A. Morin - Costa Rica - Quetzal Noir 70% cacao (bar) - May 26, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

A. Morin 
Costa Rica - Quetzal Noir 70% cacao (bar)
Good ++ 
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 294 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar & Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Central America Theme Week.

Today's Costa Rica - Quetzel Noir 70% cacao (bar) was made by A. Morin Chocolatiers (Donzere, France) using cacao grown in O'Payo Nicaragua cacao. The company has been in the family since 1884.

Aroma and flavor notes included: relatively aromatic and bold (but well-balanced) dark chocolate with complex notes: (from roasted woody earth (peat) to toast and coffee, to diffuse, almost honeyed fruit (concord grape)). 

It tasted much better than the initial sniff/aroma seemed to indicate; or put another way, it finished unexpectedly delightfully. It reminded me of certain red wines that way.

I found this chocolate oddly addictive, and had to stop myself from eating too much. This says something about the cacao beans as well as the chocolate maker.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans from Costa Rica, cane sugar, cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin. Cocoa 70% minimim.

Allergen-related information: May contain traces of milk, nuts and sesame 

Chocolarder - Maleku Upala, Costa Rica 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) - Apr. 23, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Chocolarder
Maleku Upala, Costa Rica 70% Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight:1.25 oz. (35 g.)/ 2.5 oz. (70 gram in total bar)
Calories: 185.8 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Coffee Theme Week. This week's chocolates include coffee in many forms including: brewed, ground, and whole beans. 

Today's chocolate doesn't contain coffee, but it has coffee taste or "notes"--earning it a spot in this group.

The Maleku* Costa Rica 70% bar was from small batch, craft chocolate maker, Chocolarder (Falmouth, Cornwall, England).

This dark chocolate was made using Costa Rica-grown cacao. (Producer: Nahua Cacao.)

This relatively thick bar broke with a hard snap in a cool room (67 degrees F. / 19.4 degrees C.); and it had a smooth and uniform texture, with a very slight astringency (dryness) toward the finish.

The dark chocolate was a unique blend of complex aromas and flavors. 

Notes included: chocolate (fermented cacao, mocha, ganache), faint light green, floral botanical, citrus, faint pine (faint, fleeting sweet resin), and fruit (ripe yellow/orange fruit: pureed ripe banana, loquat and sweet pumpkin), fig, and fleeting goji berry. An initial faint overripe fruit note subsided after initial detection.

Maker's tasting notes: "Rich cocoa flavours with notes of coffee, fig, and caramelised banana"

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, raw unrefined sugar.

Allergen-related information: Made in a facility that also handles tree nuts and milk.

* The Maleku are "an indigenous people who still inhabit Costa Rica..." One estimate puts their remaining tribe members at only 650. 

Sibu/Sibo Chocolate - Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao Toasted Almonds Costa Rica (bar) - Oct. 17, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Sibu/Sibo Chocolate

Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao Toasted Almonds Costa Rica (bar)

Good ++

Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 140 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $6.50 (+ shipping) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #14 of Chocolate and Central America Week(s), featuring chocolates made using cacao grown in Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Today's Sibu/Sibo* Chocolate Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao Toasted Almonds (bar) was made in Costa Rica by Chocoindustria Cinco S.A. (Escazu in San Jose Province, Costa Rica). 

Happily, not only was the cacao used to make this chocolate grown in Costa Rica (in the Brunca region in southern Costa Rica), the chocolate bar was made (further north) in Costa Rica as well.** 

Aroma notes included: dark chocolate with diffuse concentrated/dried fruit, and roasted nut.

The texture had a smooth dark chocolate base accented with soft, cacao nib-like crunchy bits ( roasted almond pieces) with very faint earth, olive, roasted coffee, nut and malt that lingered lightly into a clean finish.

I loved the balanced dark and nut flavors; and, perhaps best of all (for my taste) this Costa Rica chocolate was refreshingly un-sweet for a 70% cacao chocolate bar. (Thank you!)

