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."

Potomac Chocolate - Upala Costa Rica 70% Dark + Nibs bar - July 31, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Potomac Chocolate

Upala Costa Rica 70% Dark + Nibs 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 the first day of Chocolate and Costa Rica Theme Week.

Today's Upala Costa Rica 70% Dark + Nibs bar was made by Potomac Chocolate (Woodbridge, VA).

Ben Rasmussen (chocolate maker and owner, Potomac Chocolate) produces a line of hand-crafted single origin bars in a "small workshop" in Woodbridge, VA—a small town (or, more accurately, a census-designated place) about 20 miles south of Washington, D.C., surrounded by the Potomac and Occoquan Rivers. Rasmussen was one of the the first bean-to-bar chocolatemakers in the Wash., D.C. area.*

This Upala 70% bar with nibs was made from cacao grown on Finca La Amistad, a small farm in northern Costa Rica. The two-ingredient bar (organic cacao and organic sugar) had a pleasing rich, dark aroma with a hint of dried fruit; and deep, true chocolate and red fruit (dark cherry, plum) flavor notes. The cacao nibs added a slight earthiness and crunchy texture.

The maker's description of this bar (Batch 11610) read: "Rich and earthy with notes of chocolate, caramel, nut and red fruit."

*We're not counting chocolate that was made from scratch in colonial days (e.g. in Williamsburg, VA), because much of that chocolate was in beverage or rougher, confection-like form.