Amedei - Cru Cioccolato Fondente Extra 70% (bar) - July 27, 2020

Chocolate of the Day:

Amedei srl
Cru - Cioccolato Fondente Extra - Dark Chocolate Extra 70% (bar)
Good 
Weight: 87.5 oz. (25 g.) / 1.75 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 140 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #10 of Italian Chocolate and Day #3 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week

Today's Cru Cioccolato Fondente Extra - Dark Chocolate Extra 70% (bar) was from Amedei srl (La Rota, Pontedera (Pisa), Italy). 

This Mono Orgine (Single Origin) Ecuador (bar) was made using trinitario (variety of) cacao grown in Ecuador. The 70% chocolate had a warm sugar/sweet (brown sugar, molasses, hint of faint spice) aroma and flavor, and a smooth, uniform melt. 

The flavor was relatively sweet, uniform dark chocolate with slightly green (breakfast cereal, cereal box packaging, mild natural adhesive (chewing gum)) notes that lingered into the finish.

Ingredients: cocoa mass, cane sugar, cocoa butter.

Domori - Nacional 70% Ecuador Dark Chocolate; Arriba Milk Chocolate 45% with Sea Salt - July 26, 2020

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Domori srl
Nacional 70% Ecuador Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good +++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 276 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $6.75 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Domori srl
Cioccolato Al Latte Con Fior Di Sale (milk chocolate with fleur de sel)
Good ++ - +++ (reviewed a similar bar before - this is almost a re-tasting)
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 300.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $6.75 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #9 of Italian Chocolate Theme Week, and Day #2 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Today's Nacional 70% Ecuador Dark Chocolate (bar) was from Domori srl (None, Torino (Turin), Piedmont, Italy). Domori (founded in 1997 by Gianluca Franzoni) offers a variety of single origin bars, and a few bars with sea salt. In addition to the company's Arriba Nacional Ecuador bar, I sampled a Domori milk chocolate with sea salt bar that was very close in description to a similar bar featured previously on Chocolate Banquet.

Arriba Nacional 70% Ecuador bar
This Domori dark bar had a very enjoyable, surprising complexity. The aroma included slightly earthy, fermented stone fruits, light molasses, and rum-marinated dried fruit (raisin, prune) notes. 

I thought I knew how this 70% Ecuador (Hacienda Victoria) dark chocolate would taste, i.e. very similar to the aroma. But, this chocolate opened up further when I took the first bite.

It had a well-executed creamy, fudgey melt and smooth texture. And ooh the flavors: layers of tart, concentrated fruit (nectarine and citrus (sweet lemon, tangerine), balanced flourishes of green floral (very subtle versions of white jasmine, citrus blossom, other blooms), fudge brownie, and faint nut butter. 

The aroma and flavor notes lingered into the finish. 

All these flavors from just two ingredients: cocoa mass and cane sugar. Sometimes I get tired of uniformity and want a bit of well-executed, layered excitement. Today I felt rewarded. And, thank you Domori. This bar was not too sweet. 

The maker's notes read as follows: Hacienda Victoria has an extraordinary vision of cultivating three pure clones of Nacional cocoa, with their extreme elegance and delicate notes of white flowers.

Milk Chocolate Fleur de Sel 45% Arriba bar

This 45% dark milk chocolate (made with Arriba cacao) also was relatively complex and well executed. It was well balanced with faint, balanced, bitter earth, fruit and green notes in the aroma. It had a creamy melt and texture. 

The well-made chocolate was flavorful with fruit, fermented fruits (ripe fruit, very light citrus), milk chocolate with delicious rich caramel notes, with occasional, balanced wavelets of Guerande fleur de sel (sea salt) that lingered for a short while.

This was meant to be a sweeter, creamer bar; however, the sugar/sweet level was relatively restrained allowing more subtle flavors to shine through (thank you!).

Venchi - Ecuador Organic 85% Cocoa (bar) - July 25, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Venchi S.p.A.
Ecuador - Organic 85% bar
Good ++
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.46 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 230 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.95 for 1/2 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Today's Organic Ecuador 85% cocoa bar was from Venchi S.p.A. (Castelletto Stura, Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy).

