Atypic Chocolate - Cafe Latte Coffee Chocolate (bar) - Apr. 22, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Atypic Chocolate
Cafe Latte Coffee Chocolate with Milk (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 203 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 (sale) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Coffee Theme Week.

Today's Cafe Latte Coffee Chocolate (bar) was from Atypic Chocolate (Melbourne Market, VIC, Australia).

Aroma and Flavor

Aroma is a big part of taste. Aroma notes for this coffee milk chocolate bar included: hearty roasted and freshly ground coffee, dark milk chocolate and a double espresso coffee latte/mocha. 

Certain aromatic flavors, like vanilla and some floral/spice notes contribute to overall taste in a chocolate bar. Their smell permeates and uplifts the tasting experience.

Roasted and fermented coffees and cacaos are not delicate florals.* Yet the interplay between these two strong, yet harmonious, aromas and flavors is half the fun.

The coffee aroma of today's bar was strong and seductive with faint roasted earth, aromatic wood and red berry notes--which then undulated into bold/dark cacao milk chocolate flavors. The interplay between these strong, harmonious and overlapping flavors** was half the fun.

This chocolate really captured the smoothness of a creamy milk chocolate, and the seductive aromas and flavors of a double espresso caffe/cafe latte. It was flavorful, balanced, relatively complex, and not too sweet (thank you!). This was chocolate worth savoring slowly, and enjoying any time of day.

Ingredients: Coffee beans, cacao butter, organic cane sugar, Australian milk powder, sunflower lecithin. 

Allergen-related information: Contains milk. May contain traces (of) gluten, tree nuts. 

*Although if you have the chance to be in a coffee plantation when the small ivory-colored coffee flowers blooms, do it. The smell is pure floral perfume heaven.

**Both grow within 20 degrees of the equator and both are some of the rare foods that are both fermented and roasted. Cacao came originally from the Americas, and coffee from north Africa. Traders spread them both far and wide in past centuries. I'm grateful they met up.

Atypic Chocolate - 70% Dark Chocolate Solomon Islands (bar) - Dec. 27, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Atypic Chocolate

70% Dark Chocolate Solomon Islands (bar)

Good +

Weight: 1.235 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 165 calories (estim. per label) in 1 bar
Cost: $10.00 + shipping for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and South Pacific Islands Theme Week. 

Many of the bars this week, including today's 70% bar, were made from cacao grown in the Solomon Islands--a country that includes six larger islands (e.g. Guadalcanal) and hundreds of smaller islands. This island nation is part of a larger (cacao-growing) island chain that extends up (northwest) to Papua New Guinea and down (southeast) to Vanuatu. The history of cacao planting in the Solomon Islands stretches back to the late 1800s.

Today's 70% Dark Chocolate Solomon Islands (bar) was from Atypic Chocolate/Atypic Artiste Chocolatier (made in South Melbourne Market, VIC, Australia). The company sources sustainably farmed cacao beans "from all over the South Pacific..." and carefully crafts single origin, island nation bars, each with its own flavor nuances.

This bar had an aroma with a green (orchid) floral note, followed by the faint possibility of a bitter dark chocolate, and then a warmer, roasted nutty/nut butter aroma note.

The flavor had a chocolatey flavor with nutty and then bright, sweet (sweet-tart apple jelly) notes. The flavor was more sweet than bitter; and the sweetness lingered into the finish.

Maker's notes read: "Our 70% dark chocolate is made with beans from the heart of the Solomon Islands, with notes of honey, malt and caramel."

Ingredients: Cacao beans, organic cane sugar, cacao butter, sunflower lecithin.

Atypic Chocolate - Heart of Pacific 88% Dark Chocolate with Nibs (bar) - Dec. 28, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Atypic Chocolate

Heart of Pacific 88% Dark Chocolate with Nibs (bar)

Good ++

Weight: 1.235 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 173 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.25 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and South Pacific Islands Theme Week.

Today's "Heart of Pacific" 88% Dark Chocolate with Nibs bar was from Atypic Chocolate*(Melbourne, Victoria, Australia). This multi-origin bar was crafted in Australia using sustainably harvested cacao beans from islands in the South Pacific.

