Joe Chocolate Co. - Roasted Cacao - Dark Chocolate Espresso Bark with Nibs - Nov. 9, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Joe Chocolate Co.
Roasted Cacao - Dark Chocolate Espresso Bark with Coffee and Roasted Cacao Nibs
Good +
Weight: .5 oz. (14 g.) / 1 oz. (28 g.) in total package
Calories: 85 calories in 1/2 package
Cost: $ N/A - gift from a friend
Purchased from: N/A - gift from a friend

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Cacao Nibs Theme Week.

Today's Joe Chocolate Co. (Seattle, WA) dark chocolate bark was a gift from a friend. Thank you Elise! She found this Roasted Cacao - Dark Chocolate Espresso Bark with Coffee and Roasted Cacao Nibs snack while traveling in Washington.

The long product name seemed appropriate to fully capture the big flavor from these small pieces of rich dark bark—flavorful "bits of buzz."

The team at Joe Chocolate turn out "functionally caffeinated" offerings at their combined chocolate factory and coffee bar. (Founders, Sam Tanner and Peter Keckemet,* opened the first Joe Chocolate Co. retail location at Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle on June 1st, 2019.)

As soon as this small package was opened, it yielded wafts of freshly roasted, bold coffee and cacao nibs—uplifting on a cool, misty morning. Each small shard of the bark broke with a snap and each bite offered a roasted espresso and cacao bean nib (heavy on the crunch) extravaganza. The roasted beans complemented the fairly smooth and steady dark chocolate bark base.

*Joe Chocolate Co. was founded in 2016. The founders started production with a trail snack initially aimed at (Pacific Crest Trail) thru-hikers and friends. They use fair labor chocolate and Latin American, co-op sourced coffee beans in their snacks.

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Leonidas Chocolate - Leonidas Dark 54% with Cocoa Nibs (bar) - Nov. 8, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Leonidas Chocolate
Leonidas Dark 54% with Nibs (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1.05 oz. (30 g.) / 3.53 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $1.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Cacao Nibs Theme Week.

Today's Leonidas Dark 54% with Nibs (bar) was from Leonidas Chocolate. The chocolate was made in Belgium and imported to the U.S. by Chocolate Stars (USA), LLC.

This uniform, very sweet dark (Belgian) chocolate had a rich chocolate cake flavor, punctuated with finely ground, crunchy cocoa nib pieces.

Some of these nibs had a pleasing, pure chocolately crunch, and a few tiny particles were quite hard (something that can happen with some nibs).

The chocolate and the cocoa nibs complemented each other. The nibs helped balance the sweetness (good for those who don't like overly sweet chocolate).

*Ingredients: Chocolate liquor, sugar, roasted cocoa beans, cocoa butter, soy lecithin (emulsifier)

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Divine Chocolate - Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs 85% Sao Tome (bar) - Nov. 7, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Divine Chocolate
Rich Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs 85% Cocoa Sao Tome (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1.05 oz. (30 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 180 calories in 1 serving (30 g.) of bar
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: missing information 

Welcome to Day #13 of Chocolate and Africa Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Cocoa Nibs Theme Week.

Today's Divine Organic Rich Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs 85% Cocoa Sao Tome (bar) was made in Germany and distributed by Divine Chocolate Inc.in Washington, D.C. (Divine partners with farmers in Africa; and in fact cocoa farmers own 44% of the company. More information is available on the inside of the wrapper.)

This robust, ultra-dark chocolate was studded with earthy cocoa nibs. Nibs added crunchy texture and concentrated cocoa flavor was made using cacao from Sao Tome, part of the African island nation of Sao Tome et Principe.

What are Cocoa Nibs?
Cocoa nibs are pieces of cocoa beans. Generally these beans have been fermented and roasted first (unless they're sold as raw or unroasted), before being crushed into aromatic pieces, or nibs. These small pieces have a true, authentic, unsweetened chocolate flavor, and sometimes have nutty, fruit and/or fermented flavor notes. (Today's bar with nibs had earth and fruit notes.)

