Fu Wan Chocolate - Taiwan #9 Ping Tung Double Ferment Rough Ground Chocolate (bar) - Aug. 6, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Fu Wan Chocolate
Taiwan #9 Double Ferment Rough Ground Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good++
Weight: .795 oz. (22.5 g.) / 1.59 oz. (45 g.) in total bar
Calories: 143 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $13.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate Surprise Week, including chocolates with unique ingredients, surprising back stories and some that are just plain fun.

Today's Taiwan #9 Ping Tung Double Ferment Rough Ground Chocolate (bar) was made by Fu Wan Chocolate using (2019 Harvest) cacao from the Ping Tung area. Fu Wan Chocolate makes "tree to bar" chocolate and is based in Donggang Township, Pingtung County, Taiwan (Republic of China).

Fermentation of freshly harvested "wet" cacao is a very important step in making chocolate and helps develop flavor(s). A "double ferment" initiates a second fermentation and creates additional flavors.

Aroma notes for this 70% dark chocolate included: dark chocolate; carbonated beverage (beer with fermented fruit (mango, watermelon, stone fruit (peach, nectarine), cacaco fruit pulp); and strawberry-apple balsamic vinegar)).

The "rough ground" chocolate was a bit granular, not quite gritty, in texture. It was also rich in chocolate and fruit flavor.

Flavor notes for this aromatic chocolate included: chocolate and fruit (stone fruit (nectarine, dried peach, tart-sweet cherry), tart-sweet mango, cacao fruit, tart-sweet watermelon, and banana.). The authentic fruit and acidity (yeast used) created an almost fizzy sweet and sour chocolate, with a relatively long fruity finish.

It had more of an intense fruity sweetness than a cane sugar sweetness.

Both the Fu Wan beer yeast 70% bar featured yesterday (8/5/2023) and today's Fu Wan double ferment 70% bar were very interesting bars to taste, and would be interesting to include in a side-by-side tasting with other Ping Tung cacao chocolates--where the same cacao was fermented with different yeasts under different conditions and durations. 

Maker's tasting notes: "Strawberry, Apple, Balsamico, Champagne, Nuts"

Ingredients: Cacao Bean, Sugar, Cacao Butter

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of nuts and peanuts." 

 

Fu Wan Chocolate - Taiwan #3 Ping Tung Black Sugar Chocolate 70% Dark (bar) - Feb. ??, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Fu Wan Chocolate
Taiwan #3 Ping Tung Black Sugar Chocolate 70% Dark (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.59 oz. (45 g.) in total bar
Calories: 248 calories in 1 bar 
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Golden Sugars Theme Week.

Today's Taiwan #3 Ping Tung Black Sugar Chocolate 70% Dark (bar) was from Fu Wan Chocolate (Taiwan, R.O.C.).

The cacao (harvested in 2019) used to make this "tree to bar" chocolate was grown in (southern) Taiwan.

The rich aroma notes for this 70% dark chocolate included: flavorful deep dark sugars (molasses), thoroughly toasted marshmallow (well done, slightly beyond golden to charred territory), dark chocolate, subtle sweet, almost marshy green, dried fruit (dates), brown sugar, and faint, freshly baked yeast bread, and very faint, fleeting red wine. and savory Japanese rice cracker.

The texture of this well-tempered bar was pleasing. The melt and mouthfeel were close to being pillowy and velvety, while at the same time having a very low level of light granular astringency.

Flavor notes mirrored the rich variety of aroma notes mentioned above with dark brown sugar, date, and raisin notes. There was something almost sweet and savory about this chocolate (like small, golden brown, sweet and salty, Japanese rice crackers), and almost herbal (dark, sweet black licorice).

I loved the complexity of this chocolate and the dark, almost smoky-sweet "black sugar" flavor. This would make a great ganache, and would pair well with coffee--adding flavor depth as well as sweetness. 

In fact, one can already buy black sugar flavored (boba) teas, black sugar flavored coffee drinks, and frozen desserts with black sugar at Asian markets and other specialty markets/stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, these black sugar sweetened items are rarely paired with rich, single origin dark chocolate.

