Ara Chocolat Agua Fria 70%

A cool thing about the French chocolate-maker Ara is that they work in incredibly small batches, meaning that they can afford to have such a diverse range. When meeting Ara (they are a team of two), Sabrina gave me a little tasting of their chocolate range. I most favoured the Nicaragua, of which is only available in their 'limited edition' pack and within that pack comes other bars like India and Colombia

Interested in cacao? If so: Another cool thing is that Ara offer a Criollo Guasare and a Trinitario Guasare, of which had great distinction between them: the Criollo was more complex. Then in addition to this Criollo type of the Guasare, they offer an experience that gives you a 48 hour fermentation and a 72 hour fermentation. The 48h had more of an alcohol and metallic profile, but the 72h was just wonderful

OK. I digress, back to this Venezuelan Agua Fria. I bought this bar because Ara Chocolat are the only makers using these beans outside of Venezuela

The aroma was cherry swirled vanilla ice cream, slightly metallic and coffee

The taste was blackcurrant, toasted, hazelnut, very sautéed-mushroom, acidity came up quickly and then red fruits brightened up the overall flavour. Quite impressively, this flavour journey was consistent with every bite. The finish was tannic and with an astringent drying in the mouth. The melt of this chocolate was noticeably smoother than their other chocolates - I questioned Sabrina about this, however the grind time of this was similar to that of the others

Admittedly, when I bought this chocolate, compared to the others I had tried, it wasn't my favourite; it was bought more for the fact that nobody else makes chocolate with these beans as a single origin. However, Ara Chocolat is a wonderful chocolate maker - and I highly recommend their Nicaragua and Criollos (the Guasare and the Porcelana)