Soma Porcelana & CSB Chama

SOMA 2015 Golds. The Porcelana and the CSB Chama. The bars were bought in Soma's Distillery District, Toronto factory in the summer of 2016.

The packaging is cool on the eye. Somewhat flawed, or genius, in that it cannot be resealed

Porcelana 70% had an aroma of mulberries, chocolate, molasses. The taste was too mulberries, a stout like Guinness, cream crackers, fresh churned butter, the texture was very creamy. The finish was "chocolate" 

CSB Chama 70% is a Porcelana-Ocumare hybrid. The Ocumare is another Venezuelan cacao. The aroma was sweet and sour - punchier! Mulberries, fig tart, shortbread, very pretty. The taste started herby and creamy, then flowed in spices like aniseed and vanilla, then it became quite juicy. Fig biscuits. It subtly finished with prunes and chocolate, with the odd orange marmalade here and there 

Soma Old School

Soma's Old School chocolate range is basically "chocolate as it was back in the day: simple and pure". Cocoa nibs and organic sugar (and milk powder if it's the milk bar) get ground in Soma's vintage melangeur and pressed together. Usually chocolate is further refined, conched and tempered, but not these Old School bars. These bars are designed to have a crumbled, biscuit texture

I cannot remember the DARK Old School cacao origin, but as it tasted of raspberry jam and vanilla, I'm thinking it could be their Madagascar 66%, maybe, just maybe. The bar's texture was like a biscuit (cookie), and you get them sugar crunches

The MILK bar ... just freakin' delicious. It's only 38% cacao, that being Chuao cacao from Venezuela - known as pretty rare cacao - and the rest milk powder and organic sugar crystals. It was sweet, with a taste pretty chocolatey and brownie-like. The texture was again fun

A great creation from Soma!

Soma Black Science Trinidad 70%

The bean-to-bar scene has pretty much spread like wildfire in the US and Canada. Soma are small batch craft chocolate makers and chocolatiers, based in Toronto. Their Black Science Trinidadian chocolate was made from Trinitario cacao from Sangre Grande in Trinidad, which was to gift "notes of brownie and roasted grains", organic cane sugar and cocoa butter

I was stunned at how smooth the texture was, including in the mouth. The aroma on the surface was grain and metallic- not so tempting, but deeper in was strong-brewed tea leaves, apple, dried tropical fruits (papaya, pineapple)

The taste was really great. It had a fruity acidity amongst the tea leaves, with cacao and bitterness at the back of the tongue. I presume the beans had a reasonably high roast with a toasty flavour like that. Nearing to the end, it was a really intense brownie/hot chocolate taste (not sugar-sweet). I think it's the fruitiness that really finishes the chocolate for you; it leaves you in admiration for craft chocolate. It has a taste of Christmad cake (packed with dried fruit, molasses and spiced)

This is real excellent chocolate, with special notes of blackberry