The aroma of this bar had caramel notes associated with a creamy, dark milk chocolate with milk and sugar. I had to double check the label. Was there milk in this ultra-dark milk bar? (No.)

Note: Sometimes aroma and flavor notes for a dark chocolate bar are very similar; and the taste is just an extension of the smell. However, beans with complex flavors and/or very dark chocolates can have surprising differences between aroma and flavor. Today's 88% bar fell in this latter category, with a more complex, layered experience.

Admission: I love a well-made chocolate with an interesting, complex flavor ride.

The texture alternated between smooth ultra-dark chocolate 88% base chocolate and hearty, crunchy cocoa nibs. There was sweetness (more than one might find in most 88% chocolate bars), but certainly not the sweet caramel "candy" kind. It was a very satisfying blend.

The flavor was bold with very balanced earthy, woodsy real cacao flavor, with a very slightly fermented cacao note. The acidity and bitterness levels were just right (not too high).

Ingredients: cacao beans, organic cane sugar, cacao butter, sunflower lecithin 

*The company's name, Atypic, comes from the French word meaning atypical. Many entrepreneurial, bean-to-bar makers have had to diverge from the far more popular way of selling chocolates--by buying and using someone else's chocolate, and re-melting it to make bars and confections. 

The "new wave" of craft/artisan chocolate makers have many more steps to follow if they're making their own chocolate from scratch, from the cacao bean. And most chocolate makers who take this "atypical" road less traveled, if they really care about high-quality, will likely find themselves traveling to cacao-growing countries, getting to know cacao farmers, learning about fermenteries, examining aspects of fair trade--to ensure they have access to the best beans, to make the best chocolate, from start to finish. 

I have tried to honor all chocolate makers on Chocolate Banquet. I believe anyone starting a small business deserves respect. And to tackle complex craft food and beverage items, however intellectually satisfying it may be, deserves an extra helping of respect, and our thanks.

Atypic Chocolate - Caramel Brittle 72% Dark Chocolate Vanuatu bar - May 16, 2020

Chocolate of the Day:

Atypic Chocolate
Caramel Brittle 72% Dark Chocolate Vanuatu bar
Good ++
Weight: 1.235 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 161.35 calories (estimate based on label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.75 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate, Caramel and Toffee Theme Week.

Today's Caramel Brittle 72% Dark Chocolate Vanuatu bar was from Atypic Artiste Chocolatier/Atypic Chocolate (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia).

Atypic Chocolate is a bean-to-bar chocolaterie, co-founded by Charles Lemai, that offers chocolate bars, confections and spreads. The company sources sustainably farmed cacao beans from "all over the South Pacific to carefully craft the finest single origin chocolates."

This attractively-packaged, ebony-colored Caramel Brittle bar was a piece of art--an avant-garde stained glass window--adorned with panes of caramel brittle on one side. A line art map of Melbourne was printed on one side of the inner wrapper. (I'm a sucker for map art and have enjoyed this tradition, e.g. SOMA Chocolate (Toronto) and various chocolate city maps over the years.)

The base chocolate, made from cacao grown in Vanuatu, had a dark chocolate (72%) aroma and a very slightly grainy texture--possibly from the organic cane sugar or the cacao being more coarsely ground. It had the dense dark flavor of a forastero cacao but with some mild fruit and other flavor notes (trinitario cacao?)* This chocolate was not too sweet (thank you!) which left room to enjoy the contrasting sweet brittle elements.

"Ingredients: cacao beans, organic cane sugar, cacao butter, sunflower lecithin, butter, salt flakes, bicarb soda."

"Vanuatu cacao may only make up one percent or less of the world's cacao supply; but cacao is well-suited to grow there, particularly in the warmer, northern provinces (closer to the Equator). Forastero and trinitario varieties are grown there. And cacao trees may be planted with crops like coconut palms, one of several varieties of bananas, and/or coffee. Like most developing countries where cacao is grown, cacao beans are fermented and dried "in country" where they're grown, but production--where these beans are transformed into chocolate--almost always takes place in fairly sophisticated, climate-controlled facilities in more developed countries.