Traditionally these nibs have represented one of the first steps in chocolate making. They are ground into a paste to make chocolate, unless, like this week, we are lucky enough to get our hands on them before then.

What are they good for? Cocoa (or cacao) nibs are wonderful flavor inclusions in chocolates, adding flavor and a bit of soft, crunchy texture. Nibs are also very versatile and can also be incorporated into brownies, shakes, and many other sweet or savory edibles (roast spice rubs, filtered coffee drinks, liquor-marinated toppings for ice cream, salads, etc.) As a lesser processed form of cacao, nibs also retain relatively high anti-oxidant and nutrition levels.

*Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, 6% cocoa nibs. (May contain traces of milk, wheat, almonds, hazelnuts and coconut.)

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Hands Off My Chocolate - Milk Meets Dark - Nov. 6, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Hands Off My Chocolate
Milk Meets Dark
Good +
Weight: 1.75 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 277 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $6.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Missing information 

Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate and Africa Theme Week.

Today's Milk Meets Dark chocolate was from Hands Off My Chocolate (Laren, North Holland, The Netherlands). Founders Kitty and Thomas set out in 2013 to make the best fairly traded Belgian chocolate possible.

The humorous "Hands Off My Chocolate" name for their company (recalling situations that many chocolate lovers have experienced) surfaced for the founders early on during initial trials and tastings.

Where do you hide your chocolate so that others can't find it? their website queries on one page. (Their website contains graphics that include a list of places people might choose to hide their chocolate.)

And, last but not least, each round piece that comprises the company's aggregate "bars" is printed with the word "Mine." Clever!

A blend of milk and dark chocolate resulted in a chocolate with a minimum of 39% cocoa solids, consisting of several round, bite-sized pieces fused together to make an aggregate "bar."

These thick, round pieces were fairly easy to break apart and eat. And the unique shapes created a fun tasting experience. The chocolate had a dark milk chocolate smooth texture and uniform sweet dark milk chocolate flavor with a hint of malt and vanilla.*

Belgian Chocolate - History
For many years Belgian chocolate was almost synonymous with African cacao. After all, West and Central African cacao-growing countries have been, geographically, the closest source of cacao for most European chocolate makers.

A European colonial history led to the growth of tea, coffee, cacao and other crops in many African nations in the 1800s and 1900s. For example, the former Gold Coast (now Ghana) used to be a British colony until 1959. Ivory Coast was a French colony until 1960. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) used to be the Belgian Congo (1908 - 1960), as recently as 59 years ago.

Times have changed. Today's European chocolate makers, such as Hands Off My Chocolate and many others (including some featured this week) are committed to better, more equitable relationships with farmers. Today's chocolate was made using "Fair Belgian chocolate," alluding to fair trade practices** that generally result in higher prices being paid to farmers for their crops in developing nations.

*Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, emulsifier (soy lecithin), natural vanilla flavoring.

**Built in to most fair trade organizations are also goals such as better working conditions and sustainable agricultural practices.

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White Label Chocolate - Tanzania Kilombero 68% (bar) - Nov. 5, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

White Label Chocolate
Tanzania Kilombero 68% (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.14 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.29 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 171 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Mutari Chocolate, Santa Cruz, CA

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

Today's Tanzania Kilombero 68% (bar) was from White Label Chocolate, purchased at Mutari Chocolate (Santa Cruz, CA). Mutari offers single origin drinking chocolate and bars.

The chocolate in this White Label bar was made using Trinitario variety cacao beans (Amelonado x Nacional). This cacao was grown in a relatively wet, tropical region of Tanzania about 200 meters (approximately 656 feet) above sea level.

This dark bar was well executed and interesting. It had a chocolate aroma with fruit notes, a smooth melt, and initial creamy flavor that blossomed into full, bright tropical citrus + red sweet fruit with faint, fleeting five spice/herb/balanced earth notes.

The chocolate had a subtle, complex finish that began softly, then came subtle balanced bittersweet, and almost nutty notes. Following a few seconds of calm, there was a very tiny throat tickle of delayed sweet-sour astringency.

