Chocolate of the Day
Juan Choconat
Chocolate Oscuro 76% Cacao Sin Tostar (Unroasted) (bar)
Good +++
Weight: 1.15 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.3 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 138 calories in 1/2 bar (per label)
Cost: $7.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Elebar Snacks, online order
Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate & Colombia Theme Week.
Today's Chocolate Oscuro (Dark Chocolate) 100% Cacao Sin Tostar (Unroasted) (bar) was made by Juan Choconat SAS (Ibague, Tolima, Colombia) and imported by Elebar Snacks LLC (with locations in Illinois and Clearwater, FL).
The packaging featured an illustration of Colombian cacao farmer (Reynel Rodriguez) next to a scannable code with his story. (Each bar in this shipment provided similar information for different cacao farmers in Colombia.)
Today's bar (and others in this order from the same company) also came with an additional backstory, and footnotes at the end. Spoiler alert: I ordered several Jaun Choconat bars online that were made in Colombia (via an importer) in Aug. 2025 -- when new U.S. tariffs on many imported goods became effective. The bars arrived months later.
Aroma and flavor notes for this 76% ("creole" hybrid Colombian) cacao bar included: aromatic relatively fruity, dark chocolate with appealing stone fruits (cherries, apricot), balanced, intense (but smooth) citrus (lemon preserves+ herbal butter), sweet green botanical syrup, and barely detectable wood and tobacco.
This was creamy, balanced, intensely beautiful criollo flavor at its best, distilled into one bar. It's rare to find a 100% cacao (no sugar) bar made with un-roasted Criollo varieties of cacao. It's even rarer to find one this good.
Texture: This bar broke with a snap and had a very appealing, thick, creamy melt and smooth texture -- despite a bloomed appearance (likely from tariff hold-ups back in August).*
After its journey, I was delighted this single ingredient, single origin Colombia chocolate still broke with a snap. I was impressed with the marvelous thick creamy melt and mouthfeel -- even though there was no added cacao butter.
And, the flavors were wonderful. (The packaging for each individual bar had remained sealed.) The makers used only ONE ingredient (cacao) to coax out these authentic, intense yet very balanced, heritage cacao flavors. Note: do try to eat this bar fairly soon after opening. (If you wait a few days, you'll miss out on some of the lighter, more volatile notes. It will not taste the same.)
Ingredients: Unroasted cacao nibs.
Allergen-related information: "May Contain Traces of Fruit, Milk or Nuts."
*New U.S. tariffs went into effect in April and August 2025 that affected imported goods from other countries.
Importers and shippers were struggling to adhere to new requirements--about the time I ordered several Juan Choconat bars in August 2025 (peak transition/confusion time). The chocolate bars did finally arrive -- months later.
Fortunately, lawmakers realized that the U.S. grows less than 0.0001% of all the world's cacao-approximately 179 acres in Hawaii and 100 acres in Puerto Rico. We import most of our cacao from other countries so U.S. chocolatiers and chocolate makers can make chocolate; U.S. workers can keep their jobs; and customers can find their favorite chocolates on shelves or online.
The cacao tariffs were lifted a few months later, in Nov. 2025. (Although certain tariffs remained on West African cacao (where most of the world's cacao is grown.)
Note: As of today, every Juan Choconat bar that I ordered in August 2025 was "sold out" online.
"Sold out" can mean many things. A company is struggling to meet demand for high-quality products that are in short supply; a company is taking a break from making chocolate; a company is thinking about whether to continue to make chocolate; etc. Fingers crossed.
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