Luisa Abram Chocolates - Dark Chocolate with Jambu Flower (bar) - June 24, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Luisa Abram Chocolates  
Dark Chocolate with Jambu Flower (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) (per label) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 188 calories (estimate) in 1 bar (of 2)
Cost: $14.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Caputo's, online order

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Floral Theme Week.  

Today's Dark Chocolate with Jambu Flower (bar) was made in Brazil by Familia Abram Banks Ltda. (Sao Paolo, Brazil). 

Luisa Abrams is a bean-to-bar chocolate maker whose chocolates are rich with local cacao terroir nuances and Amazonian flavor inclusions. Her flavorful bars offer rare and delicious glimpses of wild cacaos--and cacao paired with local fruits, flowers, nuts/seeds that grow nearby in Brazil.

This package contained two, individually-wrapped bars. The chocolate were thoughtfully crafted with 70% Rio Tocantins wild cacao chocolate ("which has a very citrusy profile"), Amazonian cocoa butter and jambu flower. The skillful blend of all three resulted in a skillfully constructed powerhouse of nuanced and intriguing, authentic Amazon flavors.

Brazilian jambu flowers have been described as: slightly spicy, medicinal, numbing, and like a gingery blueberry with tannic fruit-like astringency. They can be found in traditional dishes in northern Brazil, and are consumed medicinally. 

I found the very slightly numbing quality (earning the nickname for jambu flower as the toothache plant) was quite mild. It was similar to a milder version of the Sichuan green peppercorn's tingling quality.

Complex aroma and flavor notes for this bar included: dark chocolate; refreshing diffuse and bright (sweet-tart) fruity floral; and a complementary blend of sweet green intriguing botanical syrups, spiced with fruits (prickly pear, pineapple, guava, orange, date, fig) and hibiscus.

Texture: smooth and hearty, with the exception of one or two tiny/fine grit pieces (likely from either cacao bean nibs or jambu).

I loved the wild cacao 70% dark chocolate; the subtle warmness of the organic sugar; and the bold sweet-tart floral and fruit flavors with citrus (orange, almost kumquat), ripe guava and sweet green (green fig, green nut, sweet green/young walnuts in syrup) notes. 

Ingredients: "Cocoa Mass, organic cane sugar, cocoa butter and jambu flower.", Dates*, Cacao Butter*, Bee Pollen, Rose Petals, Lavender (* Organic)

Allergen-related information: "

Fossa Chocolate - Gardenia Flower Green Tea (bar) - June 23, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Fossa Chocolate
Gardenia Flower Green Tea (bar) 
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 273 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $13.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Caputo's, online order

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Floral Theme Week.

Today's Gardenia Flower Green Tea (bar) was from Fossa Chocolate (Singapore). It was the part of the company's impressive Tea Collection.

Fossa makers chose a "...floral and mild Peruvian cacao from Puerta Pulache, Piura..." for this refreshing gardenia green tea bar. In a multi-step process...

Aroma notes for this bar included: subtle dark milk chocolate and come hither floral and green tea notes. The carefully nested process of flavor development in this bar was impressive: 

"Green teas from the "Fuding Da Bai cultivar were infused with Gardenia flowers from Qianwei country in Sichuan using a traditional floral infusion method -- fresh flowers are layered over tea leaves in a laborious process that is repeated seven times to achieve complex yet delicate floral candy sweetness."

 And of course the tea was then integrated into the Peruvian cacao which had its own, albeit mild, naturally floral cacao notes.

Texture: creamy and smooth with a quiet whisper of green tea astringency.

Flavor notes included: smooth, creamy and addictive dark milk chocolate infused with authentic and beautiful floral (gardenia) green tea notes. Just a faint whisper of green tea astringency.

I really enjoyed the upbeat gardenia tea blend; the choice of complementary cacao; the creamy texture and the subtle and harmonious complexity. And, like all the bars Fossa's Tea Collection that I've tried, I appreciated the thoughtful sourcing of ingredients and skillful balance and execution of the finished product. 

Maker's tasting notes: "Candy-like florals with lingering umami and a creamy mouthfeel"

Ingredients: "Organic cacao, cane sugar, cocoa butter, milk powder, tea leaves"

Allergen-related information: "Contains dairy. Produced in a facility that processes nuts."