Belvie Chocolate - Black Pearl of the Mekong Dark Chocolate 85% Cacao (bar) - May 12, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Belvie Chocolate Maker
Black Pearl of the Mekong Dark Chocolate 85% Cacao (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 288 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Black Pearl of the Mekong Single Terroir Dark Chocolate (Chocolat Noir) 85% Cacao Limited Edition (bar) was made in Vietnam by Belvie Chocolate Maker (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam). 

Belvie Chocolate founders, Jannie Ha Tran and Marc Vanborren, produce a variety of small batch, craft chocolate bars using (Trinitario variety) fine cacao from different growing regions in Vietnam, including today's 85% cacao chocolate.

The initial aroma of today's bar had a very faint savory (baked potato) note, in addition to a diffuse fruit sweetness and spice/herb notes. (After a few minutes the faint savory/vegetable note seemed to disappear.)

It was great to try this limited edition darker than usual bar from Belvie. The chocolate had an overall bold dark cocoa flavor; however, it also had a mild, friendly, natural fruit (almost marshmallow) sweetness for an 85% cacao ultra-dark bar. The flavor also included soft undulations of balanced, loamy earthiness.

The texture was smooth, with an initial very faint and balanced astringency (slight back of the throat tickle) after the first bite.

Ingredients: "Cacao 85%. Cane sugar 15%"

Allergen-related information: "Gluten free; Dairy free; May contain traces of nut"

 

Belvie Chocolate - Lam Dong Single Origin 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) - May 11, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Belvie Chocolate Maker
Lam Dong Single Origin Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar)
Good +
Weight: 2.12 oz. (60 g.) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 337.8 calories in 3/4 bar
Cost: $8.50 (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Chao mung (Welcome) to Day #1 of Chocolate and Vietnam Theme Week.

Today's Lam Dong* Single Origin, Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar) was made in Vietnam by Belvie Chocolate Maker (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam). Belvie offers a variety of chocolate bars made from cacao grown in southern Vietnam, including some with Vietnam-inspired flavor additions.

The aroma of today's bar was hard to pin down but it had fruit, herby-spice (liquorice, faint star anise), and warm, mineral earth/clay/adobe notes.

This 70% bar offered an enjoyably complex and interesting flavor ride, with warm spice (Five Spice blend); generic fruit sweetness/acidity; very faint, brief light vegetable (light savory: cucumber + potato); cocoa--followed by a longer stretch with upticks of coffee, bright fruit spikes (predominantly red raspberry, but also nectarine, kiwi) and earth. 

For those who enjoy experiencing layered flavors and parfait desserts, this chocolate would be a unique addition to a chocolate tasting platter. 

Belvie chocolate maker's notes: "...Chocolate made of beans from Lam Dong has a fruity quality, but here the top notes are kiwi, raspberry and (l)iquorices (sic) aroma and an intense chocolate flavor that lingers on the palette."

Ingredients: "Cacao and cacao butter 70%; cane sugar 30%"

Allergen-related information: "Gluten free; Dairy free; May contain traces of nut."

*Lam Dong is a "Highlands region, mountainous province with temperate and mild climate all the year long."

Askinosie Chocolate - Mubabu Tanzania Peppermint Dark Chocolate (bar) - May 10, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Askinosie Chocolate

Mubabu Tanzania Peppermint Dark Chocolate (bar)

Good ++

Weight: 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar

Calories: 470 calories (estimate) in 1 bar

Cost: $9.50 (estimate) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Askinosie.com, online order

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

Today's Mubabu Tanzania Peppermint Dark Chocolate (bar) was made by Askinosie Chocolate (Springfield, MO). 

Askinosie has long practiced direct trade with cocoa farmers. Many of their single origin bars bear the image of farmers on the packaging. Today's bar, made using Trinitario cacao from Mubabu, Tanzania, included a picture of Askinosie's "lead Tanzania farmer partner, Mama Mpoki--with her husband and children.

This bar was full of rich, bold aroma and flavors: a blend of bold, but smooth, dark chocolate, cool peppermint, herb and warm spice (cardamom) notes. All of these flavors had the potential to overpower each other. However, the chocolate was a skillful, high-quality blend of "opposites:" warm spice and cool, refreshing mint; sweet and dark; as well as judicious amounts of sugar and sea salt.

All the ingredients felt like they were well incorporated (likely ground to a relatively fine particle size), creating a texture that was smooth and creamy, almost fudgey on a cool morning. (The added cocoa butter that contributed to the lovely texture was also single origin Tanzania.*)

Askinosie Chocolate maker's tasting notes: "Brisk, cool peppermint and deep silky cocoa, warming cardamom finish"

*Ingredients: Mababu (Tanzania) cacao beans (Trinitario), organic cane sugar, cocoa butter (made in our factory with Mababu beans--visit askinosie.com for details*), organic turbinado sugar, organic cardamom, peppermint, sea salt.

