Saturday, June 5, 2021

Luisa Abram - Rio Jurua 81% - Chocolate Brazilian Amazon Wild Cocoa (bar) - June 5, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Luisa Abram 
Rio Jurua 81% - Chocolate de Cacau Selvagem da Amazonia Brasileira (barra)
(Jurua River 81% - Chocolate from the Brazilian Amazon wild cocoa (bar))
Good +++
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 246 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's Rio Jurua 81% Brazilian Amazon wild cocoa (bar) was made by Luisa Abram (San Paolo, Brazil). The company specializes in bean to bar chocolate made with wild cacao from the Amazon. 

The aroma of today's bar (similar to yesterday's Rio Jurua 70% version) was subtle and multi-dimensional. Aroma notes included shifting floral notes (faint rose and pineapple scented geranium blooms), naturally sweet, refreshing/fresh mineral water, other soft floral, fruit and sweet spice (mango, lychee, licorice), and very faint, fleeting roasted green vegetable/potato chip. These notes shifted gently with every re-tasting. 

To me this flowing quality accurately captured the flavors of fresh-picked and eaten cacao fruit (pulp) that surrounds the cacao seeds/beans--flavors with descriptions that vary a lot depending on origin and variety, and often include: citrus, floral, watermelon, pineapple, and many other fruits, while still maintaining its own uniqueness.

Do eat this chocolate slowly, so you can enjoy the scent and flavor treasures that are revealed with this origin. (The visual equivalent: edible flower + green tea balls that "bloom" when hot water is poured over them. Enjoy the experience.)

This 81% cacao bar had a mild complexity and natural sweetness (the opposite of bold, earthy, roasted, bitter chocolates). Flavor notes included very subtle, complex cacao with mild fruit-floral (rose scented geranium flowers), light pineapple cream pudding, light caramelized brown sugar, and very faint vegetable (potato chip). 

I love floral aromas and flavors, and these frequently disappear with heat, longer roasting times and processing in general. So, I'd like to convey much gratitude to the maker for preserving these beautiful Amazon headwater origin notes for us to smell and taste in both Rio Jurua (70% and 81%) bars this week.

The maker's tasting notes: "Flowers in the form of chocolate. Sweetness rises to pitanga and lychee. Reminds crystallised fruits. It ends with perfumed caramel."

Ingredients: Cacao mass, organic cane sugar and cocoa butter.

Allergen-related information: Does not include gluten ingredients. Made in a facility that processes/May contain traces of milk, Brazil nuts and tree nuts.

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