Chocolat Bonnat Surabaya 65% milk

This French-made 65% Indonesian milk chocolate is the third bar I've had of Bonnat's. The first two were not good experiences: the Madagascar 75% then the Haiti 75%. As this milk chocolate had such a high cocoa percentage it sounded very interesting

The aroma was milky, full on creamy. The taste was Dutch-processed cocoa mixed with milk - here you taste the absence of sugar, or I should say "of so much sugar". It tasted of horse's barn, with a mild chocolate backdrop. Melting slowly, with an almost greasy texture but foremost a buttery melt, there came smokiness in taste. A smokiness, although very subtle, that reminds one that this is Indonesian chocolate!

It takes time, but this chocolate becomes pleasing. It has too much cocoa butter in for me. A 65% milk chocolate sounds like a dark milk chocolate, it just wasn't 'dark' enough. The fat content is almost 50%, so having too much begins to feel uncomfortable

This bar is the best Bonnat I've had ... 

Soul Chocolate Papua New Guinea 77%

Soul Chocolate (Soul Roasters), Katie and Kyle, started making chocolate after an accidental encounter with craft chocolate a few years ago in New Zealand. Soul Chocolate is based in Toronto in Canada

The chocolate is said to highlight the origin of the cacao, so this includes all the farmers' input, as well as show the "unique subtleties" that Soul attribute when roasting and refining. This is essentially how all craft chocolate should be made, by respecting the cacao and its flavour, although I point that out here because the articulation from Soul Chocolate is very nice

The aroma smoky and rubber. The taste was smoke, toast, Marmite! A brightness came through later, like all Indonesian dark chocolate I've had. It had notes of speciality jam; that's fancy, rich, red fruit jam

Olivia Chocolat 76% & Maple

Olivia Chocolat is a chocolate maker in Quebec, Canada. The chocolate is made with fairtrade, organic Peruvian cacao, said to be "Criollo"

bloomed from excessive heat, my bad

The 76% dark chocolate had won silver in the Academy of Chocolate Awards 2011. It had a general 'fruity & nutty' flavour. Throughout it tasted overly acidic, with herbs, carob and bitterness. I thought of it to be pretty off-beat

The ingredients are cocoa beans, sugar cane, cocoa butter, vanilla beans, non-GMO sunflower lecithin - all organic

The Maple variety was the 76% dark chocolate with added maple sugar (and 'natural flavour'). It had the same flavour profile as above, but offered a richness of maple syrup. This chocolate managed to highlight a more tannic feel and taste and green notes (unripeness, grass...)

In life, I love maple syrup. It's all natural, less refined than most sugars, and tastes so good!

Original Beans Edel Weiss 40%

Made with cocoa butter from beans grown in Yuna River Valley, Dominican Republic; this is an organic white chocolate that is without vanilla. Original Beans suggest a flavour profile of banana milk 

The aroma was creamy. It had a soft bite. The mould of this bar was different to Original Beans usual, it had smaller chunks and was more 'ordinary'. The taste was malted milk, golden sugar, Milky Bar yogurt

The Edel Weiss is a nice white chocolate, very creamy and not too sweet (as the raw cane sugar isn't the first ingredient)

Menakao Madagascar 72%

Menakao 72% became my airplane chocolate, and then my backpack chocolate - something to enjoy from time to time when desired

Menakao is Madagascan-cacao chocolate made in Madagascar. The ingredients are cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, non-GMO soya lecithin 

The aroma was cocoa, lightly vinegar, overall simply chocolate

The taste started cocoa, with red fruits, mainly cherry, with light smokiness and an overlaying cane sugar juice. I noted this chocolate to be very chocolate and sweet. Two weeks later it was raisins and chocolate covered plums, pretty Polish to me

The chocolate felt rustic with its grainy, slow melt