Mitica - Coffee Pesetas - Chocolate-Covered Fruit & Nut Cake with Coffee - Sept. 1, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Mitica
Coffee Pesetas - Chocolate-Covered Fruit & Nut Cake with Coffee
Good ++ 
Weight: 1.235 oz. (35 g.) / 4.94 oz. (140 g.) in total package
Calories: 140 calories (estimate) in 2 pieces
Cost: $10.99 for 1 package of 8 pieces
Purchased from: Whole Foods Market, Los Altos, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate & Coffee Theme Week.

Today's Mitica Pesetas Coffee Chocolate-Covered Fruit & Nut Cake with Coffee (discs) were produced by Paiarrop S.L. (Valencia, Spain), and imported into the U.S. by Forever Cheese LLC (New York, NY).

Aroma notes included: dried fruits (date, fig); smooth dark chocolate; with faint, mild nut (almond); and faint, rich coffee. 

Texture: a blend of dried fruit (figs, dates) and finely chopped nuts (almonds) pressed into a disc form, and covered by smooth dark chocolate.

Flavor notes were similar to the aroma notes (mentioned above), but with deeper/richer smooth dark chocolate, dried fruit and salt notes. 

I liked the subtle coffee, almonds and especially the sprinkling of salt. All three of these flavors balanced out the natural, concentrated sweetness in the (preservative-free) dates and figs.

Company tasting/pairing notes: "...smooth on the outside, inside they are soft and tender with a mix of dates, figs, coffee, and buttery almonds. Pair with cheese and charcuterie..."

Ingredients: Pitted Dates, Dark Chocolate (cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, reduced fat cocoa powder, SOY lecithin, natural vanilla extract), Dried Figs, Dark Chocolate Chips (sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin, natural vanilla flavor), ALMONDS, Soluble Coffee, Roasted Cocoa Nibs, Salt. 

Allergen-related information: Contains: Soy (lecithin), Tree Nuts (almonds)

The Chocolate Conspiracy - Coffee Cream Ale 75% Cacao Chocolate Bar - Aug. 31, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

The Chocolate Conspiracy
Coffee Cream Ale - 75% Cacao Chocolate Bar 
Good ++
Weight: 1.25 oz. (35 g.) in total bar
Calories: 220 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $14.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Caputo's, online order 

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate, Beer and Hops Theme Week; and Day #1 of Chocolate & Coffee Theme Week.

Today's Coffee Cream Ale 75% Cacao Chocolate Bar was made by The Chocolate Conspiracy (Salt Lake City, UT). (This bar followed a Black Lager bar from The Chocolate Conspiracy featured yesterday.)

This cacao + ale bar was crafted with "organic, unroasted, single-origin cacao beans from the Ucayali region of Peru." And cacao nibs were infused with Coffee Cream Ale from Kiitos Brewing (Salt Lake City, UT).

Beer makes up a large category of fermented beverages made with water, (malted) grains and hops. Lagers use a bottom-fermenting yeast and a cold fermentation. Yesterday's dark-hued "black" lager had a very roast-y, almost smokey aroma, but a crisp, clean, more friendly, less hop-py flavor than expected.

Ales, on the other hand, are made with a top-fermenting yeast and a warmer fermentation process and can have more complex, hoppy flavors. Today's bar was a blend of Peru cacao, coffee and a light cream ale. Buckle up! I thought.

Aroma notes for today's 75% cacao ale and coffee blend included: rich, dark chocolate (chocolate-y, with diffuse red fruit); an array of what I'd call pleasant, sweet green botanical (green fig jam, green walnuts in syrup); and roasted coffee.

Despite the blend of relatively bold flavors, I could taste much more of the chocolate in today's 75% (Peru) cacao bar (than in yesterday's Black Lager 75% (Peru) cacao bar. 

Texture: smooth, almost silky with a rapid, even (and very slightly waxy) melt--a texture I associated with honey-sweetened chocolate bars. It's a unique and relatively pleasant texture, that may, in some cases, enable a more interesting/longer finish.

Flavor notes for this bar included: dark chocolate; roasted/robust coffee; and faint hop and ale. It was also a bit lower in bitter and hop flavors than expected.

This bar was full of harmonious, roast-y and bittersweet flavors. The un-roasted (raw) Peruvian cacao delivered a rich, dark chocolate experience (with faint, diffuse red fruit, berry notes) that was accentuated by roasted coffee (that may have also had berry notes).

The ale was harder to detect until the finish. It may have just harmonized very well with the cacao and coffee. Just as the cacao was less detectable in yesterday's Black Lager bar yesterday, the Ale was in the background today. Either way, the result was a tasty chocolate; and the flavors were balanced, authentic and satisfying.

Last but not least, the raw, unfiltered wildflower honey helped balance the bitter and roasted flavors and added a very subtle, layered sweetness.

I appreciated the chance to try this flavorful blend, and the maker's choices to use a short list of high-quality and organic ingredients. 

Ingredients: "Raw Organic Cacao Beans, Raw Organic Cacao Butter, Raw Unfiltered Honey, Kiitos Coffee Cream Ale"

Allergen-related information: "Manufactured in a facility that also processes peanuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, coconut, and pistachios."