Ritual Novo Coffee

Ritual Chocolate are chocolate makers in Utah, USA. For this bar, the cacao had been grown in the Camino Verde farm in Balao, Ecuador, and the coffee is named Anyetsu from Novo coffee roasters, which is a sun-dried Ethiopian coffee.

The aroma was peppercorns (black, red and pink), coffee, caramel, digestive biscuits. The melt starts slow and remains a bit gummy, this is most likely because there is around 33% fat, which is considerably low. There is 10% coffee in this bar, but it is completely ground in so it gives a smooth experience.

The taste had a well balanced acidity with sweetness and bitterness. There was some yeast and earthiness in the background, but the flavours all round up in the finish, with digestive biscuits, Hobnobs and golden syrup. A chocolate of a digestive biscuit-flapjack hybrid... 

Dandelion Chocolate

Founders with their backgrounds in the dot com bubble of Silicon Valley, now immensely respectable chocolate makers, Dandelion Chocolate is case study material. Chocolate factory & cafe, in San Fransisco and Tokyo, with menus too amazin

When Todd, founder of Dandelion Chocolate, visited Damson chocolate, he left 3 bars ...

Zorzal, Dominican Republic. Smooth in flavour, it was woody, walnut, caramel, brandy, chocolatey 

Camino Verde, Ecuador. Straight away digestive biscuits. It melts into chocolate fudge brownies, taking on my mum's approach to baking: cutting the sugar. It feels as if more sugar would have made the brownie-feel to be more effective, but overall super chocolatey and warm

Ambanja, Madagascar. Raspberry jam, liquorice, wholewheat, it was noticeably thicker in the melt. It was beautiful with its flavour. This one was so good, so, so, so good

The Chocolate Alchemist

The Chocolate Alchemist is a NOOOOTORIOUS chocolate maker in Philadelphia. The magic behind the chocolate is that they utilise cacao, and by doing so it becomes a "vehicle for true flavour, nutrition and energy"

The packaging, when in hand, is distinct. It is made from lokta paper (i.e. tree-free). The ingredients are all organic, and clean. Looking online there is great emphasis on paying fair prices for The Chocolate Alchemist's raw materials. Through and through this chocolate screams quality.

The 80% Philly Blend, a 5 different region blend, had an aroma of dill, coconut cream, vanilla, Muscovado, and a taste herbaceous, coconut, Muscovado, cream. The melt was a little sandy. The sugar was coconut sugar

The 75% Cultivagro was a single origin from Ecuador, sweetened with coconut sugar. I had the notes: smoky, lapsang souchong tea, leather, butterscotch, some peaty whisky; the mouthfeel had thoughts of astringency and tannins

80% Philly blend

The 90% Zarumilla, made from Tumbes Peruvian cacao, was super lime juice, pancakes, brown sugar, grassy bamboo, acidic juiciness, flowers. This one was sweetened by Colombian panela sugar

Clasico 60% was a dark milk chocolate, with a blend of 5 different cacao and sweetened by brown sugar. This was an inclusion bar with roasted hazelnuts, coconut, vanilla and salt. I felt this really could have been harmonious and toasty, it was instead quite raw in flavour 

Goat Maple 65% dark goat milk chocolate, with a blend of Dominican Republic and Peruvian cacao, sweetened with local maple sugar! It was like a creamy creamy creamy chocolate pudding, made with goats cheese obviously. The maple sugar here was a nice touch

Out of the collection, I was very much for the dark chocolates; particularly the Cultivagro and Zarumilla - these two being very nuanced 

Original Beans Esmeraldas Milk 42%

Arriba cocoa beans from the Esmeraldas rainforests in Ecuador, more specifically the Pacific Cloudforest

The flavour was cocoa rich, milky, fudge, delicious. It had a berry brightness to it, and later online I read "red summer fruit", so that was real

The ingredients are good, and always good with Original Beans: direct-trade cacao beans*, cacao butter*, raw cane sugar*, milk*, fleur de sel - *organic

This 42% milk chocolate is a really good, a really, really, really good milk chocolate. I have had 2 bars of it in a week

Pump Street Bakery Eccles

Opening up the bag, it was the smell of pizza, with fresh basil. This, the Eccles bar, is one of four in the bread and chocolate series from Pump Street Bakery. The other three are Rye, Sourdough, and Bread & Butter

This Eccles chocolate is an Ecuadorian 55% dark chocolate (cacao from Hacienda Limon, 2015 harvest) with Pump Street's renowned eccles cake. The puff pastry eccles cake are made from flour, butter, brown sugar, Voztizza currants, raisins, Armagnac (brandy), nutmeg and cinnamon

The aroma of the chocolate was dried fruit (not so much raisins), brandy, fruitcake, Christmas. The taste was pretty similar. You get the Ecuadorian chocolate, which adds a cocoa intensity. It was fruitcake, with the icing, and dark chocolate chunks inside. It was also puff pastry mince pies. Ya, a whole lot of Christmas going on ... 

