Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Chamisa Chocolate - Cardamom Coffee bar - Jan. 26, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Chamisa Chocolate
Cardamom Coffee bar
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (30 g.) / 2 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 155 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chamisa Chocolate, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and ABCD Theme Week. If you're just tuning in, you may be wondering, what does this alphabetic nonsense all about? This week, I'm featuring chocolates with flavor inclusions that start with the letters A, B, C and/or D.

Today's Cardamom Coffee 65% dark chocolate bar was from organic, micro-batch chocolate maker Amanda Hatherly at Chamisa Chocolate (Santa Fe, NM).  

The cardamom* used to infuse this chocolate was allowed to be the star flavor, with coffee and dark chocolate playing important supporting roles. Great choice. 

Who ever said "three's a crowd," never experienced these three flavors making magic together. Each of these bold flavors can hold their own and are amiable companions. Anything but boring, and deeply satisfying.

The skillful flavor blend in this well-tempered, organic and vegan bar allowed me to fully appreciate and savor cardamom's deep complexity. The aroma and flavor had subtle herby, minty, caraway, anise, bubble gum, fragrant black pepper, very light sweet, smoked mustard, and other notes) during the tasting experience. And the blend of cardamom and the coffee helped to create a long, pleasing, flavorful finish.

We can thank culinary pioneers and spice traders in Arab countries, centuries ago, for being the first to blend coffee with cardamom. This flavor duo was adopted by neighboring countries; and, more recently, it can be found in chocolate bars and confections/desserts in the U.S. 

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic sugar, organic cacao butter, organic coffee, organic cardamom.

*Cardamom has it's origins in Asia. Black (also known as brown) cardamom is from Bhutan, Nepal, and India. Green cardamom has its origins further south, in the lush forests of India and across parts of Malaysia.

While not specified in the ingredients list, I'm assuming the cardamom in this bar was predominantly black/brown cardamom (vs. green cardamom); but it could have been a mix of both. 

I have seen people using black cardamom and green cardamom with their coffee (and chocolate). And some people do use a mix of both types. Green cardamom has more upbeat notes: bubble gum/tropical spice and green vanilla/nutmeg; whereas black cardamom is a bit less zingy, but subtley complex, and sometimes almost smoky.


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