Fresco Chocolate - Lamas Andean Amazon, Peru 74% (bar) - Dec. 4, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Fresco Chocolate
Lamas Andean Amazon, Peru 74% (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .9 oz. (25 g.) /1.8 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 136.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Lamas Andean Amazon, Peru 74% (bar) (Recipe 282, Batch 21-451) was from Fresco Chocolate (Lynden, WA). Fresco was founded in 2010 by computer scientist, Rob Anderson.

Anderson crafts Fresco's bean-to-bar chocolate (bars) so that different versions of the same origin bars can be tasted side by side, to better appreciate differences between roast, conche and other choices--e.g. between a light, medium or dark roast (of cacao beans) or a short, medium or long conche--during the chocolate making process. Today's single origin Peru bar was made with a dark roast, and a medium conche.* 

Aroma notes included: dark chocolate (dark ganache), earth, and diffuse sweet fruit (ripe, dark berry).

Texture: Smooth with a very slight astringency in the finish.

Flavor notes included: dark chocolate (bold dark ganache with a very faint roasted note), diffuse sweet fruit (dark, ripe berry), earth, and very faint, fleeting warm spice (barely detectable ginger). 

This 74% dark chocolate had a lingering dark chocolate finish, with a very slight astringency.

Tomorrow I'll be tasting a Fresco Chocolate 100% cacao dark Peru bar--also made with (dark roast, medium conche) Lamas Andean Amazon (Peru) cacao. 

Ingredients: Organic cocoa beans, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter

Allergen-related information: "Free from dairy, gluten, nuts, soy"

*Conching is a process done with equipment that mixes and agitates cacao, reducing particle size and blending cacao solids with cacao butter. Choices for this process (duration, speed, machine type, etc.) help create an optimal result for smooth mouthfeel while still retaining desired flavor(s). (Some more volatile flavor elements may attenuate during the cacao grinding and conching process if it continues for a long time.)

Fresco maker's note on medium conching level chosen for this bar read: "Heat, motion, aeration and time produce chocolate's final flavor; this is conching. Adjusting these variables can produce dramatically different flavors..." The medium conche level provides a "balance between aggressive and subdued, mellow."

Monsoon Chocolate - Origin Series Ucayali Peru 72% Dark Chocolate (bar) - Dec. 3, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Monsoon Chocolate 
Origin Series - Ucayali Peru 72% Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 136 calories (estimate, no information on packaging) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

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

Today's Ucayali Peru 72% Dark Chocolate (bar) was made by Monsoon Chocolate (Tucson, AZ).

The Ucayali River cacao used to make this dark chocolate was grown in the Amazonian rainforest in Eastern Peru, and was obtained through "a central fermentary that works with nearly 400 cocoa farmers along the Ucayali River outside the Peruvian city of Pucallpa."

Aroma notes were relatively complex for this single origin dark bar and included: chocolate (dark cocoa, ultra dark ganache), balanced earth; cream/butter; very faint, tart green (oxalis); faint ripe dark berry; and faint brown sugar.

Texture: creamy and smooth with a slightly buttery mouthfeel.

Flavor notes included: ultra dark chocolate with a very faint, well-managed, bitter earth-sharpness; diffuse fruit (dark, ripe berry); and cream.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter

Allergen-related information: "There is no gluten or animal product added to this bar; however it is processed in a facility that also processes wheat, dairy, nuts, and soy."

Monsoon Chocolate - Ucayali Peru 60% Dark Milk Chocolate (bar) - Dec. 2, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Monsoon Chocolate 
Ucayali Peru 60% Dark Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 138 calories (estimate - not listed on packaging) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Week.

Today's Ucayali Peru 60% Dark Milk Chocolate (bar) was made by Monsoon Chocolate (Tucson, AZ).

The Ucayali River cacao used to make this bean-to-bar chocolate came from "a central fermentary that works with nearly 400 cocoa farmers along the Ucayali River outside the Peruvian city of Pucallpa."*

Aroma notes for this single origin, dark milk chocolate bar included: chocolate (slightly fruity cocoa) very faint, fleeting green; cream; and buttered (Southern U.S.) biscuit/well-buttered rice.

This relatively thick bar had a thick, rich and buttery mouthfeel.

Flavor notes blended very harmoniously in this well-executed bar, including the buttery, creamy flavors described in the aroma and texture (above). 

The organic cocoa butter and organic milk powder smoothed over the cacao notes (it's hard to know what we might or might not be missing and diminished the relative sweetness (thank you). 

That said, diffuse fruit (ripe sweet berries); very faint fermented cacao; rich whole milk warm cocoa; quiet buttery caramel; faint, fleeting cheesecake; very faint, fleeting floral spice (light honey and buttered saffron rice) and very faint salt notes, managed to shine through in this creamy fantasy of a bar.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, organic cocoa butter, organic cane sugar, organic milk powder

Allergen-related information: Contains milk. "This product contains dairy. It is processed in a facility that also processes wheat, nuts, and soy."

*This chocolate was all sweetness and light. But Moonsoon Chocolate also describes some of the economic challenges and choices facing farmers in this Peruvian agricultural growing region that has a "long and complex history of narco-trafficking" and coca (cocaine). (Both coca and cacao are native to South America.)

Like many high-end craft chocolate makers, Monsoon works to obtain high-quality cacao grown in unique regions around the globe. Monsoon Chocolate pays Ucayali River farmers a premium for their wet cacao, "giving local farmers access to an alternate market to cocaine." 