Great chocolate. Pump Street are amazing chocolate makers

I picked up this bar in Liberty London as soon as Pump Street Bakery shared on their Instagram this new limited edition bar! They said that Liberty was the only place, other than Pump Street themselves, that stocked it. Each month there will only be 200 bars made. It is £6.25 if bought from Pump Street, or £6.95 from Liberty on Regent Street. The bar also won silver at this years Academy of Chocolate, I do remember tasting it ... 

Zotter Labooko Ecuador 75% Arriba - Los Rios

Yes, another Zotter. What we have this time is a dark chocolate, with the cacao within having grown in the Los Rios region of Ecuador. Often you may see "Arriba" written on Ecuadorian chocolate bars, however strictly speaking "Arriba" refers to cacao which is grown in the upriver areas of the Guayas River. It's a word often used correctly! Like this time. But other times it's used more as a marketing tactic

An aroma so wheaty, with cocoa and a touch of fruit (thoughts of jam). The taste was strawberry jam, guava, chocolate-cherry-jam

Zotter's Labooko chocolate is always smooth, and this bar was no exception. I feel as if I have no more to say about this chocolate, so I shall leave it at that

Hoja Verde 50% dark milk

Unfortunately, there is no beautiful shot of this chocolate. This dark milk chocolate is described as "a delicacy" by Hoja Verde, and it has been awarded 'best milk chocolate of Ecuador 2014'. I love the packaging, with cow spots along the side

Despite having tried this chocolate before, the aroma was not what I expected. It had tones of lucuma, cocoa and general lightness. It wasn't the floral-ness I was expecting from Ecuadorian cacao

In the mouth, the melt begun swiftly with a smooth, buttery, creamy, thick texture. The taste, like the aroma, was unique. I thought herby, dairy, lucuma. It was strange but ever so compelling

Duffy's Corazon del Ecuador 43% milk chocolate with nibs & oak smoked salt

This "heart of Ecuador" milk chocolate is made from Camino Verde cacao in Cleethorpes, UK. I was told, and this resonated with me when thinking and eating the chocolate, that the chocolate gets poured into the moulds halfway, for the cocoa nibs and salt to be sprinkled, and then the rest of the chocolate is poured

The aroma was Belgian milk chocolate, very caramel-like, and malted milk biscuits with the milk chocolate coating

It was a soft bite, leading to a biscuity taste, just like Duffy suggests! It was salted caramel and very creamy. To begin with there was a lemon grass edge to this chocolate and also the occasional taste of the paper wrapping. Once I was gifted with a real smokiness together with coffee. The studded nibs had a really chocolatey flavour, "woah"

To get the most out of this chocolate, one must chew. Chew to experience the crunches, to have the darkness of the nibs cut through that sweetness asap, and to crunch that salt (the salt enhances and adds to the great flavour)

This was a sweet milk chocolate, even in comparison to Willie's Milk of the Gods which is a 44%. It was refreshing to get the nibs throughout the taste (hence, chew!) And overall, this chocolate proves to a very popular one amongst those who try it!

Hoja Verde 58% + Quinoa

This quinoa chocolate bar was gifted to me at the Chocolate Show by Hoja Verde, as quinoa in chocolate is an interesting and surprising pairing - Jolanda had said many question this bar, so thought it would be great for me to review!

