Chapter Thirty-Seven: Loving Earth Bean to Bar 85% Dark

Gaby happened upon this week's bar while rummaging through the food items at Home Goods. Have you ever checked out their food selection? You're likely to happen upon a find fit for a foodie! Given that this bar was over 70% cacao with minimal ingredients, while also being organic and single origin, it fit our chocolate preferences nicely.

The Loving Earth Bean to Bar 85% Dark is dressed to impress with a box made from 97% post consumer recycled fiber and a wrapper that is completely compostable made from renewable plant sources. The cacao beans are a wild variety from the 2016 harvest of the Kemito Ene Cooperative, located in the Amazon. There are only 3 ingredients in this bar: raw cacao beans, coconut sugar, and virgin cacao butter. Naturally, less is more when it comes to ingredients and we appreciate the simplicity of this bar's makeup.

Tasting No. :35
Loving Earth Bean to Bar 85% Dark - 2015 Harvest

Initial Impressions:

The color of this bar was similar to the base bar, however the base bar is a bit darker. The snap of this bar was unique - it very much reminded us of snapping raw green beans. We quite enjoyed the aroma; it was pungent and sweet, smelling like honey and spice. The bite was firmer than the base bar.

Flavor Profile:

Initial – vanilla, hazelnut

Middle – honey

After – anise, faintly earthy

Texture:
The texture was superbly smooth, like velvet. It immediately began to melt upon impact in our mouths.

Overall:
We found the texture was so smooth that it was almost distracting. It melted instantaneously like butter in a hot pan. We highly recommend this bar and think it would be a good choice for someone beginning to explore dark chocolate. It was easy to recognize that this bar was too good. It wouldn't take much to devour the entire bar before realizing what we've done! Gaby has added it to her list of favorites.

Rating: 8 /10

*Notes:

Purchased at Home Goods

Price range: Under $6

Up next  we'll be tasting our first bar from Uganda. Don't forget to take a peek!

For now savor: "Hot fudge fills deep needs." - Susan Isaacs

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 Twenty-Five: Valrhona Abinao 85%

This week, we are tasting Valrhona's Noir Abinao 85% cacao, a bar from France which was gifted to us by Gaby's aunt who was recently traveling.  Not just excited because we scored another free bar, but also because we were amazed to read that this brand aided to reestablish a nearly extinct strain of cacao.  Their packing was sophisticated; a sealed tin box opens to individually wrapped, bite sized bars (we made each of our bars last several bites because we like tiny bites to really taste the flavor profile).  If you visit Valrhona's website, they advise tasting their bars with all your senses, in this way:

 

"Sight: First of all, look at the chocolate. Concentrate carefully on the polish, the shine, and especially the color. Colors can range from milky beiges, to pure mahoganies, to deep dark browns. It is an essential detail that reveals the varieties of cocoa beans used.

Smell: Next, smell the chocolate, breathe deeply and fill your mind and body with its aromas.

Hearing: Listen by breaking a square into fragments between your fingers, and listen to the snap it makes.

Taste: Start by biting into a quarter of a chocolate square, let it melt on the tongue to taste the initial flavors, aromas and consistency. Gently rub the tongue against the palate. This causes the temperature of the chocolate to slowly increase, resulting in the final release of its flavors and aromas. Close your eyes and focus only on the development of the aromatic notes of the chocolate in the mouth."

You can see more of their tasting advice on their website.  On to the tasting!

Tasting No. :23

Valrhona's Noir Abinao 85 Percent

Initial Impressions:
This was a very dark brown bar, the snap was firm, almost brittle.  The smell was mild, musky like wet earth, and spicy.  The base bar was almost cloyingly sweet in comparing both the smell and taste.

Flavor Profile:

Initial – mild, earthy

Middle – almond, acidic

After – soil, cinnamon

Texture:
This bar had one of most intriguing textures we have come across thus far; the snap and first bite led us to expect the bar to be dry and crumbly.  Surprisingly, the bar melted easily and the texture was smooth but ended on a dry note.

Overall:
This bar was reminiscent of baking chocolate; it had an intense cacao flavor, was not very sweet but was also dry.  We paired it with black tea and it brought out the flavor profile nicely.  This brand has a lot of variety: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate with different flavors, baking chocolate, gift boxes, bourbon chocolate, and more.  We strongly encourage you to check out their website, there is a lot of educational material there about their chocolate making process, tasting tips, and their Clean Water Project which is inspiring.

Rating: 8 /10

*Notes:

Available on Valrhona's website
Price: $7.50

Next week, we're excited to start a a series for the colder weather: hot chocolate tasting!  We're gathering a few of our favorite brand's cocoa powders to sample during the month of November.  Be sure to check back next week for our first review, we can't wait!


For now savor: “Don't wreck a sublime chocolate experience by feeling guilty.  Chocolate isn't like premarital sex.  It will not make you pregnant.  And it always feels good." - Lora Brody

Chapter Twenty-Three: Chocolate Amatller Ghana 85%

This week's bar is a Spanish brand from Barcelona: Chocolate Amatller Single Origin Ghana 85%.  We chose this bar because it was a new brand which we had not yet sampled.  We like that it has a high percentage of cacao with the added bonus of being single origin; however, it was not fair trade or organic.

Tasting No. :21

Chocolate Amatller Single Origin Ghana 85%

Initial Impressions:

This bar is quite brown in comparison to the base bar.  The aroma is particularly earthy with notes of coconut.  Both the bite and the snap are much firmer than the base bar.

Flavor Profile:

Initial – Mild vanilla

Middle – Walnut, Straw

After – Truffle, Walnut

Texture:

This bar's texture reminded us of Laura's all-time favorite: the Russian bar.  It was not acidic at all.

Overall:
This bar is true in cacao flavor, lacking sweetness.  The base bar is much sweeter; so much so that the base bar almost tastes like a Hershey's bar in comparison. However, as much as this bar is dry and does not easily melt in your mouth it is also dense and quite satisfying. Like the Trader Joe's bar we tried last week, it only had three ingredients but this bar was much more satiating.

Rating: 8.5 /10

*Notes:

Purchased at World Market

Price range under $5

Next week we’ll be sampling our first Vietnamese single origin bar.  Don’t forget to check in to see what we have to say!

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

Chapter Sixteen: Guittard 85% Clair de Lune

This week we decided to try another bar from Guittard; we love our base bar and thought it would be interesting to compare it with a bar from the same chocolatier.  This bar is also Blend No. 49, but is 85% and has no added cocoa butter.  It is from the same three areas: Central America, South America, and the Caribbean and is also fair trade (which we love!).  This bar is called Clair de Lune which means moonlight in French.

Tasting No. : 14

Guittard 85%, bittersweet, blend no. 49, Clair de Lune

Initial Impressions:

Much firmer bite and snap than base bar.  It is not as creamy, and drier which is probably due to there being no added cocoa butter.

Flavor Profile:

Initial – earthy, soil

Middle – cherry, raisin

After – vanilla, coffee, musky

Texture:

Dry, creamy near the end as it starts to warm up in your mouth to release the flavors.

Overall:

A rich, dark chocolate, not a bar to eat all at once but one to savor slowly, one piece at a time.  This would be delicious when paired with a full bodied red wine.

Rating: out of 7.5/10

*Notes:

Purchased at World Market

Price range under $5

Next week, we’re excited to try our first bar from TCHO.  See you then!

There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with chocolate. - Linda Grayson

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.