So why aren't we tasting more chocolates with more flavorful sugars? White cane sugar's relative blandness is why it is often selected by bean-to-bar chocolate makers--over golden (or black) sugars. More flavorful cooked sugars (or less processed sugars) can alter (or diminish) the inherent fruity, nutty, floral and other flavor present in fine, single origin cacao beans.

With today's Ping Tung Black Sugar chocolate, Fu Wan makers have shown us that some concerns about using darker sugars may have been overblown. That is, when skillfully crafted, chocolates can contain a complementary blend of flavorful sugars and flavorful cacao and can be fully enjoyed without the tastier sugars wiping out/distorting the fine cacao flavors and vice versa.

Maker's tasting notes: "Raisin, Licorice, Milk Tea, Brandy, Coffee"

Ingredients: Cacao bean, black sugar, cacao butter

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of nuts and peanuts."

Fu Wan Chocolate - Taiwan #10 Ping Tung 53% Dark Milk Chocolate (bar) - Jan. 31, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Fu Wan Chocolate
Taiwan #10 Ping Tung 53% Dark Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good ++ 
Weight: .795 oz. (22.5 g.) / 1.59 oz. (45 g.) in total bar
Calories: 130 calories in 1/2 bar 
Cost: $14.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

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

Today's Taiwan #10 Ping Tung 53% Dark Milk Chocolate (bar) was created by Fu Wan Chocolate (Pingtung County, Taiwan, R.O.C.).

This single origin bar offered a uniquely special and very subtle bouquet of chocolate aroma notes, including: chocolate (subtle milk chocolate), faint fleeting malt, faint clean mineral (clay), faint diffuse fruit (apple, raisin, peach), faint warm floral spice (soft vanilla and very faint cinnamon), very faint nut/seed, and very faint green tea floral.

The texture of this 53% dark milk chocolate was uniformly smooth and relatively creamy.

The flavor notes closely mirrored the aroma notes (above). This dark milk chocolate was filled with a very subtle array of fruit flavors. The milk (powder) softened/muted any strong fruit acidity and possibly other more subtle flavors. The chocolate was very low in bitterness. And it had a very mild, but long finish. In that finish were hidden whispers of nut (very fleeting lightly roasted peanut), and fruit (peach and light osmanthus blossom tea).

I paired this chocolate with small cups of osmanthus* oolong tea and jasmine green tea.

Some 53% cacao dark milk chocolates and confections can be very sweet. This bar was not. (Thank you!) The choice of less sugar (less than is often present here in the U.S.) made it much easier to detect the subtle flavors that were present.

I recommend trying this bar, or including it as part of a chocolate tasting flight. (Try this one first before stronger tasting chocolates, so you can still taste the softly complex notes.)

Maker's tasting notes: Apple, raisin, toffee, nuts, vanilla

Ingredients: Cacao bean, sugar, milk powder, cacao butter, vanilla pod

Allergen-related information: (Contains milk) 

*Osmanthus are aromatic flowering evergreen large shrubs/small trees native to China, Indochina and Japan. 

There are some that grow in a park near my house in California. I walked by a row of tall bushes with small clusters of tiny, fragrant, ivory-colored flowers last November; and I immediately recognized the smell as the flavoring in an Chinese tea I'd enjoyed. 

I've since been able to make my own flower-infused tea from local osmanthus blossoms, since it grows here as well as Taiwan, R.O.C.--where today's chocolate originated; and where osmanthus-infused tea is also popular.

My experience with osmanthus is that is has an apricot/peach scent and light citrus/stone fruit-floral, lightly herby flavor.

 

Fu Wan Chocolate - Taiwan #1 Ping Tung Chocolate 85% (bar) - Jan. 25, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Fu Wan Chocolate
Taiwan #1 Ping Tung Chocolate 85% (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .795 oz. (22.5 g.) / 1.59 oz. (45 g.) in total bar
Calories: 130 calories in 1/2 bar 
Cost: $13.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to the first day of Chocolate and Tea Week.

Today's Taiwan #1 Ping Tung 85% (bar) was from Fu Wan Chocolate (located in Ping Tung (aka Pingtung) County, in southern Taiwan, R.O.C.).

The company makes a variety of bean-to-bar chocolates featuring local ingredients. These include tree-to-bar chocolates made using local cacao from southern Taiwan. Other chocolates have infused tea or spice flavor inclusions.

