Map Chocolate Co. - Mystic Eye Finca Estela 45% dark milk Champurrado style (bar) - May 11, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Map Chocolate Co.

Mystic Eye - Finca Estela Peru 45% dark milk Champurrado style with blue corn (bar)

Good - Good+

Weight: 1.25 oz. (35 g.) / 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar

Calories: 188 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Week.

Today's Mystic Eye - Finca Estela Peru 45% dark milk Champurrado* style (bar) from Map Chocolate Co. (Eugene, OR).

Finca (Santa) Estela—the farm/estate where the cacao (likely Criollo/Trinitario) used to make this bar was grown—is located in the Villa Rica district in Central Peru.

Below are notes and observations about this bar:

• Appearance: Light in color
• Aroma: light spice and toasted cake notes
• Flavor: milk chocolate with a spicy (chili) kick
• Texture: somewhat grainy, due to ground, organic blue corn bits
• Finish: sweet milk chocolate with faint fruity cacao note emerging through the burn; with delayed authentic blue corn flavor (after chili subsided) and chewy corn bits

For more on the story behind the name "Mystic Eye," make sure to read the insert by MAP founder, chocolate maker and storyteller, Mackenzie Rivers. Spoiler: it involves a grueling hike in the Grand Canyon.

*Champurrado style hot chocolate in Mexico is made with cacao and atole/corn, with spices and chile.

Elements Truffles - Sea Salt Turmeric 70% Cacao - May 10, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Elements Truffles

Sea Salt infused with Turmeric 70% Cacao

Good - Good +

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

Calories: 130 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $6.59 for 1 bar

Purchased from: The Market, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's Ayurveda inspired* cacao offering was a Sea Salt infused with Turmeric 70% Cacao (bar) from Elements Truffles (Kearny, NJ).  

This bar (and all Elements Truffles dark bars sampled to date) have a soft texture/bite and are gently sweetened not with sugar, but local honey. And each one has been infused with different flavor elements in a base of smooth flavored cacao (and with Peruvian Criollo cocoa butter).

Today's bar was lightly salted and seasoned with sea salt and turmeric.

Ingredients: Organic Raw Cacao Butter (Peruvian Criollo); Raw Honey; Organic Raw Cacao Powder; Organic Turmeric Root Powder (from India); Sea Salt (from a family farm in Greece).

*Statements on the bar's packaging read: "Turmeric helps balance - Vata, Pitta and Kapha—all three doshas." And, "Curcumin in turmeric stimulates the body's own antioxidant mechanism and also helps delay aging."

Labooko Schokoladen - Peru 100 percent bar - May 9, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Labooko Schokoladen Manufaktur GmbH
100 percent bar
Good +
Weight: 1.148 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.29 oz. (65 g.) in total package of two bars
Calories: 206 calories (per label) in 1/2 package (1 bar)
Cost: $9.00 for 1 package of two bars
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #8 of 100% Cacao Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Week.

What can we observe about today's 100 percent bar from Labooko Schokoladen (Riegersburg, Austria)? It comes from bean-to-bar chocolatemakers who have demonstrated skill and originality in the many different bars they've created.

The packaging is a bit scary. Some 100% cacao bars can be dark and foreboding, and tasting one for the first time can shock delicate tastebuds, like one's first shot of espresso might taste as a child. But then these robust flavors grow on you over time.

We also know that this package contained a matched set of two bars, crafted with organic, fairtrade cacao grown in Peru.

Tasting observations:

• The aroma: ultra dark chocolate, dried fruit, slight green, wood, spice notes 
• The texture: creamy melt
• The flavor: even, ultra dark, balanced bitterness, roasted dried fruit, with a hint of roasted nut butter
• The finish: lingering but surprisingly smooth

This might be the chocolate served at the devil's barbeque party. Not charred or smokey, but imbued with deep roasted flavor, forged by some skilled craftsmen, this chocolate, as the makers note "is not for wimps."

