Mission Chocolate - Wild Bolivia 65% dark chocolate (bar) - Oct. 30, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Mission Chocolate
Wild Bolivia 65% dark chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 144 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

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

Today's Wild Bolivia 65% dark chocolate (bar) was from Mission Chocolate (San Paolo, Brazil).

Aroma: subtle dark chocolate with faint forest and natural sweetness; faint molasses (spice cookie); almost invisible fig; and very faint bright green/fruit (kiwi + sweet lime).

Flavor notes: rich dark chocolate with faint molasses/brown sugar and spice (star anise); a brief hint of cream*; followed by more true cacao, nut and very diffuse nut. The finish included a very faint, bright citrus note (sweet lime). Tasting this bar felt like a gentle walk through a lush rainforest that ended with dappled sunshine.

This chocolate was made with wild cacao from the Bolivian Amazon Rainforest. Wild and Heirloom cacaos can be full of subtle, nuanced flavors. This chocolate was no exception. 

Thank you to the chocolate makers like Arcelia Gallardo at Mission Chocolate who source these very special cacao (bean) varieties and produce chocolate with them for us to enjoy.

Ingredients: Cacao, organic sugar, cocoa butter

Allergen-related information: May contain traces of peanuts, lactose, coconut, tree nuts, and wheat due to shared equipment.

*There was no milk, cream or dairy ingredients in this chocolate.

Mission Chocolate - Dark Goat Milk 56% (bar) - June 10, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Mission Chocolate 

Dark Goat Milk 56% (bar)

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar

Calories: 166.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.50 (+ summer shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order (late May order)

Welcome to Day #14 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's Dark Goat Milk 56% (bar) was from Mission Chocolate by Arcelia Gallardo (Sao Paolo, Brazil).

This bar's complex and very subtle aroma had light notes of cocoa, aloe vera gel, orchid, cream; very faint green herb with implied citrus and astringency (lemon verbena, sour grass, lemon geranium lotion); and very faint, fleeting spice (star anise).

 

The flavor was smooth and sweet with balanced, mild flavors and botanical notes: including dark milk chocolate (rich cocoa), dairy cream, fresh-tasting mineral water, forest, and very faint tart green, mild floral, spice (star anise/five spice* blend) and a barely detectable lemon herb cookie note in the finish. 

This was a nuanced, high-class chocolate creme dessert in bar form.

The organic cacao used to make today's chocolate was from Fazenda Venturosa (2019 Harvest) in Bahia, Brazil. This farm/plantation is known for their Para Parazinho cacao (a Forastero cacao variety from Para with small yellow pods. Mission Chocolate founder/chocolate maker, Arcelia Gallardo, has been using this cacao to make this goat milk caramel-inspired bar as well as a 70% dark chocolate bar.

Ingredients: Organic cacao, organic sugar, goat milk powder, cocoa butter.

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of peanut, coconut, tree nuts, and wheat due to shared equipment."

*"Five spice" (aka "Chinese Five Spice") is a spice blend (often in ground or powdered form) that contains: star anise, fennel seeds, Szechuan peppercorns, cinnamon and cloves. Some blends may also contain tiny bits of orange peel and ginger. The overall flavor: star anise with a very light licorice and warm spice edge.

Mission Chocolate - Two Rivers 70% (bar) - June 8, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Mission Chocolate 

Two Rivers 70% (bar)

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar

Calories: 162 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.50 (+ summer shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's Two Rivers (bar) was the creation of Mission Chocolate by Arcelia Gallardo (Sao Paolo, Brazil).

This chocolate bar was a melding of two 70% cacao Brazilian origin chocolates fused together. Today's two-hue chocolate evoked the moment when two mighty rivers (one lighter and one darker in color) come together before the two colors combine into the Amazon River.* 

This was a very creative product idea that related to the cacao's Amazon origins. It also made me think about lighter and darker cacao beans--and, more metaphorically, the yin and yang of chocolate. Below is a review of both sides:

The lighter side had an aroma with faint savory, light leather, dark milk chocolate, faint tart green and ripe sweet red berry. Texture was thick and creamy. Taste: The first bite was tart sweet (lemon balm, sour grass), rich, dark milk chocolate with raspberry jam and peanut butter notes. Note: Although this half of the chocolate bar looked and tasted like a dark milk chocolate, there were just three ingredients listed on the packaging: cacao, organic sugar and cocoa butter for this fusion bar. No milk. 

The darker (ebony-colored) side to this bar broke with a snap; had smooth, dark chocolate texture and flavor; and had notes of faint spice, dark molasses and earth. It also had faint, fleeting notes of tart green-citrus sweetness and peanut butter in the second half of the tasting.

Like many other Brazil bars this week, both the lighter and darker sides of this bar possessed a significant level of natural sweetness, and could easily be mistaken for a 55% and 60-65%% cacao chocolates, respectively.

Ingredients: Cacao, organic sugar, cocoa butter

Allergen-related information: No gluten, soy or milk ingredients. "May contain traces of milk, peanut, coconut, tree nuts, and wheat due to shared equipment.")

*The famous and colorful "meeting of waters" east of Manaus, Brazil, happens when the darker Rio Negro (black water) joins the lighter, latte-colored Solimoes River. These two, different, liquid bands of color flow side by side for a few miles before the two colors blend together, due to their differences in temperature, density, speed and composition. (Waters can be darker if they've picked up plant tannins from slow travel through tree, forests or bogs; and waters can look lighter if they've rapidly run through areas with fine silt/clay/mud particles that have been stirred up.) 

Mission Chocolate - Escuro 90% Fazenda Vale Potumuju bar - Oct. 17, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mission Chocolate
Escuro 90% Fazenda Vale Potumuju bar
Good ++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 168 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's Escuro 90% Fazenda Vale Potumuju bar was from Arcelia Gallardo, founder of Mission Chocolate (Sao Paolo, Brazil).

This three-ingredient,* ultra-dark chocolate was creamy and quite mild given its very high percentage of cacao solids. It had a very faint, pleasant, fleeting vegetable aroma note (cooked potato and greens), with light fruit and true chocolate flavor.

The melt, as mentioned was creamy and the texture was quite smooth throughout. This will likely be one of the least bitter 90%er that you'll ever sample. It was slightly bittersweet in the finish.

Both the 80% Fazenda Leolinda and today's 90% Fazenda Vale Potumuju bars from this maker were quite friendly, well balanced and enjoyable bars without a lot of sugar. (Thank you Arcelia!)

*Ingredients: Cacao, Organic sugar, cocoa butter

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