Primo Chocolate - "Forest Bath" 68% Dark Chocolate With Smoked Maple & Salt (bar) - June 27, 2026

Chocolate of The Day

Primo Chocolate
"Forest Bath" 68% Dark Chocolate with Smoked Maple & Salt (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 2.1 oz. (60 g.) in total bar 
Calories: 300 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Xocolatl Garden, Carmel, CA

Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate & Earth, Mountains, Forests & Gardens Theme Week; and Day #1 of Chocolate & Mushrooms Week. 

Today's "Forest Bath" 68% Dark Chocolate with Smoked Maple & Sea Salt & "Adaptogenic Chaga" Mushrooms (bar) was from Primo Chocolate.

The cacao used to make this bar was grown in/from Ecuador

Aroma and flavor notes included: roasted cacao; faint, earthy rubber tree (initially), mushroom; and maple flavor. 

I enjoyed the flavor more than the initial aroma. I really enjoyed the rich chocolate (with very faint fruit); authentic maple; and the smoke-y and umami notes from the mushrooms, hickory smoke and the sea salt. I liked the idea of using crushed Vermont Maple candies to sweeten this 68% dark chocolate.

Texture: relatively smooth with an even melt. (The chaga mushroom (extract) was completely incorporated into the dark chocolate. 

Ingredients: Cacao Nibs, Organic Panela (Cane Sugar), Vermont Maple Candies, Hickory Smoke, Chaga Extract, Seneca Lake Sea Salt 

Allergen-related information: (No information that I could find in this area on the label.)

Chocolove - Dark Chocolate Marzipan Filled Trees - June 26, 2026

Chocolate of The Day

Chocolove
Dark Chocolate Marzipan Trees 
Good++ 
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 7.05 oz. (200 g.) in total package
Calories: 150 calories in 3 trees
Cost: $10.49 for 1 package of 19 pieces
Purchased from: Farm Fresh, online order

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate & Earth, Mountains, Forests and Gardens Week. 

Today's package of individually-wrapped Dark Chocolate 55% Marzipan Filled Trees were brought to you by Chocolove (Boulder, CO).

Thankfully "Earth" includes many wild places and open spaces with trees. (Chocolate Banquet would not exist without cacao trees.) Today's tree-shaped chocolates were a lovely reminder that both cacao trees and almond trees were used to make these treats.

Aroma and flavor notes included: smooth dark chocolate and sweet almonds/almond flavor (marzipan).

Texture: a smooth, firm dark chocolate shell, with a softer, white marzipan filling.

I enjoyed the little dark chocolate tree shapes, and the authentic chocolate and almond flavors and balance. Marzipan is meant to be sweet, and this was no exception. But, there was enough dark chocolate to keep the sweetness from being too overwhelming. 

Ingredients: Dark Chocolate (Cocoa Liquor, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin and/or Sunflower Lecithin, Vanilla), Marzipan (Sugar, Almonds, Natural Almond Flavor), Invert Sugar, Tapioca Syrup, Cocoa Butter, Sunflower Lecithin 

Allergen-related information: Contains Almonds, Soy. Made in a Facility That Also Processes Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, and Other Tree Nuts.

Sisters A. Chocolate - Bean-to-Bar 81% Cacao Dominican Republic Cherry & Juniper (bar) - June 25, 2026

Chocolate of The Day

Sisters A. Chocolate 
Bean-to-Bar 81% Cacao Dominican Republic Cherry & Juniper (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.14 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.29 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 178 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ Missing Information
Purchased from: Oceana Market, Pacifica, CA

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate, Mountains, Forests, and Gardens Theme Week. 

Today's Bean-to-Bar 81% Cacao Dominican Republic Cherry & Juniper (bar) was from Sisters A. Chocolate. The company was founded in Lutsk, Ukraine, by two sisters: Olena and Oleksandra.

Aroma and flavor notes included: hearty cacao/dark chocolate, fruit (dark ripe cherries, cacao fruit pulp, dark berry) and faint wood, light pine, and barely detectable earth.

For an 81% cacao chocolate, this satisfying bar was quite smooth in flavor. Rich in taste but relatively low in bitterness and acidity.

Texture: creamy, soft (almost pillowy) dark chocolate with intermittent crunchy bits (candied/crushed juniper berries (and possibly cacao nibs)).

I really enjoyed the well-executed (balanced) yet hearty complexity, authentic flavors, and the natural (low) sweetness level from the ("sublimated") cherries--that provided rich, dark fruit flavor. I also appreciated the thoughtful sourcing and short list of ingredients.

Ingredients: cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, freeze-dried cherry, juniper

Allergen-related Information: (No allergen information found on label)