Zotter - Labooko Bolivia 90% dark chocolate (bar) - Sept. 1, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Zotter
Labooko Bolivia 90% dark chocolate (bar)
Good +++
Weight: 1.145 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.29 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 175 calories (estimate) in 1 bar (of 2)
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: missing information (San Francisco, CA)

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

Today's Labooko Bolivia 90% dark chocolate (bar) was made by Zotter in Riegersburg, Austria, using Nacional cacao (bean variety) from "Bolivian Cooperative El Ceibo." 

Zotter's Labooko line of bars is "pure chocolate," and includes single origin bars. (They also offer hand-scooped/carefully layered and filled bars with different flavor inclusions, and drinking chocolate.)

Today's ultra-dark 90% dark bar came with instructions. Do (as the small card insert instructs) savor this chocolate slowly. Tiptoe through this deep, dark forest of a bar at a pace where you can detect flavors that shift with each bite.

This package contained two gold-foil wrapped, ebony-colored bars that were just the right thickness for tasting. That is, they was relatively thin--making it easier to access and appreciate the complex and evolving flavors of the Bolivian cacao beans (from the El Ceibo Cooperative) used to make this bar.

The aroma was much subtler than I expected very faint dark chocolate, nut and forest notes. And the melt and texture were creamy, smooth (conching time was 22 hours**) with a flicker of very creamy nut butter-like consistency. So far, no scary beasts in the forest that would scare fainter hearts and palettes.

The flavors shifted over the course of eating this bar. Faint nut (pine nut) and faint dark fruit (prune, forest berry), balanced bitterness, then a bit earthy in one or two small bites. Also detected: fleeting fresh baked bread/sweet yeast/buckwheat pancake notes, nut butter, light woodsy notes. The finish was satisfying deep, dark chocolate notes.

This was a balanced, enjoyable "pure chocolate" experience, relatively low in acidity with balanced bitterness with only a light shake of sugar. (See tasting notes below for references to fine black licorice and black coffee. These also make sense to me. Whisps of the dark notes without the heartburn.)

Ingredients: Fair trade, organic cocoa mass and fair trade organic cane sugar

The maker's tasting notes read as follows: "Fragrance notes: sublte notes of wood and fruit (hints of grape); Taste notes: nuts, (caramelized wood, lots of cream, a hint of liquorice, mild touch of coffee, lingonberries, woody finish, mildly astringent with a little bit of fructose."

*Conching time (where cacao beans/nibs are ground into a paste) varies with the cacao variety/origin, the qualities of the cacao beans, flavor profile preferences and other considerations. Longer conche times (up to a few days) might allow for smoother, creamier texture and flavor, but some flavor elements might also be lost. That may be OK if one is trying to eliminate unruly or undesirable flavors; however, with fine cacao, you don't want to lose some of what makes the bean's origins truly unique and desirable.) The conche time selected with today's bar seems to have been quite successful.

Fruition Chocolate - Wild Bolivia 74% Dark (bar) - Aug. 31, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Fruition Chocolate
Wild Bolivia 74% Dark (bar)
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 320 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

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

Today's Wild Bolivia 74% Dark (bar), handmade by Fruition Chocolate (Shokan, NY), had a smooth, creamy melt and texture and offered a dreamy, uniform "Best of Bolivia" tasting experience, best savored slowly.

The bar had true chocolate, light fermented flavor with medium (sweet red fruit, rich red dried cherry and light tangerine) acidity. One bite did have a very faint, fleeting earth note. But, otherwise, the tasting experience was sophisticated, integrated and consistent...from aroma to finish. 

Normally I might prefer a more complex "flavor ride," but this Good Food Awards winner (2016) showed how impressive an excellent implementation can be. And all that with just two ingredients: cacao beans and cane sugar. Deceptively simple. Lovely and elegant.

I was so glad the maker went with a 74% cacao version of this Bolivian wild cacao bar (instead of the usual 70% cacao versions out there). I was wondering how a slightly darker version of this bright bar might taste; and it was great.

Chapon - Bolivie Tranquilidad 70% (small bar) - Aug. 30, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Chapon Chocolatier 
Bolivie Tranquilidad 70% (small bars)
Good ++
Weight: .352 oz. (10 g.) in 2 bars / 6.35 oz. (180 g.) in total assortment box
Calories: 55.4 calories in 2 small bars
Cost: $45.00 for 1 assortment box - 36 small bars 

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Bolivia Theme Week. 

Today's Bolivie (Bolivia) Tranquilidad 70% small bars were part of a single origin chocolate assortment box from Chapon Chocolatier (Chelles and Paris, France). These tiny individually-wrapped bars were attractively-packaged miniature works of art. (The Bolivia bars were adorned with a beautiful peacock.)

Cacao beans used to make this bar were from Hacienda Tranquilidad, in northern Bolivia, known for its historic and wild cacao.

This chocolate had a creamy smooth melt and a sweet, rich dark chocolate aroma and flavor with nutty and light fruit tart astringency and malt/cereal notes, and a very faint, very balanced earthiness. 

