Amano - Chuao Dark Venezuelan Chocolate bars - Oct. 11, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Amano Chocolate
Chuao Village Venezuela Dark Chocolate bar
Good ++ - Very Good
Weight: .8 oz. (22.4 g.) / 2 oz. (56 g.) in total bar
Calories: 113 calories in 2/5 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Amano Chocolate

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week.

We're coming to the end of Venezuela Week. I'll miss this very special origin chocolate; but there are so many other chocolates waiting in in the wings, that I can't complain too much. Adventure awaits.

The last bars from Venezuela, (two today and one tomorrow), were from Amano Artisan Chocolate (Orem, Utah). A few years ago, Amano started moving to new, slightly larger packaging. I happen to have two Amano Chuao bars: one in the older packaging and one in the new packaging.

These two Chuao bars were made from beans that were grown in the same village area in north central Venezuela and sun-dried in front of an historic church—although the two bars bore different Lot numbers.

I tried the two Amano 70 percent Chuao Venezuela Dark Chocolate bars, side by side. Both had a smooth dark chocolate texture, and bright, berry fruit flavor notes; and each bar consisted of 15 segments/squares, each stamped with the words "Amano Artisan Chocolate."

The Chuao Reserve bar in the older packaging (Lot No. 3/4302A) had slightly bolder berry (think blackberry and blueberry) flavors.

The Chuao Reserve bar in the newer packaging (Lot No. 3/5005) had a slightly more subtle, complex tasting arc that encompassed berry + cream + slight floral + very light nut flavor notes.

Barlovento - 80 percent Venezuelan Dark Chocolate bar - Oct. 10, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Barlovento Chocolates
80 percent Venezuelan Dark Chocolate bar
Good++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.2 oz. (34 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 180 calories in 2/5 bar
Cost: $6.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Barlovento Chocolates, Oakland (Farmers Market), CA

Today's Extra Dark 80 percent Venezuelan Dark Chocolate bar was from Barlovento Chocolates (Oakland, CA).

Barlovento offers chocolates bars and confections "with a farmers market aesthetic" that are made from single source 100 percent cacao, from one region of Venezuela. Inclusions include herbs and fruit that one might find in the (Oakland) farmers market where I bought this bar.

For an ultra-dark bar, this chocolate was very smooth and pleasing, full of fruit aroma and flavor. It also had lower acid, astringency and/or bitterness than you might imagine for an 80 percent bar.

This extra dark bar had a pleasant, sweet, almost spicy, dark chocolate aroma with light dried fruit notes (ranging from cherries and figs to pears and apples). However, again, this subtle 80 percent bar wasn't as rambunctious as it sounds. All these flavors/flavor notes were all very well balanced.

SOMA - Milk Old School and (Dark) Old School - Oct. 9, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Milk Old School
Venezuela - 38 percent cacao
Batch MOS60305.0
Very Good
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 3.18 oz. (90 g.) in total package
Calories: 159 calories (estimate) for 1/3 package
Cost: $15.00 (estimate) for 1 package
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Old School
Papua New Guinea - 66 percent cacao
Batch OSP60330.0
Good ++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 3.18 oz. (90 g.) in total package
Calories: 159 calories (estimate) for 1/3 package
Cost: $15.00 for 1 package
Purchased from: Cacao at The Heathman, Portland, OR


Today was Day #9 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week; and after nine days of eating Venezuelan Criollo cacao, I'd become lulled into a sense of what chocolate should taste like: balanced, flavorful, yet smooth and full of subtle fruit nuances, and low in astringency.

In fact, today's SOMA Chocolatemaker's Milk Old School - Venezuela 38 percent cacao chocolate was just that, and more. Three ingredients (partially ground Chuao cacao nibs, milk, and whole crystals of organic cane sugar) were ground together in a melangeur*, and the innovative result was a chocolate bar that had the satisfying consistency of a rich, chocolate cookie. And it was delicious.

