L'Amourette - Trinitario Venezuela Carenero 80% bar - Oct. 29, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

L'Amourette Chocolat LLC
L'Amourette Gold - Trinitario Single Origin Venezuela Carenero Superior 80% bar
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 206 calories in 2/5 bar
Cost: $8.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: missing information

Welcome to Day #8 of South American Chocolate Theme Weeks.

Today's two ingredient bar was from L'Amourette Chocolat LLC in San Francisco, CA. It contained Venezuelan Trinitario cocoa beans (Carenero Superior) and cane sugar. Nothing else.

This high-percentage 80% cacao bar was part of the company's single origin L'Amourette Gold series that also included other Venezuelan and Colombian bars.

The bar had a coy dark sweet and buttery aroma, and was refreshingly mild. It did possess a bittersweet note in the first seconds of tasting, but was very smooth, slightly fudgey, and low in fruit acid for an 80% cacao bar. It left only a faint, innocent dark chocolate aftertaste.

This pure dark chocolate would be a good "daily dose" bar for those who regularly indulge yet don't want the jaw tingling acidity, bitterness, funkiness or sugar.

Arete - Brasil 64% Organic Dark Milk bar - Oct. 28, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Arete Fine Chocolate
Brasil - Fazenda Camboa 64% Organic Dark Milk 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: $11.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA


Welcome to Day #7 of South American Chocolate Theme Weeks.

Today's Brasil Dark Milk Chocolate bar from Arete Fine Chocolate (Milpitas, CA) was made with just three ingredients: organic cacao, organic cane sugar and organic whole milk powder.

The artful crafting of these three, high-quality ingredients resulted in a chocolate that maintained a clear tart sweet, fruity, dark chocolate complexity. At the same time the milk tamed the flavor profile enough to satisfy those who prefer a mellower chocolate.

The list of truly fine dark milk chocolate bars is short. One hopes Arete and other bean-to-bar chocolate makers will continue to offer single origin bars like this in the future.

The organic cacao for this bar was grown in Brazil, at Fazenda Camboa, a family-owned farm in Bahia, Brazil.

Dick Taylor - Northerner Blend bar - Oct. 27, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate
Northerner Blend 73% Dark Chocolate bar
Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.50 (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Dick Taylor (online order)

Welcome to Day #6 of South American Chocolate Theme Week.

Today's Northerner* Blend bar from Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate (Eureka, CA) was created by the eponymous (Adam) Dick and (Justin) Taylor using cacao grown in Madagascar and Brazil.

This very tasty, flavorful 73% cacao dark bar contained just two ingredients: organic cacao and organic cane sugar.

The bar had bright, perfectly-balanced dried apricot and red plum fruit notes with a light touch of honey. (Madagascar cacao is known for its bright fruit, red berry flavor.) The slightly tart-sweet fruit profile was sitting atop a high-quality chocolate treasure chest of cacao pulp and bean flavor.

*Dick and Taylor have a boat-building background. Today's Northerner Blend was named after The SS Northerner, a hard-working wooden ship that plied the waters between San Francisco and the Columbia River, until it struck a reef in the rugged waters of the Humboldt coast in 1860.

Nibble Chocolate - Brazil 72% bar - Oct. 26, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Nibble Chocolate
Brazil 72% Cocoa Organic Dark bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (56.7 g.) in total bar
Calories: 142 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Cafe Mingei, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA

Bem vinda (welcome) to Day #5 of South American Theme Weeks. Today we sampled another chocolate bar made from Brazilian-grown cacao.

The Brazil 72% Cocoa Organic Dark bar from Nibble Chocolate (San Diego, CA) had two ingredients: organic (Trinitario) cocoa beans and organic cane sugar.

The company founders are on a mission to provide quality bean-to-bar chocolate with few ingredients. They offer Brazil, Peru, Dominican Republic and other single origin bars with different percentages of cacao—an opportunity for educational side-by-side tastings.

This organic Brazil dark bar had uniform, bold, relatively acidic, sweet and sour (grapefruit, pineapple) flavor notes.

Nibble bars were obtained on a recent trip to San Diego's Balboa Park, filled with California architecture, museums and statues from the early 1900s.

