Chapter Thirty-Four: Equal Exchange Chocolate

An errand to Laura's favorite coffee supplier brought us a serendipitous find! Ten Thousand Villages is a local fair trade shop offering unique goodies and interesting wares from across the globe. We happened upon another bar from Divine (that we're saving for a future post) and this week's Equal Exchange Chocolates: Panama Extra Dark 80%. The packaging was what initially drew us because it is biodegradable and produced with sustainably harvested wood and renewable materials.  We love that!

Tasting No. :32
Equal Exchange Chocolates: Panama Extra Dark 80%

Initial Impressions:
This bar is much thicker than base bar leading to a very firm snap; it was rather difficult to break. It was lighter in color than base bar with an extremely firm bite.  We found the aroma to be mild and sweet, almost like vanilla blossom. 

Flavor Profile:

Initial – straw

Middle – raisin, vanilla, olive

After – rum, soil, walnut

Texture:
This texture was so odd to the point of being almost distracting. It was dry, and crumbly.  We would have preferred a smoother transition into melting instead of having to manipulate it so much in our mouths.

Overall:
At first, it was quite difficult to draw the flavors out. We found that we needed to work on a piece, sucking on it for a while. This is indeed the preferred way of tasting chocolate as is allows the flavor profile to develop while chewing does not. We'd like to pair this with a hot drink in the future (the package actually suggests this and specifies coffee) as it would allow the chocolate to melt. Ultimately, although this bar was work, we found it to be supremely satisfying with a well-rounded and gratifying flavor.

Rating: 9 /10

*Notes:

Purchased at Ten Thousand Villages

Price range under $4

Join us next week as we delve into the intrigue of a chocolate bar delivery gone awry!

For now savor: "Chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power...it is the best friend of those engaged in literary pursuits." - Justus Leibig

Remember, fairly traded chocolate is a responsible way to support farmers by ensuring that the chocolate that you consume has been bought for a fair price. By choosing to purchase fair trade chocolate, you can honor the cocoa tree growers and support their way of life which in turn leads to better chocolate.

Chapter Thirty-Three: Amedei Porcelana

This week's chocolate selection, Amedei, hails from Tuscany. This brand has extensive recognition worldwide, having even been named the world's greatest chocolate. We enjoyed researching this brand and were so inspired to learn that it was founded by a woman who has only recently begun her journey with chocolate, establishing Amedei in 1990. Through her continued diligence and dedication to excellence, Amedei has gone on to earn numerous awards from the Academy of Chocolate. The Porcelana bar alone is a six time winner of the Golden Bean award in the "Bean to Bar" category. Amedei's impressive reputation has cultivated a legion of admirers and is a favorite amongst food professionals.

This bar is quite unique in that only 20,000 bars are produced annually. Each bar's packaging even includes a serial number. Its cacao comes from a rare, translucent Venezuelan bean, lending to the name of the bar, Porcelana. We highly encourage you to look into translucent cacao. It's fascinating to see how something so pale and milky can produce such a dark chocolate color. Now, could it really be the world's best chocolate?

Tasting No. :31

Amedei Porcelana, Cioccolato Fondente Extra 70%

Initial Impressions:
The snap of this bar was very firm, rather difficult to break, which is quite similar to the base bar's snap. The base bar was a tad bit darker in color when compared and the Amedei is a little more red, which is interesting considering that the Amedei bar has a lower cacao content. The aroma was mildly spicy and earthy, almost musty.

Flavor Profile:

Initial – chili, spicy, cinnamon

Middle – caramel, truffle, soil

After – chili, tobbaco

Texture:

This bar was velvety smooth but not thick. It melted very easily but didn't linger with a coating in our mouths.

Overall:
Flavors jumped out at us as we tasted this bar. It was exceedingly complex and the many flavors were surprisingly prevalent in the tasting.  Although this bar was only 70%, the intensity of the chocolate hooked us. We found that this bar was so rich that it clearly made the base bar taste low grade in comparison. Naturally, we've both added this delectable bar to Gaby's favorites and Laura's favorites.

Rating: 10 /10

*Notes:

Purchased at Central Market

Price range under $19
Drink pairing suggestions: We chose to enjoy this with a glass of water to clear our palate and have all of the flavor notes come through but imagine that a full-bodied red wine would pair marvelously.

Next week, we'll be tasting a bar from Equal Exchange, a company that caught our eye with their distinct eco-friendly packaging and fair trade practices. 

For now savor: “Chocolate is cheaper than therapy and you don't need an appointment.” - Catherine Aitken

Chapter Thirty-Two: Bovetti 73%

Welcome back! After a restful break we are ready to return to our favorite pastime of eating chocolate. With a new year comes new resolutions, and we have committed to improving Chocolate Bar Hopping and making the experience of reading along easier for you, dear readers. Expect to see some exciting changes in the coming weeks. 

Our first change is the introduction of a new base bar. We quite enjoyed our Guittard base bar, but often found it to be much sweeter and less chocolate-y than we preferred.  When tasting this new base bar, we felt that it embodied what we love most about chocolate: deep chocolate flavor, complex taste profile, mild sweetness, and divine texture.  You can read more about our new base bar and how it compared to our previous base bar by reading this post.

Bovetti has always provided a decadent tasting experience and this bar was no different.  We are consistently thrilled by their delicious and satisfying chocolate bars.

Strangely, all of the bars we have tried thus far from Bovetti have been 73% cacao. 

Tasting No. :30
Bovetti Chocolatier: Dark Chocolate 73% Cocoa (we couldn't find a link to this particular bar, but this dark chocolate with hazelnuts looks divine!)

Initial Impressions:

The snap of this bar was not quite as firm as the base bar, it almost felt pliable.  The aroma was spicy like cinnamon, with notes of coconut and almond.  Gaby said it reminded her of an almond joy.  The bite was firm but melted very easily, it again brought forth a feeling of eating flourless chocolate cake. 

Flavor Profile:

Initial – almond

Middle – slight acidity, earthy

After – cherry, caramel

Texture:

The texture of this bar was thick, smooth, enveloping, and velvety.  It was much moister than the base bar which crumbles in your mouth, it felt like a chocolate ocean swirling over our tongues. 

Overall:
This bar is true to the Bovetti form; pure, simple, and quality chocolate taste.  We would gladly give this bar as a gift, or keep it for ourselves.  All it takes is a bite to be satisfied.  We both added this bar to our list of favorites.

Rating: 8/10

*Notes:

Purchased at Central Market

Price range under $6
Drink pairing suggestion: we tasted this with a strong black loose leaf tea with a dash of milk - no sweetener.

Next week we will be sampling our first Amedei chocolate; known as the best chocolate in the world. Curious about it? Join us!

For now savor: “Flowers wilt, jewelery tarnishes, and candles burn out...but chocolate doesn't hang around long enough to get old.” - Anonymous, Heavenly Humor for the Chocolate Lover's Soul