Thursday, July 1, 2010

ChocolateBet: June 30, 2010

Chocolate of the Day:
1 bar
Patric Chocolate
Rio Caribe Superior - 70% bar
Very Good +
Weight: .25 oz. (7 g.) / 1.75 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 36 calories (estimate)
Cost: N/A
Purchased from: N/A - Obtained at The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA


For the next week I will be focusing primarily on single origin chocolate bars. This evening I attended a members only chocolate tasting event at The Chocolate Garage in downtown Palo Alto. Great discussions were had about favorites, packaging, and taste attributes. Thank you to Sunita for making this possible.


My favorite bar was this Patric Chocolate 70% cacao bar (right) with just two ingredients: cocoa beans and a little sugar (no added cocoa butter or vanilla). Cocoa beans used to make this bar came from Venezuela's Paria Peninsula, from hybrids of Criollo and Forastero cacao trees.

Comparing this bar with others (in a blind tasting) helped highlight my preference for a clear, but complex flavor arc. I enjoy different notes all the way through a tasting experience: earth here, olive there, followed by a nice finish, etc. If this sounds like pretentious wine talk to you, you have a point. The two tasting experiences are similar for me. Blends are nice, but picking a certain vintage or bean helps isolate unique flavors you may like.
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