Chocolate of the Day
Original Beans
Beni Wild 66%, Beni Amazon, Bolivia
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 198 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.50 (estimate) + shipping for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Bolivia Theme Week.
Today's Original Beans Beni Wild 66%, Beni Amazon, Bolivia (bar) was made in Switzerland. (Original Beans is based in Amsterdam, NL.)
This chocolate had a wonderful and complex aroma. Notes included: cacao with floral (honey), faint molasses/brown sugar; very faint fleeting freshly baked breads (yeast bread and steamed Boston brown bread with cornmeal, molasses and raisins); fruit (dried peach); very faint, fleeting jungle (loam/peat); and other trace sweet green botanicals.
The texture was smooth, uniform and creamy. (It likely would have been even creamier; but I was enjoying this chocolate after the expiration date.)
Flavor notes for this 66% Bolivia bar included: vibrant and complex, naturally sweet flavors. Many of these flavors were similar to the complex and varied aroma notes above. Honeyed floral notes and peach (fruit) were joined by a lovely fleeting ripe, sweet blackberry flavor note.
It's been a long time since chocolate made me feel so transported (to a rain forest where I could imagine scents, movements and sounds among the stillness). The "fleeting" notes I mentioned seemed almost alive. One appeared and disappeared up in a forest canopy; another shimmered briefly between some lush plants between trees. I could almost hear muted bird calls and the rustling of wildlife.
This special chocolate was made from the "rarest of the rare" Beniano wild cacao beans from the Beni* Amazon area of Bolivia. It was low in bitterness and acidity, well balanced, and wonderfully blessed with natural wild cacao flavors.
Thank you to Original Beans for making this tasting experience possible.
Original Beans Tasting Notes: "Hints of floral honey, apricot and jasmine tea..."
Ingredients: Cacao mass*, raw cane sugar*, cacao butter*. Cacao solids: 66% minimum. (*Certified Organic)
Allergen-related information: (No allergens listed on label.) "Certified Organic, Vegan, Dark"
*The Beni River is a major tributary of the Amazon River that originates in the Bolivian Andes. It is home to ancient forests, rare species of cacao and other plants, and indigenous peoples.
