Monsoon Chocolate - Origin Series Ucayali Peru 72% Dark Chocolate (bar) - Dec. 3, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Monsoon Chocolate 
Origin Series - Ucayali Peru 72% Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 136 calories (estimate, no information on packaging) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Week.

Today's Ucayali Peru 72% Dark Chocolate (bar) was made by Monsoon Chocolate (Tucson, AZ).

The Ucayali River cacao used to make this dark chocolate was grown in the Amazonian rainforest in Eastern Peru, and was obtained through "a central fermentary that works with nearly 400 cocoa farmers along the Ucayali River outside the Peruvian city of Pucallpa."

Aroma notes were relatively complex for this single origin dark bar and included: chocolate (dark cocoa, ultra dark ganache), balanced earth; cream/butter; very faint, tart green (oxalis); faint ripe dark berry; and faint brown sugar.

Texture: creamy and smooth with a slightly buttery mouthfeel.

Flavor notes included: ultra dark chocolate with a very faint, well-managed, bitter earth-sharpness; diffuse fruit (dark, ripe berry); and cream.

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

Allergen-related information: "There is no gluten or animal product added to this bar; however it is processed in a facility that also processes wheat, dairy, nuts, and soy."

Monsoon Chocolate - Ucayali Peru 60% Dark Milk Chocolate (bar) - Dec. 2, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Monsoon Chocolate 
Ucayali Peru 60% Dark Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 138 calories (estimate - not listed on packaging) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Week.

Today's Ucayali Peru 60% Dark Milk Chocolate (bar) was made by Monsoon Chocolate (Tucson, AZ).

The Ucayali River cacao used to make this bean-to-bar chocolate came from "a central fermentary that works with nearly 400 cocoa farmers along the Ucayali River outside the Peruvian city of Pucallpa."*

Aroma notes for this single origin, dark milk chocolate bar included: chocolate (slightly fruity cocoa) very faint, fleeting green; cream; and buttered (Southern U.S.) biscuit/well-buttered rice.

This relatively thick bar had a thick, rich and buttery mouthfeel.

Flavor notes blended very harmoniously in this well-executed bar, including the buttery, creamy flavors described in the aroma and texture (above). 

The organic cocoa butter and organic milk powder smoothed over the cacao notes (it's hard to know what we might or might not be missing and diminished the relative sweetness (thank you). 

That said, diffuse fruit (ripe sweet berries); very faint fermented cacao; rich whole milk warm cocoa; quiet buttery caramel; faint, fleeting cheesecake; very faint, fleeting floral spice (light honey and buttered saffron rice) and very faint salt notes, managed to shine through in this creamy fantasy of a bar.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, organic cocoa butter, organic cane sugar, organic milk powder

Allergen-related information: Contains milk. "This product contains dairy. It is processed in a facility that also processes wheat, nuts, and soy."

*This chocolate was all sweetness and light. But Moonsoon Chocolate also describes some of the economic challenges and choices facing farmers in this Peruvian agricultural growing region that has a "long and complex history of narco-trafficking" and coca (cocaine). (Both coca and cacao are native to South America.)

Like many high-end craft chocolate makers, Monsoon works to obtain high-quality cacao grown in unique regions around the globe. Monsoon Chocolate pays Ucayali River farmers a premium for their wet cacao, "giving local farmers access to an alternate market to cocaine." 

Standout Chocolate - Single Origin Urubamba Peru 70% (bar) - Dec. 1, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Standout Chocolate

Single Origin Urubamba Peru 70% (bar)

Good ++ - Good +++

Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 146 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $10.25 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Week.

Today's Standout Chocolate Single Origin Urubamba Peru 70% (bar) was hand-crafted in Sweden, with cacao beans grown in the Urubamba Valley of Peru.*

Aroma notes for this bar included: very faint, fleeting fermented cacao; hot cocoa/drinking chocolate; subtle fruit (sweet, dark red berries); and very faint, fleeting roasted coffee/mocha.

The texture was creamy smooth. Standout chocolate maker, Fredrik Martinsson, notes: "We slow roast to preserve as much of the natural taste profile as possible. We then stone grind for days and days until the flavors and texture are perfected."

Flavor notes included: naturally-sweet fruit flavor(s) (gentle, fleeting floral/fruit honey and ripe, sweet dark red berries (combination of ripe strawberry and sweet (Highbush) blueberry and ripe blackberry/black currant) and cream. 

The cacao was just bold enough--with a wee bit of balanced earth and true chocolate (dark cocoa)--to be interesting and complementary with its fruity flavor facets (a memory of faint, gentle earth recently attached to basket of freshly picked berries).

Nice creamy texture (and implied fresh cream flavor) perfectly meshed with lush and layered, authentic berry flavor(s). All this from just two organic ingredients: Peruvian cacao and sugar. 

Maker's tasting notes: "dark fruits, floral, blueberry"

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar

Allergen-related information: (May contain traces of milk.)

*The cacao producer in the Urubamba valley was Alto Urubamba Cooperative (made up of approximately 50 local farmers). The altitude in this growing region is between 700-1500 meters (2,297-4,921 feet) above sea level.