Maker's tasting notes: "Flavor profile: spice, with notes of dried fruit and a nutty finish."

Ingredients: Chocolate (cacao beans, cane sugar, cacao butter), almonds.

Allergen-related information: "Contains: almonds. May contain traces of soy, milk and cashews."

*The company name "Sibo" Chocolate (with an umlaut over the "o") seems to be used in the United States. Whereas "Sibu" may be in use in Costa Rica. An umlaut can be used over a vowel to denote a change in pronunciation.

** Chocolates made "in country" (in the same country where the cacao was grown) have gotten easier to find in the U.S. But, the vast majority of bars in stores are still manufactured in the northern hemisphere (North America or Europe). Why?

Traditionally, reasons for this have included: the need for sophisticated (more expensive) manufacturing facilities and reliable utility infrastructure (precise temperature and humidity control(s) are important in chocolate-making). 

Cooler temperatures in the northern (and southern) hemispheres help extend shelf life for chocolates. Cacao has grows plus or minus 20 degrees from the Equator. And most chocolate manufacturing seems to take place closer to 35 to 50 degrees from the Equator. 

Last, an inconvenient truth is that, wealthier chocolate consumers often live north (and south) of tropical, cacao-growing latitudes--markets closer to more sophisticated manufacturing facilities.

When cacao is/can be produced "in-country," more wealth tends to stay in the country of origin.

Cachet Costa Rica 71% Dark Chocolate (bar) - Oct. 12, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Cachet 

Costa Rica 71% Dark Chocolate (bar)

(Manufactured by Kim's Chocolate)

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 1.17 oz. (33.3 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar

Calories: 200 calories (per label) in 1/3 bar

Cost: $1.99 for 1 bar

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

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Central America Week, featuring chocolates made with cacao grown in Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

This Costa Rica 71% Dark Chocolate (bar) was manufactured in Belgium by Kim's Chocolate (Tienen, Belgium).

The aroma had smooth, dark chocolate and balanced light bitter and sweet notes.

The flavor was also even and smooth with relatively gentle dark chocolate; light, diffuse mixed fruit (syrup) with very faint maple vanilla; and subtle roasted nut butter notes.

Ingredients: Chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, natural vanilla flavor. (80% Rainforest Alliance Certified Cocoa). (Dark chocolate cocoa solids minimum 71%)

Allergen related information: "May contain tree nuts, milk, eggs, wheat and soy."

LetterPress Chocolate - Hacienda Azul, Costa Rica 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) - Oct. 7, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

LetterPress Chocolate

Hacienda Azul, Costa Rica 70% Dark Chocolate (bar)

Good ++ - Good +++

Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar

Calories: 156 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar 

Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar (+ summer shipping)

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Central America Theme Week, featuring chocolates from Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Today's Hacienda Azul, Costa Rica 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) was made by LetterPress Chocolate (Los Angeles, CA). 

The cacao used to craft this two-ingredient bar was from a small farm named Hacienda Azul,* "located in the rural town of Turrialba in the province of Cartago a couple hours east of Costa Rica's capital, San Jose."

Aroma notes included (in order of appearance): bread, green tea, subtle bright fruit (light goji berry), faint tart green (oxalis), and very faint sweet white grape/golden raisin.

This well-tempered bar had an even melt and smooth texture and mouthfeel.

Flavor notes included Boston brown bread (molasses, raisin); subtle, diffuse tropical fruit, and true chocolate (dark chocolate cake, chocolate torte, dark chocolate pudding) that lingered into the finish.

Maker's tasting notes: "chocolate sunflower seeds"

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic unrefined cane sugar

Allergen-related information: "Processed in a facility that also processes nuts and dairy" (Made with certified organic ingredients.) (Parve, Kosher LA)

*Hacienda Azul roughly translates into English as a blue house/dwelling on a plantation or estate. The Hacienda is "managed by the Zeuner family and employs 8 people full time." Also of note is the nearby Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion (CATIE) university of agriculture. CATIE "has provided 5 different clones to the farm. The (cacao) beans are washed prior to drying and we (LetterPress) have found this cacao fascinating by its versatility."