Fresh Coast Chocolate - Brazil 70% Dark bar - Oct. 25, 2017

Chocolate of the Day:

Fresh Coast Chocolate Co.
Brazil 70% Dark bar
Good +
Weight: 1.2 oz. (35 g.) / 2.4 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 180 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of South American Chocolate Weeks. This week we're visiting Brazil.

Today's Brazil 70% Dark bar was hand-crafted by Fresh Coast Chocolate Co. (Traverse City, MI).

The cocoa beans used to make this bar were sourced from Fazenda Camboa, Bahia, Brazil.

The aroma was a blend of tropical fruit bubble gum and raisin. The tasting notes for this bar read: Tropical fruit, jasmine, espresso brownie—a truly accurate description. It was also a wild, somewhat improbable, but ultimately successful ride. I happily went back for more. Tart dried fruit (cherry) and jasmine floral notes lingered.

Blanxart - Organic Dark 76% Brazil bar - Oct. 24, 2017

Chocolate of the Day:

Blanxart
Organic Dark Chocolate 76% Brazil bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.1 oz. (31.25 g.) / 4.4 oz. (125 g.) in total bar
Calories: 178 calories in 1/4 bar
Cost: $8.95 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Village Market store, Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of South American Chocolate Theme Weeks.

Today's Blanxart (BB Chocolate Grup, S.A) Organic Dark Chocolate Brazil bar was made in Spain.

The cacao used to make this 76% cacao dark bar came from a plantation in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Para.

Most will find this bar quite agreeable, with even, smooth true chocolate flavor and a hint of vanilla.

The chocolate was described as having "a flavor of roasted hazelnuts, with hints of licorice, vanilla and lemon." The vanilla and sugar mellowed the citrus note into a light lemon chiffon. The roasted hazelnut* flavor wasn't readily apparent; but, oddly, I did detect a very faint hint of roasted licorice.

*Ingredients: This single origin, organic 76% dark chocolate bar was made with four ingredients: cocoa, sugar, cocoa butter and vanilla. There were no hazelnuts or nut ingredients listed.

SOMA - Black Science Vigia, Porcelana 70% Venezuela bars - Oct. 23, 2017

Chocolate of the Day:

SOMA Chocolatemaker

Black Science Vigia Criollo 70% bar
Good ++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.145 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.29 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 171 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ missing information

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Porcelana Venezuela Criollo 70% bar
Very Good
Weight: 1.145 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.29 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 171 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of South American Chocolate Theme Week. One can't talk about origin chocolates of South America without mentioning Venezuela.

Today's two 70% cacao dark bars from SOMA Chocolatemaker (Toronto, ON, Canada) were both made with Venezuelan grown cacao bean, organic cane sugar, and cocoa butter. That's it. Nothing else. The unadulterated full bean experience.

Black Science Vigia 
The SOMA Black Science Vigia 70% bar (Batch VigL1) is also perfect title for Halloween week, no? Deep, dark and a little mysterious, the cacao for this bar was produced in an area southeast of Lake Maracaibo* in Venezuela known for excellent Criollo beans (Criollo Merida, Guasare, Porcelana and as well as experimental Criollo hybrids). These Criollo heritage beans are known for their subtle, beautiful full flavor.

Today's Black Science Vigia 70% bar had subtle green, dried fruit (light raisin), very mild nuttiness (cashew) and light, creamy cafe latte aroma and flavor notes. I enjoyed a similar Vigia 70% bar from SOMA back in 2013 (Batch EV2). Both were very good.

Porcelana bar
The SOMA Porcelana 70% bar (Batch PorL3) tasting notes read as follows: "cream, cashews, coconut, molasses." This bar was also made with Venezuelan cacao grown near (south of) Lake Maracaibo* in NW Venezuela. It was a great bar. Naturally sweet, well balanced, subtle and full of flavors that harmonized incredibly well together. There was no sharpness or bitterness to be found.

This bar was a World Gold International Chocolate Awards 2015 winner.

Both SOMA bars were worth searching out and trying. I love the pattern stamped on their bars. Look closely and you'll see, amidst leaves, cacao pods and flowers, a bird with a tennis shoe and a maple leaf (Canadian reference in the jungle).

*Lake Maracaibo has always fascinated me. It is a large teardrop-shaped brackish tidal bay/estuary (that once was the largest lake in South America), surrounded by jungle forests, villages, rain and lightning—lots and lots of lightning.