Chocolate(s) of the Day
Eigen Chocolate
Chocolate Orange 70% Dark Chocolate with Orange Oil (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) in total bar
Calories: 136.4 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $7.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Eigen Chocolate, online order
San Jose de Isnos Huila Colombia - Amparo Lebaza 70% Cacao Microlot (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.74 (sic) oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 136.4 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.25 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Eigen Chocolate, online order
Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate & Citrus Theme Week, and Day #2 of Chocolate & Colombia Theme Week.
Today's two very tasty chocolate bars were:
- 1.) Chocolate Orange - 70% Dark Chocolate with Orange Oil (bar)
- 2.) San Jose de Isnos Huila, Colombia - Amparo Lebaza 70% Cacao Microlot (bar).
Both were crafted by the same maker: Eigen Chocolate (High Point, NC).
Chocolate Orange 70% Dark Chocolate with Orange Oil
Aroma notes included: smooth dark chocolate and aromatic, sweet orange.
Texture: smooth dark chocolate with a smooth, even melt
Flavor notes for this attractively packaged bar included: sweet dark chocolate and orange that extended into a pleasing orange finish. This was relatively sweet for a 70% dark chocolate, likely made more so by the orange oil that had an inherent citrus sweet orange taste to it and the use of cane sugar (which I've not tasted as often this week).*
This bar evoked memories of holiday dark chocolate oranges of the past. (Today's thoughtfully-executed bar would likely win in a taste-off against those chocolates from decades ago.)
I enjoyed the balanced blend of sweet and tasty authentic flavors and short list of quality ingredients. The orange oil tasted like real orange.
Ingredients: "Cacao nibs, Organic cane sugar, Organic cocoa butter, Orange oil"
Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that handles nuts, dairy & soy."
San Jose de Isnos Huila Colombia - Amparo Lebaza 70% Cacao Microlot
Aroma notes included: dark chocolate, dried fruit (raisin, citrus, pomegranate) and very faint herbal.
Texture: smooth, with a slight, but not unpleasant, astringency in the second half.
Flavor notes included: dark chocolate (fudge-y), diffuse dried fruit (raisin, mixed citrus, faint pomegranate), faint wood, and very faint, sharp floral/honey.
I really enjoyed the unique, slightly tart and tangy, yet grounded and balanced, flavors and complexity in this 70% dark chocolate bar--all elicited from just three ingredients.
(After eating many holiday, milk and flavored chocolates these past few weeks, I loved tasting authentic and nuanced cacao bean flavors in a dark chocolate bar again.)
Maker's tasting notes: "Fudge, Hickory, Floral"
Ingredients: Cacao, cane sugar*, cocoa butter* (* = Organic)
Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that handles nuts, dairy & soy."
*I've tasted many chocolates recently with less processed/brown sugars. The type of sugar can influence what a chocolate tastes like. "White" cane sugar is preferred for its clear sweetness, i.e. (lack of other flavors that may obfuscate more subtle cacao notes in chocolate.
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