Monday, March 21, 2022

Cacao Hunters - 71% Cacao Elizabeth (bar) - Mar. 21, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Cacao Hunters
71% Cacao Elizabeth Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 2 oz. (56 g.) in total bar
Calories: 170 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.50 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Cacao Hunters 71% Cacao Elizabeth Dark Chocolate (bar) was produced by Cacao de Colombia (Popayan, Cauca, Colombia).

For (yesterday's and) today's Cacao Hunters' Colombia bars, I found it best to distinguish between the aroma notes present when first opened, and the aroma notes after the bar was allowed to sit (in an open package) for a few minutes. (Both bars were enclosed in an air-tight "foil" pouch, which helps explain this phenomenon.)

The initial aroma notes for this bar (like yesterday's) included notes I associate with fermentation and anaerobic digestion (slight vinegar and wood mulch notes). However, when allowed to breathe for a few minutes, these notes dissipated, and more pleasant notes came to the fore: chocolate (cookie), green tea, honey, maple sugar, and faint and diffuse red fruit and tropical fruit (fleeting guava) jelly notes.

This well-tempered, 71% dark, single origin chocolate had a buttery texture and melt. The flavor notes were pleasing and echoed the aroma notes above--only with richer, deeper cocoa flavor, with a faint flicker of muted forest/earthy cacao, and small upticks of authentic sweet, diffuse fruit(s), and plant sugars (sugar cane, maple sugar) and fruit-floral honey. 

Ingredients: "Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter"

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of milk, peanuts and nuts"

Cacao Hunters - 70% Arauca Colombia Dark Chocolate (bar) - Mar. 20, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Cacao Hunters
70% Arauca Colombia Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 2 oz. (56 g.) in total bar
Calories: 170 calories in 1 bar (part of a package of 2)
Cost: $7.50 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Colombia Theme Week.

Today's Cacao Hunters 70% Aruaca Colombia Dark Chocolate (bar) was produced by Cacao de Colombia (Popayan, Cauca, Colombia).

The aroma of this bar upon being opened: a slightly vinegary chocolate. (This dissipated after the package had been opened for a few minutes.) Other than notes that seemed to echo the fermentation process (after first opening this bar), this 70% chocolate had smooth cocoa, nutty, slightly fruity and faint savory (smoked) notes.

The flavor contained true chocolate, faint red fruit jelly/honey, green tea and nut butter notes-- collectively providing an interesting and complex flavor experience.

Maker's tasting notes: "A smooth and fragrant chocolate from the banks of Colombia's golden rivers."

Ingredients: "Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin."

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of milk."

Chocolate Story - Kolumbia 70% kakao Grand Cru (bar) - Mar. 19, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Manufaktura Czekolady
(Chocolate Story)
Kolombia 70% kakao Grand Cru (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .9 oz. (25 g.) in 1.8 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 149.25 calories in 1/2 bar 
Cost: $8.50 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Colombia Theme Week.

Today's Kolombia 70% kakao Grand Cru (bar) was made by Chocolate Story (Manufaktura Czekolady) Poland, using cacao beans from Colombia.

The complex and interesting aroma notes for this bar included: molasses, green, maple syrup, chocolate pudding, light wax and floral. Retasting later (after the sealed, foil, inner packaging had been opened for a minute) there was also fruit (cherry and dried stone fruit) notes and a very faint, fleeting incense note. 

This smooth, dark, complex shape-shifter of a bar was full of flavor(s) and had a long, lilting finish. Floral (green floral, vanilla), wood mulch, faint marshmallow, and maple/brown sugar notes were intermingled with steady, dark chocolate dessert notes (cake, pudding, torte). Dried fruit (prune) notes that shifted to green, molasses and then back again (to prune and true chocolate) added flavor depth.

Ingredients: Roasted cocoa beans, sugar. Cocoa solids 70% min. 

Allergen-related information: "May contain milk, nuts."
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