Belvie - Milk Chocolate Single Terroir (Vietnam) 55% Cacao bar - Oct. 29, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Belvie Chocolate Maker
Milk Chocolate Single Terroir 55% Cacao bar
(Chocolat Noir Au Lait)
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 226 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.25 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere, online order

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Vietnam Theme Week, and Day #1 of Single Origin Milk Chocolate Week.

Today's Milk Chocolate Single Terroir* 55% Cacao bar was from Belvie Chocolate Maker (Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam).

Start with high-quality dark chocolate and add a hint of milk, and odds are you'll end up with a high-quality dark milk chocolate bar that mutes strong or even slightly off flavors, and still allows desirable flavor notes to shine through. This bar achieved this goal.

This lovely, complex chocolate had balanced, high-end caramel, muted red fruit and true chocolate flavor notes, and a very faint, pleasant whiff of aromatic tobacco smoke and buttered toffee toast in the initial aroma. The bar had a milky smoothness and a lingering, clean finish.

*This bar was made with Trinitario cacao beans grown in Dong Nai province, "a hilly inland area underlaid by volcanic rock" in Vietnam.

Arete Fine Chocolate - Lam Dong 100% Dark Chocolate bar - Oct. 28, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Arete Fine Chocolate
Viet Nam Lam Dong 100% Dark Chocolate bar
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.15 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.3 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 172.5 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $17.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's Viet Nam Lam Dong 100% Dark Chocolate bar was thoughtfully crafted by Arete Fine Chocolate (Spencer, TN). This was one of the best 100% cacao bars I've tasted in awhile. (Sadly it is sold out, so it's not possible to order some for future tastings.)

The chocolate was made with just one ingredient: cacao beans that were grown in the Lam Dong province of Vietnam northeast of Ho Chi Minh City, in the southern part of the country.

It had a mild malt aroma and flavor note (faint dark pumpernickel bread, stout). The melt and texture was creamy and smooth.* The deep, dense, robust chocolate flavor with a balanced touch of bitterness in the second half, grows on you and is very consistent (no off flavors). The finish lingers a bit, in a pleasant way.

Note: I wouldn't sample this with other sweet chocolate. It deserves to be enjoyed separately.

*If there was additional cacao butter added it wasn't clear. However, if it was, these makers have made it a point to press their own cacao butter (using the same beans they're using for the cocoa solids in a bar), which is more work than it sounds like.

Belvie - Hao Moc Single Terroir Dark 80% bar - Oct. 27, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Belvie Chocolate Maker
Hao Moc Single Terroir Dark Chocolate 80% Cacao bar
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 239.2 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $6.60 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere, online order

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

Today's Hao Moc Single Terroir (Vietnam) Dark Chocolate 80% Cacao bar from Belvie Chocolate Maker (Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam) had an attractive true chocolate aroma, with a slight sweet butter caramel/toffee and fruit note.

For an 80% cacao bar, the flavor was relatively fruity and sweet. The mouthfeel was smooth and relatively creamy. The finish had a less sweet, balanced bitterness with a slightly earthy note.

Belvie Chocolate Maker - Thien Tuy Dark Chocolate 75% bar - Oct. 26, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Belvie Chocolate Maker
Thien Tuy Dark Chocolate 75% bar
Good++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 267 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.25 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere, online order

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

Today's Thien Tuy Dark Chocolate 75% bar had a creamy melt and smooth texture. The bar had all the bolder flavor (bright red fruit, light citrus, chocolate) of a darker chocolate, and the smoothness of a very dark milk bar.*

The makers at Belvie craft their bars using fair trade cacao beans (Trinitario), and make their chocolate "in the Belgian tradition."

Thien Tuy is in a mountainous region of the Lam Dong province, located in the Central Highlands region of southern Vietnam known for agriculture (coffee, tea and vegetables).

*This Thien Tuy cacao bar was gluten and dairy free and contained only two ingredients: cacao and cacao butter (75%) and cane sugar (25%).

Belvie Chocolate Maker - Tien Giang Dark Chocolate 70% bar - Oct. 25, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Belvie Chocolate Maker
Tien Giang Dark Chocolate 70% bar
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 224 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $13.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's Tien Giang Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao bar was from Belvie Chocolate Maker (Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam).

This bar had a pleasing aroma and rich, fruity chocolate flavor and finish.

Map Chocolate Co. - Vietnam Lam Dong 73% Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright bar - Oct. 24, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Map Chocolate Co.
Vietnam Lam Dong 73% Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright bar
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.25 oz. (35 g.) / 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 187 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

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

Today's Vietnam Lam Dong 73% Tyger Tyger Burning Bright* bar was the creation of Map Chocolate Co. (Eugene, OR), and chief chocolate maker, Mackenzie—who is, from what I gather, a master storyteller.

The chocolate itself was a blend of cocoa beans, organic cane sugar and cocoa butter, decorated with small clumps of candied ginger, masala chai spices, maple syrup and baking soda. And the chocolate tasted smooth and chocolatey with a hint of red fruit (plum).

*The bar's name is a reference to the poem "The Tyger" by William Blake. 

Belvie Chocolate Maker - Vietnam Ben Tre Single Terroir - Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao bar - Oct. 23, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Belvie Chocolate Maker
Vietnam Ben Tre Single Terroir - Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao bar
Good ++
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 225.2 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $13.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

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

The best thing about this Ben Tre Single Terroir Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao bar from Belvie Chocolate Maker (Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)) was its delicious, multi-faceted aroma—with true chocolate, intermingled with ripe red fruit, light spice, malt, and green notes. The flavor was good too.

This particular bar lacked the indulgently creamy mouthfeel the other Belvie bars had that we've sampled this week. This one had a faint, granular/astringent quality, but without the off flavors that sometimes accompany this trait in other craft chocolate bars.