Auro Chocolate - 64% Dark Chocolate (bar) - May 5, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Auro Chocolate
64% Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good + 
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 168 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and the Philippines Theme Week.

Today's 64% Dark Chocolate bar was from Auro Chocolate (Calamba City, Laguna, Philippines). 

The company produces tree-to-bar chocolate using cacao grown in the Philippines. Today's bar was made with cacao sourced from farmers in the forests of Davao.

Aroma notes for this 64% cacao chocolate included: chocolate (roasted, slightly smoky cacao, ganache), molasses and faint spice, and very faint, fleeting umami (savory -- think faint mushroom soup and cheese -- which, to be fair, may have wafted in from a nearby restaurant(s).

Flavor notes included: rich and sweet drinking chocolate (with faint fermented cacao and very faint fleeting earth). 

This chocolate had flavor depth and complexity, and was reasonably well balanced. It had the expected amount of (relatively bright fruit/sugar) sweetness--a level I'd expect to find in a 64% cacao dark chocolate. This sweetness was tempered by the breadth of naturally occurring chocolate flavors.

Maker's tasting notes: "...64% dark chocolate accented with notes of raisins and berries." 

Ingredients: Cacao mass, cane sugar, cacao butter, soy lecithin (emulsifier)

Allergen-related information: Contains soy. "This product is manufactured in a facility that processes other products which may contain milk, tree nuts and peanuts."

Auro Chocolate - Saloy Single Estate 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) - May 4, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Auro Chocolate
Saloy Single Estate 70% Dark Chocolate Philippine Origin (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 168 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and the Philippines Theme Week.

Today's Saloy Single Estate 70% Dark Chocolate Philippine Origin bar was produced by Auro Chocolate (Calamba City, Laguna, Philippines). The company offers tree-to-bar chocolates made from cacao grown in the Philippines. 

Aroma notes for today's 70% cacao chocolate included: cocoa, dried fruits (honeyed fig, faint fleeting apricot and faint date), faint (mild) sweet green, almost undetectable aromatic (fruit, spice) tobacco, and brown sugar. 

Flavors included true dark chocolate (cocoa, ganache) and most of the aroma notes (listed above)--as well a touch of diffuse, tart-sweet fruit (faint cherry, light sweet citrus), and brown sugar.

Flavors were pleasantly complex, and relatively smooth. There was a very slight fruit acid and astringency, but it was quite smooth.

Maker's tasting notes: "Located between tropical mountain forests, Saloy (estate) has fresh spring water flowing through the lush farms, giving its chocolate very dynamic notes of herbs, bergamot (and) cherries." 

Ingredients: Cacao mass, organic muscovado sugar, cacao butter

Allergen-related information: "This product is manufactured in a facility that processes other products which may contain oats, milk, soy, tree nuts, and peanuts."