Conexion Chocolate - Golden Berries & Coriander Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar) - Sept. 24, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Conexion Chocolate
Golden Berries & Coriander Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++ 
Weight: 1.9 oz. (25 g.) / 1.8 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 150 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Dispensary, online order

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Today's Golden Berries & Coriander Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar) from Conexion Chocolate was made in Quito, Ecuador, by Aromasabor Cia. Ltda. 

The cacao used to make this bar was Arriba Nacional Cacao from Manabi, Fortaleza del Valle Co-op. (Manabi is a western coastal province in Ecuador.)

Aroma flavor notes included: fresh dark, relatively sweet, chocolate; and tart, sweet fruit (orange berry, ripe persimmon, golden raisins, golden berry); and a subtle background warm, hearty spice flavor (coriander with carrot and yellow tomato soup notes). 

Texture: smooth dark chocolate, with many small, tart-sweet and chewy bits of dehydrated golden berry.

I appreciated the hearty, well-balanced and delicious flavors in this chocolate. It represented Ecuador well. The company's name: "Conexion" says a lot too about the important role craft chocolate makers play. 

The company "strives to be the Conexion (connection) between the world of the small Ecuadorian cacao farmer and yours." Thank you to both Conexion founder/owner Jenny Samaniego (for her work with farmers and making these Ecuadorian chocolates possible), and to Chef Derek Poirier, for creating chocolates that we're enjoying around the world.

Ingredients: Cacao mass, cane sugar, cacao butter, coriander, golden berries, sunflower lecithin.

Allergen-related information: "Produced in a facility that also handled dairy and nuts."

 

Mashpi Chocolate - 1.) Coffee Bar + 2.) Salt & Cardamon 65% Cacao Chocolate Bar - Sept. 23, 2025

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.