Chocolate of the Day
Lydgate Farms Kauai Chocolate
50% Milk Coffee and Cacao Nibs (bar) - Wailua Single Estate
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 2.2 oz. (62 g.) in total bar
Calories: 336 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $15.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA
Welcome to Day #17 of Chocolate and Hawaii Theme Weeks.
Today's 50% Milk Coffee and Cacao Nibs (bar) was from Lydgate Farms* Kauai Chocolate (Kapa'a, Kaua'i, HI).
The chocolate had a rich aroma with green (seed, nut, banana), cream, faint earth and fermented cacao bean notes. Appealing complexity for a dark milk chocolate.
This Hawaiian 50% cacao dark milk bar had a sweet, creamy milk chocolate melt and flavor. However, cacao and coffee bean nibs gave this bar some textural contrast (soft chewy/crunchy bits), and added more flavor depth--making it more interesting for dark chocolate fans.
Cacao nibs (pieces of the cacao bean) flavors reflect the heart of cacao and chocolate. This bar with nibs had a light pleasant cacao earthiness (with olive, light "winey" fermented bean notes). And, most important from my perspective, cacao (or cocoa) nibs helped balance the sweetness of the milk chocolate base. (Coffee beans do this too.)
The coffee bean flavor was very faint* and very smooth (similar to what I associate with good Kona (Hawaiian grown) coffee with low acidity). To be honest, I had a hard time really tasting the coffee bean initially; but I did receive a slight confirmation "buzz" after eating this bar, presumably from a mix of sugar, cocoa nibs and coffee. (Better a deft touch of coffee than feeling you're eating coffee grounds.)
Ingredients: Lydgate Farms cacao beans, organic whole milk powder, organic sugar, organic cocoa butter, Lydgate Farms cacao nibs, Lydgate Farms coffee beans.
*Lydgate Farms offers educational tours of their farm(s), where they grow/produce cacao--as well as palm-blossom honey, vanilla and fruit. (Given current Covid-19 restrictions this year, do check the Lydgate Farms website for hours and availability before planning a trip.)
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