Chocolate Invasion. With this collection also came some the 2 Bar, a Milk-Dark chocolate. Also something I specifically asked for, their single origin hot chocolate stiring cubes. I got one from Columbia and Madagascar.

The Wild Bar uses organic beans from Bolivia. As described from their website:

Melt goes wild with this exciting dark chocolate bar. The rare organic beans are harvested from wild cocoa trees in Bolivia, this chocolate is not rough or untamed, but smooth, sweet and soft.

This will be my first experience with Bolivian beans. I like that this is an entirely wild bar with unknown bean varietals.

From their website:

Our store appeals to all the senses: sight, touch, smell and of course taste. Watching chocolate being made is fascinating and the smell is intoxicating. Our shop is unique – you can see the chocolates being made and you can select the chocolates you like yourself.

Chocolate is the only food that melts at body temperature, hence our name. You can only appreciate chocolate if you let it melt slowly in your mouth – so we encourage you to taste the best chocolate and eat it in a different, rather slower and more seductive way. What we are doing at Melt is creating truly sublime chocolates using the best ingredients in the world. We source our ingredients from the best producers globally. At Melt we work closely with chocolate producers. We will only use chocolate that is sourced from companies with strong credentials for supporting the local community and the environment.

Melt was founded by Louise Nason in 2006 – a mother of four demanding children – who only like to eat the best chocolate. Hence our commitment to the best quality the world has to offer.

Their head chocolatier is Chikako Watanabe. They work with producers such as Art Pollard of Amano, Mott Green of The Grenada Chocolate Co. and

Santander, a single origin producer from Columbia.

They also work with Britain's top chefs to create special chocolate collections. Sophie Conran, Mark Hix, The river Cafe, and Skye Gyngell.

Melt Chocolates ~ Wild Bar 68%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, wild cocoa trees, probably blended hybrids.

Type: Bittersweet, 68%

Ingredients: Cocoa solids 68%, sugar, cocoa butter.

Sample Size: 90g or 3oz



Appearance: Deep, dark brown color, smooth, shiny, cool square shape with monogrammed molding.

Score: 95

Snap: Light crisp sound, but firm snap. Clean break lines.

Score: 93

Aroma: Light nose with hints of peanuts, fruity with cherries and hints of leather and a little smokey.

Score: 93

Taste: Sweet, no bitterness, slightly nutty right in the beginning, roasted cocoa, earthy, a strange spicy note that briefly makes an appearance then quickly goes away almost like a mild curry spice but it doesn't stay long enough for me to be sure, a little soapy tasting, hints of lemon, deep, dark fruits from retro-olfaction. Lingering light bitterness and roasted cocoa.

Score: 95

Texture: Smooth and soft, fast melt time.

Score: 94

The taste is a bit all over the place. The soap characteristic isn't necessarily a bad thing either, but strange in it's presence on a wild bean bar.

This was a very complicated bar for me. It has a lot of the same hallmarks of English chocolate that I have noticed from other bars. These bittersweet bars from the UK have no acidic bitterness or deep bitter cocoa bitterness, but they are very sweet instead. This isn't a bad thing but it doesn't usually leave way for a lot of complexities of the cocoa to come through. That wasn't the case with this bar. There was a lot going on here.

This is a thinking chocolate by trying to pin down these flavors bouncing all over the place. Each piece I tasted new flavors presented themselves. I really enjoyed this. 


Final Score: 94

score
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