Maker's tasting notes: cream, nuts citrus rind

Notes about shelf life: This bar was recently expired, but seemed to have maintained good flavor and texture. I will try to re-taste a "freshly made" version of this bar in the near future. While most bars are better (less brittle, more flavorful, more attractive) before their expiration date, a few bars actually seem to benefit from some shelf time—mellowing a bit with age. 

Chocolate Storage Tips

For best results, store chocolate bars in a cool, dry place, at a consistent temperature (60-70 degrees F., or 16-21 degrees Celsius is ideal), to prevent the chocolate from going out of temper and from "bloom," which shows up as a white film or blotching on chocolates. A wine refrigerator (turned up to its higher temperature range) might also be a suitable place to store bars, as long as humidity is not too high.

Chocolate truffles and filled confections (some containing cream) have a much shorter shelf life than solid chocolate bars (often less than a week for optimal freshness), so it may be OK to refrigerate these for a short period if they are covered/well-wrapped to prevent against any condensation or absorption of other fridge flavors.

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Tony's Chocolonely - Milk Chocolate bar - Nov. 4, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Tony's Chocolonely
Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good +
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 135 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ Missing information
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate and Africa Theme Week.

Cacao is often grown by subsistence farmers in distant lands, making oversight in labor practices challenging.

Unfortunate consequences of this geographic schism can be poor labor conditions, low pay, and forms of slavery—conditions some chocolate makers are trying to address.

Today's Milk Chocolate (bar) was from Tony's Chocolonely (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). This company has pledged to work to help eliminate slavery (in the cacao supply chain going back to farms in Africa) by making 100% slave free chocolate.

This thick 32% cacao milk chocolate bar was a creamy, high-end milk chocolate experience.

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Domori - Trinitario 70% Tanzania Dark Chocolate bar - Nov. 3, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Domori srl
Trinitario 70% Tanzania Dark Chocolate bar
Good +
Weight: .44 oz. (12.5 g.) / .88 oz. (25 g.) in total bar
Calories: 137 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $4.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere (online order)

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

Today's Trinitario 70% Tanzania Dark Chocolate bar was from Domori srl (None, Italy), made with cacao grown in the Morogoro region of Tanzania in Africa.

This thin 4-square bar had a wild aromatic profile: earthen jars, marinated dried fruit/raisins, grapes/sweet and sour fruit fermenting in oak casks, a cute but slightly gamey lion cub,* and a slight bitter(s) note.

The melt and texture were very civilized: smooth, creamy and uniform. They were the tamest part of this bar.

The flavor was complex and interesting with some of the some earth and fermented fruit notes described in the aroma. (However, there was no touch of lion or bitterness.) And the finish was lingering, but fairly clean.

As wild as this bar sounds, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Bean to bar chocolates are becoming more uniform in flavor in recent years, thanks to fermentation training and expertise; decisions about what is "good" cacao; and farmers getting more support and a fair price for their cacao which may, in turn, enable efforts to produce better quality cacao.

This evolution has, arguably, produced better chocolate, or at least fewer bars with off flavors, which is good. But, there are also more bars with tamed down and uniform flavor profiles that are almost dull. I miss the Wild West sometimes.

*Yes, lions are a cheap way to get your attention, aren't they? Fortunately, Tanzania (while having to take strong measures to protect elephants (like the one pictured on the packaging for this bar)) has one of the healthier populations of wild lions remaining in Africa. Lion cubs are adorable and a privilege to hold when they're young (in a zoo or approved facility, not out in the wild). Like many wild animals, they can have a faint gamey or pungent aroma, especially if they've been in an enclosed area around adults. 

Note: This chocolate was recently expired (2019) when I wrote this review (2019). Generally, bars, if stored properly, have a reasonably long shelf life. However, I believe it is unfair the maker if I write a review of an expired bar without disclosing this information.

Copyright 2019. Unauthorized use of the text and/or images from this site, www.ChocolateBanquet.com, is a copyright violation.