Chocolate of the Day
Seattle Chocolate Company
jcoco - 72% Peruvian Dark with Cacao Nibs
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total package of 3 bars
Calories: 155 (estimate) calories in 1 small bar
Cost: $9.99 for 1 package of 3 smaller bars
Purchased from: Seattle Chocolate, online order
Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Cacao Nibs, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Week.
Today's jcoco 72% Peruvian Dark with Cacao Nibs (bar) was from Seattle Chocolate Company, Inc. (Seattle, WA) and was one of three identical, individually-wrapped bars contained in a larger package. The packaging was attractively pink, and having these smaller bars made it easier to share this chocolate with others.
The Rupa-Rupa cacao used to make this bar was from a tropical, high mountains/"high jungle" area in Peru. (The Rupa-Rupa district is located in the (Upper) Amazon River basin, east of the Andes mountains.)
Aroma notes for this chocolate included: sweet dark chocolate, and very faint fruit (sweet lime), very fleeting hot cereal (cream of rice), and roasted nut notes.
Texture: This well-tempered bar broke with a hard snap. The texture was creamy smooth (base chocolate) and very crunchy (roasted cacao nibs including some very hard, well-roasted pieces).
Flavor notes included: almost earthy (not quite charcoal-roasted) sweet dark chocolate with heavily roasted, very crunchy cacao nibs; fleeting, very faint sweet tropical fruit (lime, pineapple); faint roasted nut; and a very faint aromatic, almost perfume-y, floral note in the nibs before the roasted nut" flavor kicked in. The roast for the cacao used to make this chocolate was listed as "medium"; however the nibs had such a hard crunch that it tasted like they were roasted for a longer time.
This was an interesting chocolate, made with ingredients from a remote, mountainous area of tropical Peru. It was flavorful and smooth (and very crunchy) all at the same time. I enjoyed experiencing the complexity in this chocolate.
The finish was light, lingering and clean.
Ingredients: 72% cacao dark chocolate (cracked cacao beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin), roasted cacao nibs.
Allergen-related information: This product is manufactured in a plant that processes milk, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg and wheat products.
*Maker's notes: "fermentation: 6 days; drying 6 days; roast: medium"