The cacao was conched for 34 hours (a long time by cacao conching standards) to arrive at its relative smoothness. And yet it retained enough "original, raw and wild" flavor characteristics to be interesting and not bland. It took experienced hands to make this work.

Akesson's - Madagascar Bejofo Estate 100% Criollo bar - May 8, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Akesson's Organic, Ltd.
Madagascar Bejofo Estate 100% Criollo Cocoa bar
Good +++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 182.7 (per label) calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $13.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of 100% Cacao Theme Week.

This bar had a rather heavenly aroma for an ultra-dark bar, with sweet cream, ripe mild fruit and caramel notes. It also had an ultra-creamy texture and melt.

This chocolate had pleasing complex Criollo cacao flavor infused with a slightly bitter edge and a mild creamy aftertaste—that faded quickly and politely for a 100 percent bar.

If you want to sample a rare 100% cacao bar that is more light and fragrant flower than sledgehammer, try this one.

Middlebury Chocolates - 100% Dark Chocolate bar - May 7, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Middlebury Chocolates 

100 - one hundred percent dark chocolate bar

Good ++

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

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

Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA 

Welcome to Day #6 of 100% Cacao Theme Week.

Today's smooth 100% one hundred percent dark chocolate bar from Middlebury Chocolates (Middlebury, VT) was very approachable for an ultra-dark bar.

It had slight green and deep cocoa notes in the aroma, and was well executed and even—with no "off" flavors. The maker's Tasting Notes read: "Creamy, Bold and Intense."

This 100% bar contained a "thoughtful blend of Dominican Republic, Tanzania and Guatemala" Direct Trade cacao beans; and all three of the major cacao varieties were represented: Trinitario, Criollo and Forestaro.

Like most successful chocolatemakers, the folks behind Middlebury Chocolates are dedicated to the details of their craft. Information supplied on the bar packaging, contained a wealth of information about some of the steps taken to create a great bar:

• Fermentation: 4-7 days; Mostly sun dried
• Roast Level: Medium
• Refined: 72 hours at 100 degrees F
• Conched: 24 hours at 145 degrees F

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.

Ritual Chocolate - 100% Cacao bar + Mexico Soconusco 75% bar - May 5, 2018

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Ritual Chocolate 

One Hundred Percent Pure Cacao 100% Cacao (bar)

Good++

Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar

Calories: 161 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $13.00 in 1 bar

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Mexican Soconusco 75% (bar)

Good ++

Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar

Calories: 161 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $14.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of 100% Cacao Theme Week. And, Happy Cinco de Mayo.*

Today we've featured two, attractively packaged, dark bars from Ritual Chocolate (Park City, UT): one 100% cacao blend ultra dark bar and a second single origin, Mexico, Soconusco 75% cacao dark bar. 

One Hundred Percent 100% bar

Ritual Chocolate's100% bar was made with a blend of cacaos from "around the world."

Tasting notes: fruity, earthy, cacao.

The aroma: chocolate (baked brownie) with fleeting, faint green note. This bar had a smooth melt and flavor with a sour fruit spike about 2/3 in, and a smoother aftertaste than most 100%ers.

Mexico 75% bar

Since it is El Cinco de Mayo,* this Mexico Soconusco 75% Cacao bar from Ritual Chocolate is also featured today.

This second bar was made with cacao from the Rayen Cooperative, located in the Soconusco region of the state of Chiapas, that shares a border with Guatemala. This region has a long cacao history, likely beginning with the Olmec and Mokaya peoples. Later the Aztecs cultivated and consumed cacao in this area.

The aroma of this bar had hints of spice and drinking chocolate. The unique flavor had savory spice (light cumin, saffron) and nutty notes. The maker's tasting notes: nutty, woody, chocolate flavor with a bit of citrus. All these flavors came from just three ingredients: cacao, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter.

*Cinco de Mayo, or the 5th of May, celebrates a victory of the Mexican people/army over Napoleon's army in the mid 1800s. Celebrations around this date have grown over time to encompass a broader celebration of Mexican food and drink in the U.S.