Talamanca Totonac 75%

A look at another elusive, authentic micro-batch chocolate, and again bearing the Costa Rican origin. The other chocolate I am referring to is The Beach Chocolate Factory's

The 75% cacao comes from Finca La Isla estate in Playa Negr, this estate belonging to Talamanca themselves. The ingredients for the Totonac bar was as follows: cacao, organic sugar, vanilla. The name 'Totonac' is after the Totonac people being the first producers of vanilla

The aroma was vanilla, little orange, but simply a vanilla-infested dark chocolate. Vanilla is ubiquitous in mainstream and cheap chocolate, however pure vanilla is an aroma so charismatic, and the vanilla in this chocolate was just that

A hard snap. The taste was classic hot chocolate, Mulino Bianco chocolate biscuits, potent vanilla, and overall quite uplighting (I feel the brightness came from the fresh vanilla). It wasn't incredibly rich, but that's okay. The finish was an assortment of biscuits

The Beach Chocolate Factory 70% with Nibs

An unknown chocolate maker to most, including myself, I only happened to stumble across them when on Chocolatiers.co.uk. The Beach Chocolate Factory are the first bean to bar maker in Guanacaste, Costa Rica

The cacao within comes from the Tenorio region of Costa Rica and the chocolate is made with simply cocoa beans and organic sugar (my favourite chocolate recipe). Due to how elusive and secretive this chocolate is, because of the small batches its made in, Chocolatiers call it "a connoisseur's chocolate" - so I had to have it

An aroma of candied orange peel and metallic rawness. A hard snap, smooth melt. The taste was candied orange peel and bittersweet marmalade on burnt toast with a coffee to go

The nibs were very crunchy and packed so much good flavour

I hoped for an authentic chocolate experience and I had not been disappointed. The unique mould makes for a difficult break, but the thickness distinguishes itself from American, British, European etc. craft chocolate, making it that little bit more authentic

It is always a wonderful experience trying chocolate crafted in cacao-growing countries