Standout Chocolate - Single Origin Urubamba Peru 70% (bar) - Dec. 1, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Standout Chocolate

Single Origin Urubamba Peru 70% (bar)

Good ++ - Good +++

Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 146 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $10.25 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Standout Chocolate Single Origin Urubamba Peru 70% (bar) was hand-crafted in Sweden, with cacao beans grown in the Urubamba Valley of Peru.*

Aroma notes for this bar included: very faint, fleeting fermented cacao; hot cocoa/drinking chocolate; subtle fruit (sweet, dark red berries); and very faint, fleeting roasted coffee/mocha.

The texture was creamy smooth. Standout chocolate maker, Fredrik Martinsson, notes: "We slow roast to preserve as much of the natural taste profile as possible. We then stone grind for days and days until the flavors and texture are perfected."

Flavor notes included: naturally-sweet fruit flavor(s) (gentle, fleeting floral/fruit honey and ripe, sweet dark red berries (combination of ripe strawberry and sweet (Highbush) blueberry and ripe blackberry/black currant) and cream. 

The cacao was just bold enough--with a wee bit of balanced earth and true chocolate (dark cocoa)--to be interesting and complementary with its fruity flavor facets (a memory of faint, gentle earth recently attached to basket of freshly picked berries).

Nice creamy texture (and implied fresh cream flavor) perfectly meshed with lush and layered, authentic berry flavor(s). All this from just two organic ingredients: Peruvian cacao and sugar. 

Maker's tasting notes: "dark fruits, floral, blueberry"

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar

Allergen-related information: (May contain traces of milk.)

*The cacao producer in the Urubamba valley was Alto Urubamba Cooperative (made up of approximately 50 local farmers). The altitude in this growing region is between 700-1500 meters (2,297-4,921 feet) above sea level.

Hogarth - Peru Single Origin 66% Cacao Piura Blanco (bar) - Nov. 30, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Hogarth Chocolate Makers
Peru - Single Origin 66% Cacao Piura Blanco (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .5 oz. (14 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 77.7 calories in 1 serving (1/5 bar)
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order  

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

Today's Peru Single Origin 66% Cacao Piura Blanco (bar) was created by Hogarth Chocolate Makers (Nelson, New Zealand). 

The Hogarth company name refers to chief chocolate maker, Karl Hogarth. And the company offers a variety of bean-to-bar chocolates, including today's single origin Peru bar.

Aroma notes for this single origin Peru chocolate included: gentle fermented cacao, cream; very faint, balanced earth; and very faint diffuse spice and lemon-herb (oxalis).

Texture: smooth with a very slight granularity (astringency). 

Flavor notes included: chocolate (warm cocoa/drinking chocolate), natural diffuse fruit sweetness (faint, slightly tart-sweet pink lemonade and goji berry), and fresh fleeting green (sweet green tea latte with lemon).

Ingredients: Organic fair trade cocoa beans, organic fair trade cocoa butter, organic cane sugar.

Allergen-related information: May contain traces of milk and nuts. "100% Organic, vegan, gluten free, soy free"

Coco Polo - Ginger dark chocolate - Nov. 29, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Coco Polo 
Ginger dark chocolate
Good +
Weight: .49 oz. (13.8 g.) (estimate) in small sample packet 
Calories: 70 calories (estimate) in 1 sample packet
Cost: $N/A - free sample
Purchased from: N/A - free sample

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Holiday Spices Theme Week.

Today's Ginger dark chocolate (sample) was from Coco Polo (Highland Park, NJ). The company offers a line of sugar-free, stevia-sweetened chocolates.

Ginger spice triggers holiday memories for me, with associations of gingerbread people, holiday gingerbread houses and castles, hot ginger tea, and gingerbread molasses cookies.

This sample Ginger chocolate had smooth dark chocolate, faint ginger spice, and very faint menthol (cooling feeling in mouth) flavor notes.

(Note: In fairness to Coco Polo, this sample was one I received quite a while ago. However, the full-sized 70% Ginger Root bar dark chocolate bar was still available when I checked the Coco Polo website today.)

Ingredients: (Ingredients were not listed on small sample packet.)

Allergen-related information: Not listed on small sample packet.

Thomas Keller Armando Manni - K+M Extra-Virgin Milk Chocolate Winter Spice (bar) - Nov. 28, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Thomas Keller - Armando Manni
K+M Extra-Virgin Milk Chocolate Winter Spice (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.25 oz. (35 g.) / 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 193 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12+ (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Sweet Shop, Los Altos, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Holiday Spices Series.

Today's K+M Extra Virgin Milk Chocolate Winter Spice (bar) was a collaboration bar between Chef Thomas Keller and extra virgin olive oil maker Armando Manni. (K+M Chocolate is based in Napa, CA.)

Aroma: The initial sniff revealed pleasing, balanced, warm holiday spices, faint chocolate and very faint citrus (sweet orange). Note: after being opened for a few hours, the spice aromas were not quite as strong.

Texture: This Thomas Keller + Armando Manni (K+M) holiday milk chocolate bar had a very special, smooth texture with a relatively creamy, luxurious slow melt. The collaboration between chef + olive oil expert delivered a unique, rich mouthfeel.

Flavor: The smooth, relatively mellow dark chocolate (made with cacao from Hacienda Victoria, Ecuador) had notes of faint warm spices (star anise, allspice, cinnamon, ginger). A blend of whole milk powder, cocoa butter and extra virgin olive oil provided splendid texture, but may have muted some of the chocolate and spice (smooth and balanced) flavors a bit. However, it was still a very enjoyable and interesting bar to try. 

K+M maker's tasting notes: "Allspice, Citrus, Lush, Velvety"

Note: K+M also offers a Winter Spice hot chocolate, made with spices (such as: allspice, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper)

Ingredients: (Note: missing complete packaging. As I recall ingredients included: Cocoa beans, whole milk powder, organic sugar, organic cocoa butter, organic extra-virgin olive oil, spices, tangerine oil)

Allergen-related information: (Contained milk.)