The aroma of this 85% cocoa bittersweet chocolate was more gentle than most 85% bars, with subtle fermented fruit, green jungle, light earth, light floral and clean, spring meadow and light green tea notes. There were no harsh, bitter or heavy acid notes.

The texture and melt were creamy smooth, in part due to added cocoa butter.

The flavor notes were similar to the aroma notes mentioned above. This ultra dark bar had a freshness and lightness to it. (It also had a very faint, fleeting hint of herb/spice: caraway.)

The finish was clean and had the same fresh green "feeling" to it as the aroma and flavor. It was as if some imaginary mint ghost left an aura of freshness in its wake, even though one couldn't taste any mint. (More likely than any spooky goings on, invisible flavors are inferred flavors--based on years of tasting experiences and memories of chocolates past.) In my experience, no other country of origin tops Ecuadorian cacao's range green-related and green/floral notes.

Ingredients: Organic chocolate liquor from Ecuador (66.5 percent), organic cocoa butter, organic cane sugar.

Slitti Cacao Pregiati - LatteNero 70% (bar) - July 24, 2020

Chocolate of the Day:

Slitti Cacao Pregiati
LatteNero 70% (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 299 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #7 of Italian Chocolate Theme Week.

This bar had a bold dark chocolate aroma with earthy, fermented fruit notes, and a relatively smooth melt and texture. The flavor was similar to the aroma; however it was mellowed (and arguably improved) by the addition of milk. 

This was an ultra-dark 70% milk chocolate bar that worked. Seventy percent of this bar was cacao/cocoa. Normally that would mean that the remaining 30 percent would be sugar. However, with a dark milk chocolate like this, some of that 30 percent is whole milk powder, and the percent of sugar may then be lower--closer to what you might find in an 80 percent cacao bar, pushing it into a more profound flavor feast. Less sugar means greater access to the authentic or original cacao flavor. 

The same ultra-dark milk chocolate flavor extended into a lingering finish.

Guido Gobino - Latte 35% Sao Tome e Principe - July 23, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Guido Gobino 

Latte 35% Sao Tome e Principe

Good 

Weight: .194 oz. (.5 g.) in 1 piece

Calories: 29 calories (estimate) in 1 piece

Cost: $ missing information ($0.89 estimate for 1 piece)

Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, part of a larger online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Italian Chocolate Theme Week.

Today's Latte 35% Sao Tome e Principe chocolate was from Guido Gobino (Torino (Turin), Italy).

Swathed in gold foil, this individually-wrapped, disc-shaped piece was sweet, creamy, relatively flavorful milk chocolate, made using cacao from Sao Tome e Principe off the west coast of Africa.

Luigi Zaini S.p.A. - Cioccolato Fondente (Dark Chocolate bar) - July 22, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Luigi Zaini S.p.A.

Cioccolato Fondente Extra (Dark Chocolate (bar)

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 1.325 oz. (37.5 g.) / 2.65 oz. (75 g.) in total bar

Calories: 195 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 Italian Chocolate Theme Week.

Today's Cioccolato Fondente Extra (Dark Chocolate bar) was from Luigi Zaini S.p.A. (Milano (Milan), Italy)--a company founded over a century ago (1913).

This dark chocolate (no cocoa % listed on package) had a sweet chocolate, faint coconut, green and very slight waxy aroma notes. The chocolate was uniform in texture and flavor and had a pleasant dark chocolate taste.

Ingredients: Sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin (emulsifier), natural flavor. 

*Made in Italy and imported into the U.S. by Lettieri and Co., Brisbane, CA

Venchi - Cuor Di Cacao 85% (bar) - July 21, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Venchi
Cuor Di Cacao 85% (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 300 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.75 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #4 of Italian Chocolate Theme Week.

This thick, faceted ultra-dark had fermented fruit, earth, green jungle, mild sour/bitter aroma and faint vanilla tobacco aroma and flavor notes. The taste also had a light marshmallow floral note. The texture was relatively smooth and creamy.

The chocolate possessed a variety of deep and serious notes, all balanced and with soft edges. 

It lacked brightness and light -- no ripe citrus or summer peach and strawberry Criollo cacao notes here. But, then again, one may not associate these traits with 85% chocolate. 

Ingredients: Chocolate liquor (chocolate liquor from Ecuador 26.5%, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier: soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavor.