Chocolate of the Day
Belvie Chocolate Maker
"Good Morning Vietnam" 70% Cacao Coffee Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 225.2 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Vietnam Theme Week.
Today's "Good Morning Vietnam" 70% cacao Coffee Chocolate (bar) was made in Vietnam by Belvie Chocolate Maker (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).
Belvie Chocolate offers a variety of chocolate bars made with (Trinitario) fine cacaos, purchased from cacao farmers located in different regions of Vietnam. Some of these bars, like today's highlight local, specialty flavor inclusions, like coffee.
Belvie Chocolate's description read as follows: "This bar is a perfect combination of the two local specialties from Lam Dong province in Vietnam. Our flavorsome chocolate from Lam Dong 70% single terroir and the K'HO Arabica coffee grown by the K'Ho tribes on the Langbiang mountain, one of the best coffee(s) in South East Asia."
The aroma and flavor of this single terroir bar included complex dark chocolate and coffee notes. It had almost a spicy sweet aroma; and the amounts and varieties of the coffee and cacao were nicely balanced to allow the nuances of both to come through.
The relatively bold chocolate had a very faint, fleeting savory vegetable (potato) note at the beginning, followed by true chocolate with a bit of fruit, and loamy earth notes.
The coffee was flavorful with a moderate amount of fruit acidity and perhaps a bit of natural bold, roasted sweetness (grilled/caramelized pieces of chocolate cake) and a trace of sweet nuttiness (although the subtler nuances were difficult to distinguish from the chocolate). The coffee notes were most present in the first few bites, but yielded subtle flavor(s) throughout the tasting experience.
Ingredients: "Cacao and cacao butter 70%, cane sugar 30%"
Allergen-related information: "Gluten free; Dairy free; May contain traces of nut"
*Vietnam is the world's second largest coffee exporter, and most of the country's coffee is grown in the Cental Highlands of southern Vietnam (near where cacao is grown).
The K'ho people are an ethnic minority living primarily in the Lam Dong province in the Central Highlands of southern Vietnam, known for its coffee. While most coffee grown in Vietnam is Robusta, the coffee the K'ho tribe cultivates is more typically Arabica--the variety featured in today's "Good Morning Vietnam" chocolate.