Aroma notes in today's single origin (tree-to-bar) chocolate included: chocolate (cocoa, lightly roasted coffee), faint brown sugar/molasses, fruit (goji berry, faint raisin), and green (very light algae) notes. 

This relatively thick 85% bar had smooth, uniform texture and a very light, faint (fruit) astringency. Each bite yielded rich, deep cacao flavor, and notes that mirrored aroma notes mentioned above. There was also a faint, fleeting spice note (star anise). 

This ultra dark bar had interesting, balanced complexity; and a relatively low(er) sugar percentage content enabled more direct, clear access to the natural range of cacao flavors. It was full of subtle aroma and flavor and low in bitterness.

I paired today's chocolate with a small cup of warm "Iron Goddess"* tea, a relatively straight-forward tea blend that was low in bitterness, and had pleasant green tea floral, and very faint grassy and clean mineral notes.

Ingredients: Cacao bean, sugar, cacao butter

Allergen-related information: (No information found on label.)

*Iron Goddess Oolong tea is frequently associated with Fujian province in southeastern China--that borders the China Sea coast (across from Taiwan), where this tea is also grown. Iron Goddess tea is a tea that has typically been oxidized. (Although the degree of oxidation may range from 50 to 25 percent, depending on where it is made.)

Mikawaya - Mochi Ice Cream, Chocolate Mint - Aug. 17, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Mikawaya Mochi Ice Cream

Chocolate Mint

Good ++ - Good +++

Weight: 3 oz. (86 g.) / 9.1 oz. (258 g.) in total package of 6 pieces

Calories: 220 calories in 2 pieces

Cost: $3.99 (estimate) for 1 package/box of 6 pieces

Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's (frozen) Chocolate Mint Chip Mochi was from Mikawaya Mochi Ice Cream (Vernon, CA), and was part of a plate of three different mochi-inspired sweets. 

Chocolate Mint Mochi Ice Cream

The best of the three ball-shaped confections on today's plate was this Mikawaya ice cream wrapped in a sweet rice dough. A beautifully springy rice dough enveloped a refreshing mint chocolate chip ice cream center.

Mango Mochi

The second mochi plate confections were miniature-sized Mango mochi from Royal Food Co. that nicely captured an authentic tart, sweet mango fruit flavor. They were relatively sweet, and had a slightly firmer springy/chewy texture. They were sealed in packets (sets of 4) and were not refrigerated. 

Homemade Chocolate Horchata flavored mochi

Last, was my homemade rice ball (soaked and stovetop cooked Jasmine rice dough), that I used to make a mochi-inspired chocolate horchata ball. The cinnamon and cocoa flavors were nice but the texture was not as light and springy. (Pureed, soaked and cooked jasmine long grain rice + finely ground almond flour and a generous dose of cinnamon and cocoa that were slow-cooked and stirred together; but could not be magically transformed into the loftier, sweet, sticky mochi rice dough of today's featured chocolate.

Mikawaya Mochi Ice Cream Ingredients: 

Ice Cream Ingredients: Milk, cream, cane sugar, chocolate flavored chips (cane sugar, coconut oil, cocoa processed with alkali, cocoa, corn starch, salt), whey, nonfat dry milk, natural flavors, stabilizer (guar gum, locust bean gum). Mochi dough ingredients: Cane sugar, water, sweet rice flour, egg whites, rice flour, enzyme. 

Allergen-related information: Contains: milk, egg. "May contain peanuts and tree nuts." (No gluten or soy ingredients.)

Fu Wan Chocolate - Taiwan Magao (Wild Pepper) Chocolate (bar) - Dec. 15, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Fu Wan Chocolate
Taiwan Magao (Wild Pepper) Chocolate 62% dark (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .795 oz. (22.5 g.) / 1.59 oz. (45 g.) in total bar 
Calories: 135 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Spices Theme Week(s). We're moving from chocolate and spice offerings created in northern Europe to featuring a chocolate from a slightly warmer place, Taiwan, that is also closer to the spice hub that is southeast Asia.

