Chocolate of the Day
Mashpi Chocolate
Coffee and Chocolate Bar
Good ++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Choiba Agroforestry Products, online order
Mashpi Chocolate
Chocolate with Salt & Cardamom 65% cacao (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Choiba Agroforestry Products, online order
Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.
Today's double feature: 1.) Coffee and Chocolate Bar, and 2.) Chocolate Bar with Salt and Cardamom 65% Cacao (bar). Both were from Mashpi Chocolate (Quito, Ecuador).
Mashpi uses "Ecuadorian Nacional Cacao" to make their chocolates.
Coffee Bar
Aroma flavor notes in this ebony-hued bar included: sweet, roasted coffee, very faint cocoa, with a medium to high (coffee, fruit) acidity, and very faint brown sugar.
Texture: relatively smooth texture, a relatively creamy melt and a trace amounts of astringency toward the finish. Medium to long concentrated/roasted coffee + cocoa finish.
I appreciated the maker's choices: Nacional cacao and the short list of just three ingredients. However, I was surprised to read the cacao in this bar was cacao butter, i.e., no cacao percent listed, and no cocoa solids listed in the ingredients.
Ingredients: "Coffee, cacao butter, raw sugar cane"
Allergen-related information: No information listed.
Chocolate with Salt & Cardamom 65% Cacao (bar)
Aroma and flavor notes included: relatively sweet and smooth dark chocolate, infused with authentic and complex cardamom spice (including tiny upticks of fruit punch and chewing gum); light herbal (green pepper); and faint molasses/brown sugar. A light dose of salt balanced out the sweetness very nicely.
The rich sweet herbal, warm cardamom spice and brown sugar, and fleeting tropical fruit/spice notes warmed up this chocolate.
This 65% dark chocolate was flavorful; bright (upbeat); and had balanced bitterness and acidity as well as a pleasing finish. Thank you to the maker(s) for selecting the short list of quality ingredients.
Tasting notes: Eating both the coffee and cardamom bars--together--was a wonderful experience. I alternated one square from the coffee bar with a square with the cardamom and salt bar, and I was very happy.
Ingredients: Cacao mass, raw sugar cane, cacao butter, sea salt, cardamom.
Allergen-related information: None listed that I could see on packaging.
No comments:
Post a Comment