*Note: Added cocoa butter in chocolate is not always from the same origin as the cocoa solids/beans used to make a chocolate bar. Some of the best makers--or at least the hardest working and those who set high goals for themselves--press their own cocoa butter from a specific origin/batch of cocoa beans. While cocoa butters are not as flavorful as cocoa solids, they do carry/impart some flavor(s) from their respective origins.

Allergy-related information: "Processed in a facility that also processes milk, peanuts, tree nuts, and wheat."

Fjak Sjokolade - Single Origin 70% Mork (Dark) Tanzania (bar) - May 9, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Fjak Sjokolade

Single Origin 70% Mork (Dark) Tanzania (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.87 oz. (53 g.) in total bar

Calories: 289 calories (estimate) in 1 bar

Cost: $9.50 (+ shipping) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Single Origin 70% Mork (Dark) Tanzania (bar) was hand-crafted from bean to bar by Fjak Sjokolade (Hardanger, Norway). The company handcrafts their bean-to-bar, small-batch chocolate bars in their factory by the Hardangerfjord.* 

The cacao used to make this bar was from Kokoa Kamili, Kilombero Valley, Tanzania. 

The light, complex aroma of this bar had warm molasses spice (Boston brown bread with raisins), fresh baked yeast bread, light tropical fruit, cream--and later a very faint, mild sweet, fresh cucumber cream--notes.

The melt and texture were smooth. 

This flavorful, complex chocolate had flavor notes that were similar to the aroma and included bright, balanced sweetness with notes of sweet cream, very faint earth, fruit (faint banana, mango, red raspberry, bright tropical fruit punch with guava, passion fruit), and freshly baked chocolate cake.

The Fjaak maker's tasting notes: "Round dark chocolate with notes of banana and raisins."

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar and cocoa butter (100% organic)

Allergen-related information: Processed in a facility that handles nuts, dairy and gluten.

*Norway is known for its beautiful dramatic scenery, particularly fjords surrounded by mountains and waterfalls. The Hardanderfjord (fjord) is a long body of water (the second longest in Norway) that extends from the Atlantic Ocean into the country's interior. What a great, inspirational place to make chocolate. 

La Feverie - 60% Kokoa Kamili Dark Milk Tanzania (bar) - May 8, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

La Feverie 
60% Kokoa Kamili Dark Milk Chocolate Tanzania (bar)
Good +++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (56.6 g.) in total bar
Calories: 583 kcals in 100 g. -- 330 calories in 1 whole bar
Cost: $9.50 + shipping for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's La Feverie 60% Kokoa Kamili Dark Milk Tanzania (2019 Harvest) bar was from Hasnaa Chocolats Grand Crus (Bordeaux, France).

Sophisticated, layered and complex, this flavorful dark milk bar offered a sweet, luxurious tasting experience, and an enjoyable ride around the chocolate tasting wheel over the course of several minutes. 

The aroma and flavor notes included green nut, subtle fruit (peach and honey jam), floral (rose), warm molasses spice cake, cream, light honey caramel nougat and wood (faint oak). Some of these notes lingered lightly into the finish.

The melt and texture were smooth with a well-managed, very faint fruit astringency.

Thank you to the cocoa farmers and Kokoa Kamili in Tanzania for this cacao. And applause for the maker for taking great beans and turning them into such a delicious dark milk chocolate. The roast choice, sugar and milk powder levels were perfect--just enough to create warmth, sparkle and smoothness, without losing any of the great flavors. Not an easy thing to do.

The company's "flavour profile" description read as follows: "Notes of heather honey, chestnut and cinnamon stick."

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar, milk powder, cocoa butter

Allergen-related information: Contains milk.

Mirzam - Dark Chocolate Tanzania 100% (bar) - May 7, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Mirzam

Dark Chocolate Tanzania 100% Kokoa Kamili (bar)

Good ++

Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.46 oz. (70 g.) in total bar

Calories: 193.6 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $13.75 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

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

Today's 100% Dark Chocolate Single Origin Tanzania bar was from Mirzam Chocolate Makers /Kakaw Manufacturing Co., LLC (Dubai, United Arab Emirates).

The company offers a line of confections and chocolate bars with ingredients with connections to historic Arab trading/spice routes. (The first sailing route(s) from Oman to Tanzania can be traced back seven centuries.)*

This chocolate, made using Kokoa Kamili** cacao, had a very subtle aroma with faint baked bread/chocolate croissant and a barely there tropical fruit (kiwi + cucumber) note.