Francois Pralus - Costa Rica Trinitario 75% (bar) - Dec. 25, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Patisserie Chocolaterie Pralus s.a.s. - Francois Pralus 
Costa Rica Trinitario 75% (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.75 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 297.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.60 (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from:  Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #9, the last day, of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. 

Today's Costa Rica Trinitario 75% (bar) was from Pastisserie Chocolaterie Pralus s.a.s., founded by master chocolate maker Francois Pralus (Roanne, France). 

Francois Pralus, who came from a confection/patisserie background, was an early convert to craft, bean-to-bar, chocolate in France. And he continues to search out and find the best cacao from different countries to produce great single origin chocolate bars.

This 75% cacao dark, rich, true chocolate (dark chocolate cake), with light spice (mixed spices), fruit (berry blend), and light, clean green/floral notes (vanilla). 

The melt was creamy and the texture was velvety smooth.

The flavor had deep, smooth chocolate (brownie) notes with a balanced bitter-sweetness and authentic (cocoa nib-like) flavor. The finish was light and lingering with a faint, smooth roasted nut note, followed by a fleeting light tropical fruit (mild mango) note, interlaced with more chocolate brownie notes.

The choice to use 75% cacao (vs. 70% cacao) was a good choice. Dark chocolate lovers will enjoy this bar. And it was still sweet and smooth enough to support going a little darker, without alienating chocolate lovers with a sweet tooth.

Pralus tasting notes: "Woody and robust, fresh and vanilla"

Ingredients: "75% cacao, sugar, buerre de cacao (cocoa butter), soy lecithin (non-GMO)"

Dandelion Chocolate - 70% Hacienda Azul, Costa Rica 2016 Harvest (bar) - Dec. 24, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Dandelion Chocolate

70% Hacienda Azul Costa Rica 2016 Harvest (bar) 

Good ++

Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 2 oz. (56 g.) in total bar

Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $8.95 for 1 bar

Purchased from: ZombieRunner, Palo Alto, CA

Buenos Dias a todos. Good day to you all, Happy Christmas Eve, and welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week.

What's it like to celebrate Christmas in Costa Rica? A traditional, hearty Christmas Eve meal might consist of tamales, roast pork, potatoes, rice, vegetables and eggnog, with a piece of tres leches cake for dessert. 

I replicated part of this meal today (roasted chicken tamales, potatoes, vegetables and a reasonable facsimile of eggnog with grated nutmeg. But, being able to enjoy tasty Costa Rica dark chocolate bars (featured today and this week) was a true gift. Costa Rica has continued to produce more and better cacao and chocolate--thanks to great farmers, chocolate makers and a growing knowledge of successful growing, fermenting, roasting and other techniques.*

This rich, smooth dark chocolate had a smooth, sophisticated complexity with a true dark chocolate (chocolate torte/cake) flavor and a naturally sweet taste (fig cookie) with balanced fruit acidity/tartness (cherry), and a few fleeting background notes--including very faint, fleeting spice and clean green/floral notes. 

Ingredients: Cocoa beans and cane sugar

*E.g., Dandelion Chocolate and others have deepened their relationships with farmers in growing countries. Dandelion notes for this bar offered insight(s) into some of the depth and complexity in this bar when they mentioned different batches of cacao beans with different roasting profiles that were combined/used to make this bar.

Note: This bar was eaten past its expiration date. So my apologies to Dandelion if this review could have been even greater with a fresher bar.

Sibu/Sibo Chocolate - Milk Chocolate 63% Cacao Dark Milk Costa Rica (bar) - Dec. 23, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Sibu/Sibo Chocolate

Milk Chocolate 63% Cacao Dark Milk Costa Rica (bar) 

Good ++

Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 280 calories in 1 bar

Cost: $6.50 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Chocosphere, online order

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week.

