Bisou Chocolate - Silk Verapaz (Guatemala) 78% (bar) - June 3, 2020

Chocolate of the Day:

Bisou Chocolate

Silk Verapaz (Guatemala) 78% (bar)

Good +

Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) in 1 bar

Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1 bar

Cost: $6.00 (estimate) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bisou, online order

Welcome to Day #13 of Chocolate and Maya Empire Theme Week.

Today's Silk Verapaz (Vera Paz) (Guatemala) 78% (bar) was made by Bisou Chocolate (Oakland, CA). 

Bisou has been making single origin bars and chocolate truffles in Oakland for several years. The company's current offerings are made from cacao beans grown in Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua.

This four-ingredient dark chocolate bar was smooth in aroma, flavor and texture. It had hot chocolate, true chocolate, tart fresh fruit (mild nectarine, berry) and very faint earth and natural vanilla notes with a pleasant lingering dark chocolate finish.

Ingredients: cocoa beans, organic whole cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, organic vanilla

Bisou Chocolate - "Nibs" Chuao 87% Dark Chocolate bar - May 9, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Bisou Chocolate
"Nibs" Chuao 87% Dark Chocolate bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .5 oz. (14 g.) / 1 oz. (28 g.) total bar
Calories: 75 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bisou Chocolate, online order

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week.

Today's "Nibs" Chuao 87% Dark Chocolate bar was made, from bean-to-bar, by Bisou Chocolate (Berkeley/Oakland, CA).

The company makes attractively-packaged, single origin bars (and truffles) and primarily sells their chocolates at local Bay Area Farmers Markets.

This chocolate was made with cacao grown in the Chuao region of Venezuela, known for its fine flavor beans*. This bar had a relatively friendly and complex flavor profile for ultra-dark 87% cacao chocolate. It did have some rustic elements as well—tiny revelations of cacao fermentation notes (think wine grapes turning into wine) in the smooth dark base and the embedded nibs—which gave the bar a soft crunchy texture.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, organic whole cane sugar, cocoa butter

*Cacao seeds (semillas de cacao) actually; but we call them cacao beans here as that is the term mostly commonly used in North America.

Bisou Chocolate - Noir Coco Brus 100% Cacao Dark Chocolate bar - May 6, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Bisou Chocolate
Noir Coto Brus 100% Dark Chocolate bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .5 oz. (15 g.) / 1 oz. (30g.) (per label) in total bar
Calories: 76 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $6.25 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bisou Chocolate online order

Welcome to Day #5 of 100% Cacao Theme Week.

Today's attractively designed and packaged Noir Coto Brus 100% Cacao Dark Chocolate bar from Bisou Chocolate (Oakland/Berkeley, CA) had compelling, smooth dark chocolate flavor with well-balanced bitter notes, and relatively creamy texture.

The ultra-dark bar bar lacked sharp or sour fruit notes contained in some 100% bars; and approachability is important when it comes to 100 percent bars. The chocolate did have a relatively smooth and mild, ultra-dark finish with a very faint wax note.

The cacao beans for this bar came from Coto Brus, located the province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

Bisou Chocolate - Noir Chuao 100% dark bar - May 2, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Bisou Chocolate
Noir Chuao 100% Dark Chocolate bar
Good
Weight: .5 oz. (15 g.) / 1 oz. (30 g.) (per label) in total bar
Calories: 72 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $N/A - gift (Thank you Michelle!)
Purchased from: N/A - gift (Farmers Market)

Welcome to Day #1 of 100% Cacao Theme Week.

Today's Noir Chuao 100% Dark Chocolate bar was from Bisou Chocolate (Berkeley/Oakland, CA). Bisou offers small batch, bean-to-bar chocolate that can be purchased online or at Farmers' Markets in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their primary focus has been single origin bars.

This 100% cacao bar had one ingredient: cacao beans, grown in the Chuao region of Venezuela, known for its fine cacao. Fortunately for chocolate lovers, despite current challenges in Venezuela, cacao is still finding its way to the U.S.

The chocolate had a deep, dark aroma, and bitter and sour flavor notes (fruit acidity) interspersed with interesting, fleeting cacao notes. A very long and faint finish eventually led to a small uptick in sweeter cacao after-taste (about five minutes after eating a bite).

One hundred percent cacao bars are not for the faint of heart, but it's always interesting to taste cacao in unadulterated form. Bean quality and ideal fermentation are key, as there is no sugar, lecithin, vanilla or flavor additions to hide behind or to mellow out harsher notes in the chocolate.

Bisou's attractively packaged bars were imprinted with a botanically-shaped cacao pod and leaf segment design. And they were wrapped in attractive colored inner foils, surrounded by black outer wrappers with Art Nouveau-inspired design and lettering.

Bisou Chocolate - Dark Chocolate Nibs, Matagalpa 87% bar - March 2, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Bisou Chocolate

Dark Chocolate Nibs Matagalpa 87% bar

Good ++ - Good +++

Weight: 1 oz. (30 g.) (per label) in total bar

Calories: 155 calories (estimate) in 1 bar

Cost: $ Not Applicable - gift 

Purchased from: Not applicable - gift from friend (Thank you Gary!)

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Nibs Theme Week.

Bisou Chocolate (Oakland, CA) is a San Francisco Bay Area-based company that creates hand-crafted, dark chocolate bars from sustainably sourced cacao grown in multiple origin countries. Thank you to Gary and Pat for this bar and the introduction to Bisou. Always delighted to discover new chocolates and chocolate makers, in our own backyard no less.

Today's Bisou Dark Chocolate Nibs Matagalpa (Nicaragua) 87% cacao bar* had a smooth, slightly creamy and crunchy texture and a dark, deep slightly earthy flavor.

This three-ingredient bar was made from: cocoa beans, organic whole cane sugar and organic cocoa butter. 

*Note: As of today, the 87% Nibs Matagalpa bar from Bisou Chocolate is sold out (on their website). However, one can hope that it (or a similar batch bar) might reappear in the future.