So, if the 38 percent cacao version of this rustic "old school" milk chocolate was good, the 66 percent cacao dark version (using cacao from Papua New Guinea) would be even more amazing, right?

However, as I bit into the latter, I was abruptly transported from the mythical, mystical world of Venezuelan cacao, around the globe, to the flavor opposite of its Milk Old School sibling. The Old School 66 percent had the same novel, cookie-bar texture, but the aroma and flavor were powerful, earthy, unapologetic, unsubtle, bold; and the bar had some wine and slightly sour ferment notes. Wow. Dorothy, we're not in Kansas anymore.

I recommend trying both these bars, side-by-side. You'll not only be enjoying two great chocolates; you'll also experience the differences in single origin cacao, and what the addition of milk can do.

*Melangeur is French word that translates roughly into "blender" in English. In this case, it's a piece of vintage equipment that was used to blend/grind down and mix roasted cacao nibs with sugar, resulting in minimally processed cacao with more retained flavor.

SOMA - CSB Chama bar - Oct. 8, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

SOMA Chocolatemaker
CSB Chama bar
Very Good
Weight: 1.15 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.29 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 173 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $14.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week.
The Criollo Santa Barbara (CSB) Chama* bar from SOMA Chocolatemaker (Toronto, Canada) was a special 70 percent, single origin, dark chocolate bar.

What made it special? Well, for starters, the bar may provide evidence that plants can sing.

The cacao used to craft this bar was "a result of a recent project to hybridize Porcelana and Ocumare cacao located at Estacion Experimental Chama in the cacao growing area south of Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela." How's that for a mouthful?

The Lake Maracaibo region in NW Venezuela is known for its fine flavored cacao. The area takes on a mythical quality in origin stories for prized Criollo cacao. It intrigued me to read that a part of the lake is known for almost continual lightning flashes in the sky.

Tasting notes for this bar indicated the resulting three-ingredient bar (made from cacao nibs, organic cane sugar and cacao butter) had several Porcelana characteristics. Porcelana is a prized type of Criollo cacao.

The makers' description: "...a round, delicate chocolate, low astringency with a lingering finish."

The bar had a subtle, not unpleasant slightly earthy, green aroma, and broke with a well-tempered snap. The melt and texture were very smooth.

I'm very fond of complex tasting arcs; and this bar had an incredibly musical one. I found myself stopping what I was doing to "listen" as I tasted. Subtle flavors kept unfolding to reveal new facets: a light coffee with cream, subtle but rich berry and fig fruit, earth, chocolate, almost nutty, then a gentle tidal surge back toward fruit.

The CSB Chama bar had a light, clean but lingering finish that continued its gentle song for a good few minutes after the last bite.

After I wrote this review I read others, and I was surprised how many times that musical references showed up. Sometimes good foods awaken other senses. Or, maybe sometimes plants have a way of singing to us if we're willing to stop and listen. Look closely at the shapes in this bar, and you'll see a bird wearing shoes, in and amongst cacao pods and flowers. Maybe the bird knows the answer.

It's worth mentioning that this bar won best in show in the Americas and silver in the world final of the International Chocolate Awards in 2015.

*Chama is also a term for a young girl in Venezuela. 

Philip Marks - Milk Chocolate 38% Maracaibo Criolait bar - Oct. 7, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Philip Marks Chocolates
Milk Chocolate - 38% Maracaibo Criolait bar
Good +
Weight: 1.15 oz. (33 g.) / 2.3 oz. (66 g.) in total bar
Calories: 190 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $6.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

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

Are there milk chocolate bars that please the palettes of dark chocolate lovers? More specifically, can you still taste the flavor nuances of single origin cacao when there are high percentages of sugar and milk in a chocolate bar?

Yesterday, I tried a 49 percent cacao Venezuela milk chocolate bar from Belgium. And today, I sampled a 38 percent Maracaibo Criolait Milk Chocolate bar* from Philip Marks Chocolates (Burlingame, CA).