The single-source, single-ingredient chocolate had an even melt and smooth texture, a uniform deep roasted cacao flavor, and a balanced, sophisticated bitterness. 

This Mirzam unsweetened, ultra-dark chocolate did not have the sweetness or bright red fruit notes that other Tanzania (Kokoa Kamili) bars (with sugar) had this week; however, it did feature roasted, wood notes--and citrus (grapefruit, lemon) in the aftertaste.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans

Allergy-related information: "May contain traces of dairy, nuts and gluten." "Vegan"

*Early Omani traders would have been trading spices, ivory and other goods in Eastern Africa (present day Zanzibar/Tanzania, other nations) centuries before cacao arrived there from the Americas. The first cacao trees arrived in West Africa, and eventually spread to other growing regions further east.

**Kokoa Kamili is a centralized cacao fermentery (in the Kilombero Valley, in the State of Morogoro, in East/Central Tanzania) that pays hundreds of local cacao farmers a premium for their "wet" cacao beans, and helps ensure high-standards for a final product that can be shipped to chocolate makers. 

Kaitxo - Tanzania Morogoro, Valle Kilombero 75% bar - May 6, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Kaitxo 
Tanzania Morogoro, Valle Kilombero 75% bar
Good +
Weight: 1.2 oz. (35 g.) / 2.4 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 190 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.50 + shipping for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Tanzania Morogoro, Valle Kilombero 75% Cacao, bean-to-bar, Basque chocolate was produced by Kaitxo Avda Encartaciones (Balmaseda, Spain). The company offers a variety of specialty chocolates and coffees.

This 75% cacao chocolate had relatively subtle aroma with warm, baked chocolate cake/brownie, and fruit (chocolate covered red apple/red fruit). It was made using ("Amelonado/Criollo") cacao from "Kamili," Morogoro (Kilombero Valley), Tanzania. 

The chocolate had an even, stoneground melt and texture and sharper/more distinct flavors than other Tanzania origin bars featured this week. (This would make sense if there was less conching/grinding time, which results in slightly granular texture, and less homogenized and better "preserved" flavors.)

The flavor was relatively bright and complex with pleasing, dark chocolate, citrus (tart-sweet lemon), a sparkle or two of tart-sweet tropical fruits, red fruit, cream, bread, green nut, with a slight astringency in the second half of tasting a bite. It was high in flavor, and (like other bars this week) relatively low in bitterness. There was a bit more fruit/citrus acid in this bar, but it was relatively well balanced.

I enjoyed tasting a 75% cacao chocolate made from (Kokoa) Kamili-sourced (Tanzania) beans. This cacao (the source for almost all the bars featured this week) tasted naturally sweet and bright. And bumping up the cacao a few percentage points above the "standard"* 70% chocolate bar (combined with what might've been a shorter grind/conch time) yielded a bit more cacao flavor, and less sugar.

The Kaitxo chocolate maker's tasting notes read as follows: "Frutos rojos (red fruits), avellanas (hazelnuts) y (and) melaza (molasses)."

Ingredients: Cacao beans, cane sugar, cacao butter.

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of wheat, free nuts and soy."

*About this standard 70%...In the 1990s, there was a new focus on educating people about cacao percentages in chocolate. Few people up until that point would have thought much about these numbers. There was dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate. What more did a chocolate lover need to know? 

However, dark chocolate back then often did contain far less cacao than it does today, so this discussion was necessary for chocolate makers who wanted to showcase more unique cacao origins and flavors (that would also cost more). There were many parallels going on with other food specialty products (like coffee, distilled spirits, preserves, etc.) at the same time. The bar was being raised.

Dark chocolate lovers started hearing that 70% cacao was the optimal percentage for a artisan chocolate offerings. This percentage of cocoa (solids) would be acceptably sweet, but not overly sweet. (Makers also saw that most buyers (at least initially) preferred sweeter chocolate, and that higher percentage bars might be a tougher sell.)

Fortunately, a handful of dedicated, small, bean-to-bar chocolate makers took considerable risks and succeeded. Times have changed. While 70% cacao chocolate might be a good starting place, you hear less about that being the "ideal" number today. Most specialty/craft chocolate makers take great pains to study individual batches of cacao first before making these decisions. And we happily trust them to do so.

A fruity, sweet cacao will become overly so with too much added sugar. So a 72-75% cacao chocolate bar might be a better choice than 70% cacao for this batch/origin. A bitter or bolder cacao might do well with a little added cocoa butter and sugar, or not. Fermentation, roasting, conching, and other choices optimize/highlight/downplay different flavors. Percentages can serve as guides for dark chocolate enthusiasts, but never tell the complete story. For that, you have to taste.