Today's Sibu Chocolate (Sibo Chocolate in the U.S.) Milk Chocolate 63% Cacao Dark Milk Costa Rica (bar) was made in Costa Rica by Chocoindustria Cinco S.A.

"Dark milk" chocolates contain milk (powder) and relatively more sugar than your average 70% cacao plus dark chocolate bars. These two ingredients tend to veil or neutralize unique cacao notes present in single origin bars. And, while I appreciate a bit of well-executed chocolate candy every once in a while, if you're making chocolate with great, fine flavored cacao, ideally these cacao flavors would be preserved.*

A 40-50% cacao dark milk chocolate generally reveals its extra sugar content with the first whiff. The aroma often has subtle caramel (or candy) notes.

Happily, this 63% cacao dark milk Costa Rica bar had an initial aroma with stronger, more complex dark chocolate notes. The melt and texture were smooth. And the milk powder added a bit of creaminess, and a caramel note, without muting flavors (fruit acidity, light molasses, spice) as much. This was a "best of both worlds" bar; that is, it had high points associated with both good dark milk and dark chocolate offerings.

Sibu/Sibo tasting notes read as follows: "Flavor profile: Notes of yellow fruit, cherry and praline."

Ingredients: Chocolate (cacao beans, cane sugar, cacao butter, milk powder). 

*The cacao used to make this dark chocolate bar was from Talamanca, in southeastern Costa Rica. In the past decade some great, complex and flavorful cacao has been coming out of Central America--signaling a rediscovery of a cacao growing region with a centuries old cacao history and traditions. 

A fungal disease caused a loss of cacao trees in Central American countries in the 1970s, and it took decades to fully recover for many cacao-producing countries. So, there is a tendency to want to experience and celebrate resurgent, heritage cacao flavors that have been carefully nurtured, preserved and in some cases enhanced. 

Long may they live...the cacao varieties, the farmers that support them, and the people that make them into delicious chocolate.

Sibu/Sibo Chocolate - Brunca Costa Rica Dark Chocolate 70% (bar) - Dec. 22, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Sibu Chocolate / Sibo Chocolate
Brunca Costa Rica Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar)
Good  ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 280 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $6.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week. 

Today's Brunca Costa Rica Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar) was from Sibu Chocolate in Costa Rica (known as Sibo Chocolate in the U.S.). The company offers a variety of bars (with and without flavor inclusions) that feature Costa Rican cacao from different regions of the country.

This bar had a very rich aroma--a dark chocolate that recalled a good, bracing cup of freshly roasted, sweetened coffee first thing in the morning--with notes of fruit (tart cherry, light citrus, fig) and faint spice.

This balanced and bold dark chocolate had an even melt and smooth texture. 

The flavor was similar to the aroma notes mentioned above. The chocolate had a medium acidity and a light astringency. The finish was coffee-like as well, with roasted, robust yet smooth, faintly nutty flavor notes. Yet the flavor was distinctly one of cacao and not coffee beans, that connection persisted, perhaps enhanced by the cacao variety and roast profile.

This 70% chocolate bar was made in Costa Rica, from cacao beans that were grown in the Brunca Region is a socioeconomic region that straddles Puntarenas and San Jose Provinces in southwest Costa Rica, named after the Boruca (also known as the Brunca or Brunka) indigenous people. And, to tie this roots story back to today's chocolate, Sibu is the name of "the creator of everything" in native Boruca/Brunca stories.

The company's tasting notes for this Brunca bar read as follows: "Flavor profile: spice, with notes of dried fruit and a nutty finish."

Ingredients: Chocolate (cacao beans, cane sugar, organic cacao butter)

 

Sibu/Sibo Chocolate - Talamanca Costa Rica Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar) - Dec. 21, 2020

 Chocolate of the Day

Sibu Chocolate / Sibo Chocolate
Talamanca Costa Rica Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar)
Good  ++ 
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 280 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $6.50 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week. 

Today's Sibu Chocolate (known as Sibo Chocolate in the U.S.) Talamanca* Costa Rica Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar) was made in Costa Rica by Chocoindustria Cinco S.A.

Sibu/Sibo offers a variety of bars (with and without flavor inclusions) that feature cacao(s) grown in different regions of Costa Rica.

The aroma of this smooth, dark and complex Costa Rica chocolate included subtle earth, savory, dried fruit (berries, fig, green banana) and faint floral spice (saffron) notes. 

The bar had a friendly, true dark chocolate (brownie) flavor with dried fruit (berries, green banana) and fig cookie and caramel notes. There was also a fleeting, very faint light mint/menthol note. This bar contained a treasure chest of aroma and flavor notes.

This 70% chocolate was made in Costa Rica, from cacao beans that were grown in the Limon Province in Costa Rica.* Sibo has worked with two small farms for their cacao in this area, and cacao for this bar was "fermented and dried by the Gaitan family..."

Chocosphere tasting notes read: "...Sibo Talamanca 70% Dark Chocolate Bar, Single origin dark chocolate...has a very complex flavor profile. Hints of local herbs and dried fruits with a caramel undertone."

Ingredients: Chocolate (cacao beans, organic, cane sugar, cacao butter) 

*There are seven provinces in Costa Rica. All seven have cacao farms or plantations: Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, Limon, Puntarenas and San Jose--proof that this country has a climate very well-suited for cacao. Talamanca, the source of the cacao used to make today's bar, is a "canton," in the Limon Province, located in the southeast part of (the Caribbean side of) Costa Rica. 

 

French Broad Chocolates - Costa Rica Dark Chocolate 80% Cacao (bar) - Dec. 20, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

French Broad Chocolates
Costa Rica Dark Chocolate 80% Cacao (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++ 
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) in total bar
Calories: 180 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $4.99 for 1 bar 
Purchased from: Village Market, Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA  

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week.

Today's artful Costa Rica Dark Chocolate 80% Cacao (bar) (Batch #1065) was from French Broad Chocolates (Asheville, North Carolina). 

This bar's robin's egg blue and shiny gold packaging was beautiful. The French Broad River (that inspired the company's name) is depicted in sinuous gold. I'm intrigued by maps; and any product information that includes a map (and the latitude and longitude coordinates) that honors and conveys a sense of place, for me, is a plus. Like many craft foods and beverages, place(s) are very important for chocolate.

This robust bar had a complex aroma with earthy, savory, smoky/roasted, very light nutty tobacco notes, followed by concentrated fruit (dried apricot, dried plum and dried banana) notes. 

The flavor notes were similar to the aroma notes listed above; although the taste had a slightly more muted quality--likely due to cocoa butter. (Added cocoa butter can help manage/soften acidity and bitterness, and can help create a luscious texture.) This well-tempered, chocolate had a dense, velvety, almost nut butter-like texture.

Artful to the end...this 80% chocolate had a satisfying, relatively light, lingering finish with a faint balanced, bitterness and then (after another minute) a fainter sweeter fruit (berry) note. All this with just two ingredients: cacao and sugar.

French Broad Chocolate founders, Dan and Jael Rattigan, lived in Costa Rica for a time, made connections there, and below is information from them that talks about how this experience continues to contribute to their chocolate making today. (See below for an excerpt.)

French Broad Chocolate maker's notes:

"No chocolate connects us more deeply with our roots than this bar. Dan and Jael lived in the cacao-rich jungles of Costa Rica for two years, where they opened a small café, called Bread and Chocolate.

Daniel South was brought on as a dishwasher, eventually being trained as Head Baker. Now Daniel has returned to his agricultural roots as a cacao processor, cultivating cacao on his farm and buying the seeds from his neighbors. He ferments in wooden boxes made from trees felled on his land, and exports cacao directly to French Broad Chocolates. Building a viable cacao business hasn’t been easy for Daniel, but we are seeing his efforts bear fruit.

This two-ingredient chocolate contains a robust eighty percent cacao with an earthy aroma. The flavor profile begins with chocolate wafer cookie and transforms into tart raspberry."

Ingredients: cacao, organic sugar

Nuance Chocolate - Costa Rica Hacienda Azul 2017 70% Pure Dark bar - Dec. 19, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Nuance Chocolate Company

Costa Rica Hacienda Azul 2017 70% Pure Dark bar

Good ++

Weight: 1.94 oz. (55 g.) in total bar
Calories: 300 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $8.50 (plus shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Nuance Chocolate, online order  

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week.

Today's Nuance Chocolate's Costa Rica Hacienda Azul's 2017 70% Pure Dark bar was made by Nuance Chocolate Company (in (Old Town) Fort Collins, CO). 

Nuance offers a variety of flavorful, bean-to-bar, single origin and flavored bars--including some infused with spirits (a variety of whiskeys)--in northern Colorado. Up until the 2000s, chocolatiers across the U.S. had been cranking out smooth, relatively uniform-tasting dark chocolate bars and confections. 

Thankfully--and mirroring a wave of artisan food and beverage providers in recent decades--a growing number of artisan chocolate makers, like Nuance, are providing us with chocolates that possess a unique depth and breadth of flavor, while also using fewer additives, preservatives and blending steps that might obscure these flavors.

Today's Nuance 70% dark bar had an aroma with true chocolate, fruit, and very faint spice and nut notes. The melt and texture were smooth.

The flavor included fruit (red fruit (a mix of red and black currants), dark, ripe cherry, dark berry tart with a flash of mango), raisin cinnamon toast, and a faint sweet herb and balanced earthy bitter-sweetness, fermented fruit and green nut notes--with a gradually diminishing finish. 

This chocolate provided a satisfying, multi-layered flavor ride. All this thanks to cacao beans grown in Costa Rica (Hacienda Azul*), professional fermentation, a thoughtful supply chain, and Nuance's skilled chocolate makers. (Thank you to founders/owners Toby and Alix Gadd.)

"Ingredients: cacao, cane sugar, cocoa butter. All natural and GMO-free."

*Hacienda Azul roughly translates to blue "house" in English. More specifically a hacienda refers to a main/large house on a plantation or estate in a Spanish-speaking country. 

Hacienda Azul is a single estate (cacao grower) is located in central Costa Rica, near Turrialba (the name of a town and an active volcano). The estate grows cacao trees in a biodiverse environment, intermingled with jungle, rather than in a "shaved land" mono-culture farm configuration we might be more familiar with in the U.S. This method of planting can offer several benefits, e.g. a more hospitable environment for the midges (insects) that pollinate cacao flowers.

Sibu/Sibo Chocolate - Costa Rica 70% Cacao Crystallized Ginger Dark Chocolate (bar) - Dec. 18, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Sibu Chocolate/Sibo Chocolate
Costa Rica 70% Cacao Crystallized Ginger Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good 
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 135 calories in 1 bar (per label)
Cost: $6.50 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate and Spices Theme Week, and Day #2 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week.

Today's Costa Rica 70% Cacao Crystallized Ginger Dark Chocolate (bar) was from Sibu Chocolate (Sibo Chocolate in the U.S.). It was made in Costa Rica by Chocoindustria Cinco S.A.

This chocolate had an appealing dark chocolate aroma with faint warm botanical spice note. And the spicy flavor from sugar-crystallized fresh ginger bits kicked in with the first bite. The ginger in this bar was tasty, with a very authentic flavor, but was also a bit variable.

Ginger and dark chocolate are naturally complementary. These two relatively strong flavors can both shine without eclipsing each other as long as the proportions are right. I enjoyed the generous amount of ginger in this bar. And I could still make out rich cacao with faint fermented fruit and light herbal notes flavor notes in the base chocolate. 

The company purchases cacao from different regions and farms in Costa Rica to make their chocolates. The cacao used to make this bar came from a single estate, Guacimo Limon, in SE Costa Rica (on the Caribbean side of the country, where the climate and topography are well-suited for cacao cultivation).

I wondered what a slightly darker (75-78% cacao) version of this bar might taste like. A little less sugar, and more cacao and ginger. Bring on the bold flavors. 

Ingredients: Chocolate (organic cacao beans, organic cacao butter, organic cane sugar), fresh ginger, sugar.

Sibu/Sibo Chocolate - Costa Rica 63% Cacao Chai Milk Chocolate (bar) - Dec. 17, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Sibu Chocolate / Sibo Chocolate
Costa Rica 63% Cacao Chai Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 280 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $6.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Spices Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week. It seemed fitting to end with a chocolate infused with a warming Chai spice blend.

Today's Costa Rica 63% Cacao Chai Milk Chocolate (bar) was from Sibu Chocolate in Costa Rica (known as Sibo Chocolate in the U.S.). Sibu/Sibo offers a variety of bars (with and without flavor inclusions) that feature Costa Rican cacao from different regions of the country.

The company began with two individuals (journalist George Soriano and historian Julio Fernandez Amon) just as the last great recession began to hit the Americas (2007-2008). Fortunately for us, they succeeded. Today the company has three sites in Costa Rica, including a restaurant. 

A seductive blend of Chai spices gave today's bar an attractive aroma and flavor, and the dark milk chocolate contributed rich flavor and depth. (Think dark, creamy hot chocolate with cinnamon and many other spices on a cool, winter's day.)

This 63% Chai chocolate was made in Costa Rica, from cacao beans (from the Gaitan family) that were grown "in-country" (Talamanca*, Limon Province, in SE Costa Rica). The company also has a 45% Chai bar/offering.

*The company's description of the flavor profile of Talamanca cacao read as follows: "Herbal, with dried fruit and tapa de dulce (raw cane sugar). (There was also a faint, balanced earthiness in a few bites.)

Ingredients: Chocolate (cacao beans, organic cane sugar, cacao butter, milk powder); Ceylan/Ceylon cinnamon, black pepper, allspice, ginger, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg 

Kind - Pressed by Kind Dark Chocolate Banana bar - Aug. 6, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Kind

Pressed by Kind Dark Chocolate Banana bar

Good - Good +

Weight: 1.34 oz. (38 g.) in 1 bar

Calories: 130 calories in 1 bar

Cost: $1.67 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Safeway, Danville, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week.

The biggest agricultural exports in Costa Rica have been bananas and pineapples. So, today, we're honoring one of these fruits, the banana, two different ways. 

The first item was a Pressed by Kind Dark Chocolate Banana bar. It was rich and chewy, with concentrated dried banana moistness and sweetness, drizzled and backed with dark chocolate.

The second item was a blend of several left-over, single origin Costa Rican chocolate bars, melted into a fondue and eaten with banana chips (from Bare Snacks). Yum.

Sibu Chocolate - Costa Rica 45% Cardamom & Coffee bar - Aug. 5, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Sibu Chocolate

Costa Rica 45% Cacao Cardamom and Coffee Milk Chocolate bar

Good +++ - Very Good

Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 105 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar 

Cost: $10.00 (estimate) for 1 bar

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week.

If you like cardamom, today's Costa Rica 45% Cacao Cardamom and Coffee Milk Chocolate bar from Sibu Chocolate (San Isidro, Heredia,  Costa Rica) will be a flavorful and delicious find.

The cacao used to make this bar was sourced from a single estate in Guacimo, Limon, Costa Rica, from a Rainforest Alliance Certified Cacao farm. 

This single origin milk chocolate bar had notes of upbeat cardamom (slight tropical punch, bubble gum note) anchored by a lovely coffee-milk (think high-end, coffee ice cream) flavor. The single origin chocolate provided a rich backdrop for these two flavor inclusions.