Today's milk chocolate bar had a sweet, caramel chocolate aroma, and a creamy, smooth melt and texture. Surprisingly, for a 38 percent cacao bar, the chocolate did maintain a slight fruit flavor.
The bar had a sweet finish that lingered a few seconds.

Philip Marks sources their chocolate from an unnamed high-end Swiss chocolate maker*, and uses "...Grand Cru couverture (chocolate) which is produced from pure single origin cacao."

I'm assuming that "Maracaibo Criolait" means that the beans were from Venezuela, and that the chocolate might have been from Felchlin (Switzerland). (The Lake Maracaibo region in Venezuela is known for its prized Criollo cacao.)

*Ingredients: "Cacao kernal, sugar, cocoa butter, skilled milk, whole milk, cream, emulsifier, madagascar vanilla"

Frederic Blondeel - Venezuela 49% Milk Chocolate bar - Oct. 6, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Frederic Blondeel
Milk Chocolate (Chocolat au Lait)
Venezuela 49 percent bar
Good +
Weight: .636 oz. (18 g.) / 1.59 oz. (45 g.) in total bar
Calories: 96 calories (estimate) in 2/5 bar
Cost: $8.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Draeger's Market, San Mateo, CA

Bienvenidos a and Bienvenue a ("Welcome to" in Spanish and French) Day #6 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week.

Spanish, French and English are all appropriate this week as we taste-travel from Venezuela in South America (a birthplace of prized Criollo Cacao) to Belgium in Europe (known for its smooth, thoroughly and impeccably conched chocolate), and to the U.S., where we're big consumers of, and increasingly appreciators of, fine chocolate.

Today's Milk Chocolate (Chocolate au Lait) Venezuela 49 percent cacao bar was manufactured by Frederic Blondeel (Belgium), and imported to the U.S. by Chocolate Stars USA (Fairfield, NJ).

The bar, neatly scored into 5 segments, had a faint aroma with a very faint, slightly plastic note. The melt and the creamy mouthfeel were fantastic. The bar had an even milk chocolate flavor and a relatively clean finish. It's always difficult to know whether the addition of milk will make chocolate less flavorful or not. But, for those who prize smoothness, it may not matter.

Tomorrow, we'll sample another milk chocolate bar made with Venezuelan cacao, from Philip Marks Chocolates (made in Burlingame, CA).

Artisana - Venezuelan Criollo Dark 65% bar - Oct. 5, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Artisana Organics
Venezuelan Chocolate Cacao Criollo
Dark 65% (bar)
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: .9 oz. (25 g.) / 1.8 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 140 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $1.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week.

This morning I tasted the third of three different dark chocolate bars from Artisana Organics—made in Switzerland from Criollo Cacao grown in Venezuela. These Artisana bars were distributed by Premier Organics (Oakland, CA).

The supply chain seems complex, but this three-continent
assembly process is not that unusual in today's world, chocolate or otherwise. The company buys organic cacao from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in Venezuela and organic cocoa mass is blended with other organic ingredients (cane sugar, cacao butter and vanilla) in Europe, then sent to the U.S.

Today's bar was a Dark 65 percent cacao bar. Earlier this week, I tasted Artisana Organics Dark 75 percent and Dark 85 percent bars.

All three Venezuelan chocolate bars had pleasant (and slightly different) aromas. And all three were refreshingly light on sugar compared to other "dark" bars, and long on pleasing, fruit flavor. Unlike most bar brands, Artisana's two lower percentage bars were actually more impressive (likely because lower percent bars usually are drowning in so much sugar that flavors are overwhelmed).

All three bars had a smooth and even melt and texture, and these thinner bars ensured quick and even access to flavors in the chocolate.

Today's 65 percent bar had subtle, rounded, complex, almost floral, berry jam flavor notes. I believe "forest berry" was the term used in the tasting notes.