Today's Taiwan Magao (Wild Pepper) Chocolate 62% dark (bar) was made from "tree to bar" by Fu Wan Chocolate (Taiwan, ROC). "Crafted in the Island of Formosa," this bar contained Magao pepper. Old world pepper varieties have served as prized spices for centuries. Most people are familiar with black pepper, but there are many other "pepper" varieties out there from other plants, seeds and berries.

Magao pepper (Litsea cubeba), also known as a "mountain pepper," grows on evergreen trees native to Taiwan. Its seeds have been harvested and used as a spice/flavoring and a natural medicine by indigenous tribes (Atayal people) in Taiwan for centuries. It's used as an ingredient in traditional Magao pineapple cakes. And it's being explored by culinary explorers looking for unique taste experiences. It is closer to black pepper in flavor; and is not a chili or capsicum pepper. 

This spice gave the chocolate bar a very unique aroma. The bar's aroma had an earth meets water (lagoon/bay/grassy) note followed by fruit (goji berry tea, earthy tropical fruit), and black pepper sweet tea and faint graham cracker notes.

The melt and mouthfeel was very light and creamy (almost a whipped chocolate/cocoa butter feel). The sweet flavor had notes of ginger and lemongrass and faint oolong tea leaf notes, followed by a mild, balanced tea astringency. 

I was so busy enjoying and ferreting out the complex, Taiwan Magao wild pepper flavors that I had to re-taste it again for chocolate (cacao) nuances I might have missed. The relatively mild, sweet 62% dark chocolate base complemented the wild pepper, but it was hard to tell what spice, fruit, nut or earth notes the cacao contributed (apart from the pepper). The cacao (bean and butter) could have even mellowed the pepper flavors. More research is needed.

"Tasting Notes: Lemongrass, Ginger, Citrus, Nuts"

Ingredients: Cacao bean, sugar, cacao butter, Magao (Wild Pepper).

Fu Wan Chocolate - 62% Taiwan Red Jade Tea Chocolate (bar) - Aug. 5, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Fu Wan Chocolate
62% Taiwan Red Jade Tea Chocolate (bar)
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.59 oz. (45 g.) in total bar
Calories: 283 calories (per label) in 1 bar
Cost: $16.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

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

Today's 62% Taiwan Red Tea Chocolate (bar) was from Fu Wan Chocolate (Formosa (Taiwan)). The tea used in this bar is a hybrid black tea developed in Taiwan that has red branches (and color), thus the name.

This bar was made from a blend of (Trinitario) cacao sources. (Fu Wan does use cacao grown in Taiwan, and some from other locations.)

My tasting notes are below: 

Aroma: dried fruit (goji berry)

Flavor: dried goji berry, delicate black oolong tea with rose petal and very subtle herbal/warm spice (star anise) notes. Well balanced, lightly layered flavor complexity. There was a faint, nicely balanced, tannic tea astringency in the finish, and perhaps a ghost of red raspberry leaf.

Please do to sit down with this chocolate and savor slowly, as one would a cup of of high quality tea. Elegant floral fruit tea notes from this blend of dark chocolate and Taiwan Red Jade Tea. The choice of a 62% cacao chocolate base (dark, but not too dark) allowed the subtle tea flavors to shine through, and yet it was not too sweet (thank you).

Maker's tasting notes read as follows: "Bayleaf, bergamot, cinnamon, star anise"

Ingredients: Cacao bean(s), cane sugar, cacao butter, Red Jade tea.

Fu Wan Chocolate - Taiwan No. 5 - 62% Nibs Chocolate (bar) - Nov. 15, 2019

Chocolate of the Day:

Fu Wan Chocolate
Taiwan No. 5 - 62% Nibs Chocolate (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .795 oz. (22.5 g.) / 1.59 oz. (45 g.) in total bar
Calories: 133.6 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 - $14.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Nibs Theme Week.

Today's Taiwan No. 5 - 62% Nibs Chocolate (bar) was made by Fu Wan Chocolate (Pingtung, Taiwan).

Fu Wan makes tree-to-bar chocolate, working with farmers in Pingtung in southern Taiwan, where the climate is likely the most suitable for growing cacao.

This bar had a rapid melt and almost fluffy, whipped creamy texture. The balanced, even chocolate flavor had relatively light, bright sweet fruit notes (ripe tangelo, mild plum) with no off notes. Nibs added a bit of soft crunchy texture.