Ingredients: Pate de cacao (cocoa mass/liquor), cane sugar, cocoa butter.

Markham and Fitz Chocolate Makers - Sea Salt & Almond (Bolivia) bar - Aug. 29, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Markham and Fitz Chocolate Makers
Sea Salt and Almond (Bolivia) bar

Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 140 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA 

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

Today's Sea Salt and Almond (Bolivia) bar was from Markham and Fitz Chocolate Makers (Bentonville, AK).

This chocolate had a pleasing rich, dark chocolate aroma with faint savory (nut and salt) notes. The texture was a blend of smooth, well-tempered dark chocolate and crunchy, toasted almond bits (on the back side of the bar).

The 60 percent chocolate, made with cacao from Alto Beni, Bolivia, had light fermented notes and faint fruit, accented with just the right amount of salt (flakes). I experienced a very fleeting hint of pleasant, licorice spice in the finish with the first bite of this bar, but it was absent in subsequent bites. 

Ingredients: Cacao, organic cane sugar, almonds, organic cocoa butter, salt flakes.

Arete Fine Chocolate - Bolivia Beniano 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) - Aug. 28, 2020

Chocolate of the Day 

Arete Fine Chocolate
Bolivia Beniano 70% Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good +++
Weight: 1.15 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.3 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 173 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: Arete Fine Chocolate

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Bolivia Theme Week.

Today's Bolivia Beniano 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) was made by David Senk and Leslie Senk at Arete Fine Chocolate (formerly located in Milpitas, CA, and now in Spencer, TN). 

Beniano cacao (formerly also referred to as Amazonian Forastero) has been called the Nacional/national cacao of Bolivia, and is often associated with wild cacao with fine flavors. It is a bit more resistant (than delicate heritage varieties) to diseases like "Witches Broom" but still yields complex fine, nuanced flavors, making it desirable for small batch, artisan chocolate makers who can highlight and feature these qualities.

This chocolate had a delicious, well-balanced complexity with chocolate, spice, faint green (green tea, sweet young green peas/shoots, or steamed celery hearts with sweet greens), cereal/malt and dried sweet fruit (plum/prune) notes. All this from just two ingredients.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans (Bolivia Beniano), organic cane sugar.

Nuance Chocolate - Bolivia Alto Beni 2015 70% (bar) - Aug. 27, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Nuance Chocolate
Bolivia Alto Beni 2015 (harvest) 70% cacao (bar)
Good +
Weight: .97 oz. (27.5 g.) / 1.94 oz. (55 g.) in total bar
Calories: 146 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Nuance Chocolate, online order 

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

Today's Single Origin Bolivia Alto Beni 2015 (harvest) 70% (bar) was from Nuance Chocolate (Fort Collins, CO).

Maker's notes read as follows: "A rare criollo/trinitario cacao from the Plurinational State of Bolivia. An extremely creamy mouthfeel, with a complex, but subtle profile. Initial savory layers quickly evolve into fruitier notes, before finishing with hints of dry oak."

My tasting notes: This bar had a bold, complex and shifting, aroma and flavor profile, including bitter and sweet, fermented fruit, cream, faint spice/molasses and fleeting loamy earth and mineral highlights. For those who enjoy an interesting flavor profile, you might appreciate this one.

Working for these Bolivia Alto Beni cacao beans may have required extra skill. Roasting profiles and conching times and overall balance would have been key, especially with this cacao, to maintain the complexity and balance. This was not a flat, dense dark Forastero (cacao variety) boldness where one roast profile might do, but rather a shifting blend of subtle Criollo and Trinitario, that yielded a wide flavor range. And the wider the range, the more interesting opportunities (and decisions) one may have as a chocolate maker. And the more exacting one must be when making the chocolate.

Too much roasting and/or conching and subtle fruit and cream (or any more delicate green or floral notes that would have been present) would be lost. Not enough and a loamy earth and/or latex/rubber note might not be brought into mellowed balance.

The texture and finish were smooth with a mild astringency.

Ingredients:  Cacao, cane sugar, cocoa butter. 

Solstice Chocolate - 70% Palos Blancos Bolivia (bar) - Aug. 26, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Solstice Chocolate
70% Palos Blancos Bolivia (bar)
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.15 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.3 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 (estimate) for 1 bar 
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Bolivia Theme Week.

Today's 70% Palos Blancos Bolivia (bar) was from Solstice Chocolate (Salt Lake City, UT).

Today's bar had a soft, almost velvety melt and texture, in part due to added to just the right amount of cocoa butter--enough to create a great creamy, nutty texture, but not enough to dull bright, sweet red fruit (dried red cherries with sugar/honey) and true chocolate notes, with a hint of cream and very faint malt.

This is one of the best implementation of Bolivian cacao I've tried yet. The cacao beans used to make this bar were from Palos Blancos, a "wild harvest cacao from the damp, rainy Beniano region (of Bolivia). This climate results in a cacao bean that produces a deep, rich chocolate with subtle notes of nuts, honey and fresh cream."

Ingredients: Organic cacao bean, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter.