Chocolate of the Day
Goodnow Farms Chocolate
Milk Chocolate Cafe Con Leche 63% Cacao (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: .97 oz. (27.5 g.) / 1.94 oz. (55 g.) in total bar
Calories: 170 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $16.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #13 of Chocolate and Coffee Theme Week.
Today's Milk Chocolate Cafe Con Leche 63% Cacao (bar) was crafted by Goodnow Farms Chocolate (Sudbury, MA). This bar was part of the company's "Maker's Choice" series created to highlight favorite flavor combinations.
For this Cafe Con Leche* dark milk chocolate, the maker(s) paired "directly sourced Boyaca (region) cacao (from Colombia) with Barrington Coffee's single origin Ketiara, grown by a women's cooperative in the Sumatra Highlands."
Very subtle aroma notes for this chocolate included: faint chocolate, as well as very faint lemon balm herb (green tea, oxalis) and dairy milk.
Luxurious, creamy, milky texture and taste gave way to very creamy, dark chocolate (with milk-buffered dark, roasted earth notes) and mocha flavor, and finished with creamy coffee mocha (with buffered coffee acid and subtle red fruit notes).
The milk balanced sweetness (yet enabled a soft, undulating caramel note). It also melded and mellowed sharper/stronger chocolate and coffee notes, while still allowing for some complexity.
This dark milk chocolate honored the spirit of cafe con leche, and was not too sweet (thank you). The judicious use of sugar allowed more complex chocolate and coffee notes to shine through the rich whole milk (powder)--that had a starring, almost magical, role in this bar.
Maker's tasting notes: "Imagine drinking a Cafe con Leche* in Central America!"
Ingredients: Single origin cacao beans, organic sugar, single origin cocoa butter, organic whole milk powder, single origin coffee.
Allergen-related information: "May contain trace amounts of peanuts and tree nuts."
*Cafe con leche (coffee with milk in English) is similar to a cafe latte or cappuccino. All three beverages are made with strong coffee (espresso) and milk.
However, the milk in a cafe con leche is steamed (or scalded) rather than frothed. Also, it may contain slightly more (traditionally whole) cow's milk--50% milk and 50% coffee/espresso. Sugar is added to one's liking, and/or may be part of a thin "espuma" (foam) layer on top--made by whipping sugar and espresso.
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