Compartes Chocolatier - Pure 80% Dark Chocolate (bar) - Feb. 19, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Compartes Chocolatier
Pure - 80% Pure Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 173.3 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $8.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: CAO Chocolate, Sausalito, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Strawberries Theme Week, and Day #1 of Dark Chocolate Bar Theme Week.

This ultra-dark bar had a complex and intriguing aroma with green, true chocolate, very faint vegetable latex, balanced bitter and spice notes. There might have been a very faint green/floral note in there too; or it could have been the whisper of vanilla talking.*

The chocolate had a rapid melt, and deep roasted cacao flavor with mushroom/earth accent notes, with a fleeting fruit/honey/brown sugar sweetness.

I enjoyed the complexity; it tasted better with each bite. And it was not too sweet (thank you!).

Sweet strawberries, strawberry yogurt and strawberry cottage cheese were consumed in the same breakfast snack break.

*Ingredients: Organic Vegan Dark Chocolate 80% (Organic Cocoa Liquor, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Coconut Sugar, Organic Vanilla.

Raaka Chocolate - Pure Cacao, Strawberry and Coconut bar - Feb. 18, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Raaka Chocolate
Pure Cacao and Strawberry and Coconut bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.8 oz. (50.1 g.) in total bar
Calories: 244 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: COA Chocolate, Sausalito, CA

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Strawberries Theme Week.

Today's Pure Cacao, Strawberry and Coconut bar was made by Raaka Chocolate (Brooklyn, NY).

The 80 percent dark chocolate was made using un-roasted, organic cacao from Kokoa Kamili (Tanzania, Africa), and with no added sugar (thank you!). If you're open to a more intense dark chocolate  experience with a few natural flavor accents, today's vegan, gluten free and soy free, organic Raaka bar is worth trying.

In Chinese, Indian and other Asian cuisines, the five tastes that humans can sense: sweet, sour, salty/savory, bitter and spicy are thoughtfully balanced in each dish. The makers at Raaka achieved at least 3 or 4 of the 5 tastes mentioned above with the kaleidoscope of flavors present in this craft chocolate bar.

No boring, overly roasted, uniformly smooth industrial chocolate here. This chocolate had a smooth melt, and after that it was all mild spikes of different flavors. (Think Christmas "Cactus" with the pink flowers, not prickly cactus spikes.)

This ultra-dark bar might be a little strong or bitter for some. However, I found it full of complementary flavors: the natural sweet tart berry (strawberry) sweetness, a light touch of naturally sweet coconut, and dark, earthy (almost savory) and bitter flavors from the cacao. It was oddly addicting in its own way.

Ingredients: organic cacao beans, organic strawberry, organic toasted coconut, organic cacao butter