*Ingredients: chocolate (organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, milk powder), coffee, cardamom

Sibu Chocolate - Costa Rica 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate bar - Aug. 4, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Sibu Chocolate

Costa Rica 70% Cacao (Negro) Dark Chocolate bar

Good + - Good ++

Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 70 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar 

Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week.

Today's Costa Rica 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate (Negro) bar was from Sibu Chocolate (San Isidro, Heredia, Costa Rica).

The cacao used to make this three-ingredient* bar was sourced from a single estate in Guacimo, Limon, Costa Rica, from a Rainforest Alliance Certified Cacao farm.

This 70% dark bar was relatively smooth and sweet and had balanced red and dried fruit notes.

*Ingredients: organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar, organic cacao butter

Sibu Chocolate - Costa Rica 45% Coffee Toffee Milk Chocolate bar - Aug. 3, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Sibu Chocolate

Costa Rica 45% Cacao Coffee Toffee Milk Chocolate bar

Good ++

Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 70 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar 

Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week.

Today's Costa Rica 45% Cacao Coffee Toffee Milk Chocolate bar from Sibu Chocolate (San Isidro, Heredia,  Costa Rica) was made in Costa Rica with Rainforest Alliance Certified Cacao grown on a single estate in Limon Province. It was the second of four Sibu single origin bars that will be featured this week.

Lighter in color, this 45% cacao bar contained a pleasingly complex blend of aroma and flavor notes: sweet, slightly fermented cacao and milk, and very light coffee and caramel. Buttery, crunchy toffee bits were interspersed throughout the bar. 

*Ingredients: Chocolate (organic cocoa mass, organic sugar, organic cocoa butter, milk powder), sugar, butter, coffee, sea salt

Sibu Chocolate - Costa Rica 82% Cacao Extra Dark bar - Aug. 2, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Sibu Chocolate

Costa Rica 82% Cacao Extra Dark (ORO) Chocolate bar

Good + - Good ++

Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 70 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar 

Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week.

True, the largest exports from Costa Rica are bananas, pineapple and coffee, but Costa Rica also has all the right conditions for growing cacao, including temperate rainforests and proximity to the Equator (9-10 degrees North).*

Today's Costa Rica 82% Cacao Extra Dark Chocolate (ORO) bar was from Sibu Chocolate (San Isidro, Heredia,  Costa Rica).  This was the first of four Sibu bars to be sampled this week.

This three-ingredient** bar had a pleasing dark chocolate aroma with quiet, but lush, green notes. The flavor was very smooth and slightly sweet for an extra dark bar, with a very slight fermented milk note and a hint of balanced coffee in the aftertaste. Great flavor for little sugar.

The cacao used to make this bar was sourced from a Rainforest Alliance Certified Cacao farm and single estate in Guacimo, Limon (located on the Atlantic/East coast side of) Costa Rica.

*Cacao grows in a band 20 degrees north and south of the Equator. In the U.S., Hawaii, is sometimes referred to as the north pole of cacao growth—located between 20-22 degrees north of the Equator. It is the only U.S. state where you're likely to see cacao grown commercially.

**Ingredients: organic cocoa mass, organic cocoa butter, organic sugar

Potomac Chocolate - Upala Costa Rica 85% bar - Aug. 1, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Potomac Chocolate

Upala Costa Rica 85% bar 

Good ++

Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 132 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $11.00 (estimate) for 1 bar

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week.

Today's Upala Costa Rica 85% bar was crafted from bean-to-bar in Potomac Chocolate (Woodbridge, VA). The company offers a line of single origin bars and some with carefully-selected inclusions.*

This single origin, ultra-dark bar had dark chocolate, green, caramel, fruit (cherry plum, nectarine, grapefruit) and coffee aroma and flavor notes. It had a hint of bitterness one might expect with a very high percentage (85% cacao) bar, but was also surprisingly sweet.

The cacao used to make this bar was grown by Finca La Amistad, a small farm in northern Costa Rica.

The maker's description read: "...rich and earthy with notes of coffee, nut and red fruit."