The Nacional cacao beans Hoja Verde work with come from Esmeraldas in North Ecuador. And this is a bean to bar company, with the action happening at origin! This is great, and hopefully will inspire and encourage more to work this way, developing cacao sustainability and the HDI of commodity dependent countries

The chocolate had an aroma of flowers, the archetypal delicacy of Ecuadorian cacao, and suddenly a catch of malt

The texture was a Nestlé Crunch bar, as it felt like crisped rice, and almost reminded me of Cadbury's Double Decker. The chocolate itself was very smooth

The flavour was dark chocolate, nice and sweet, very creamy (not dairy, just creamy) and vanilla. There was no added vanilla, but there was non-GMO soy lecithin

The finish was very chocolate. And what a lovely chocolate this is! It was easy to eat, it was not bitter at all (though it was only 58%) and the texture was great

At the Chocolate Show I was glad to have tried all of Hoja Verde's range, as they had been on my list of chocolate to try since I found them on Cocoa Runners a few months back. One that I enjoyed particularly was their 66% (of which I couldn't resist buying...) and their 50% with cows milk

Hoja Verde is available here from Cocoa Runners! I highly recommend this chocolate

Pacari Raw 70% with Maca

Pacari say the addition of maca to their raw 70% makes for an "antioxidant rich, nutrient packed, unforgettable chocolate experience". Maca is a root and a popular superfood, most commonly known in its powdered form. The benefits of maca are in abundance; so, along with raw chocolate and unrefined sugar,  this chocolate bar is more than good for you

The aroma is, of course, Pacari. The sophisticated and perfume-like leathered, flowers and earthy profile. And then the flavour is again Pacari, but with the maca adding delicate malt and butterscotch. The finish was slightly bitter, which from experience I think was more due to the maca than the raw chocolate

Chewing the chocolate gave a chocolate richness, caramel (thoughts of Cadbury Eclairs), nuttiness, malt and the Pacari perfume. Finally, ending my maca chocolate experience, way into the finish, I caught an almost ginger-like spice

The addition of maca powder meant that the melt wasn't smooth like other Pacari chocolate, this goes for the chewing too, it felt different to other chocolate

I enjoy Pacari chocolate and it is worth a mention that all ingredients are organic certified 

Ananda Chia Chic & Coffee Break 70%

The organic Ecuadorian cacao is sourced from Los Ríos and Guayas provinces. The cane sugar from Pichincha farmers. The chia seeds and coffee also have specified local origins. The chocolate is made in Guayaquil, Ecuador and then shipped to the Netherlands to the Amigos family. This is similar to how Madécasse operate! The packaging is ecologically good too. Errrrr, so far I am loving Ananda!

Chia Chic
The aroma was earthy, pepper, toasted and slightly metallic. The chia seeds didn't add anything to the taste, I didn't expect them too, but they added much to the texture. Their crunches were quite fun! In taste was vanilla, flowers, dark chocolate. I could feel acidity on the tongue, and bitterness (cocoa) lingered. The finish was like the aftertaste of having had the richest, darkest, chocolatiest chocolate cake

Coffee Break
A beautiful coffee aroma, reminding me of Chocolate & Love's coffee affair. The initial taste was numb, starting with cocoa (no sugar) then lemon boiled sweets or Fisherman's Friend. But when chewing, that is when it all happened. It was fresh filtered coffee, brown sugar crystals pouring in and grated dark chocolate melting within - beautiful. There was distinct great acidity too

The chocolate didn't melt easily, with an almost waxy texture; however, I felt this to be its only flaw, as when I got into the chocolate ... I really got into it ... and it was ... delicious

Pacari Raw with Andean Blueberry

Pacari is a maker who I have familiarised myself with. I recognise their chocolate having the 'Pacari aura' - or what I write in my notes: Pacari perfume. This 70% raw chocolate with wild Andean blueberries had that perfume in aroma. It also had Ecuadorian floral and earthiness with a cranberry tartness

The taste was the above's Ecuadorian, also a blue, mellow fruitiness, not strictly blueberry. This chocolate was sweet and VERY chocolate, with subtle coffee and earth and the perfume finishing each bite 

The subtle crunches and chewiness of the blueberries were very nice - I always tend to chew chocolate. Interestingly I only saw one bit of blueberry, but of course there were more 

This was an enjoyable bar, but as an inclusion bar it seemed a little weak on its performance. However, it's often rare to get a pure blueberry flavour from even just blueberries

Pacari Salt & Nibs, and Raw

Here are two different salt and nib chocolate bars from Pacari. Both made from "pure Arriba Ecuadorian cacao", but one raw with coconut sugar and the other roasted with cane sugar

I first tried them with a friend over coffee, both agreeing that they paired excellent with coffee!? We could distinguish that they tasted different, having preference for the RAW 70%, but for the purpose of my reviews, I tried them again to pick up on their nuances 

Raw 70% with Salt & Nibs

The aroma was green, floral, citrusy, with an overlaying vanilla and coconut. In tasting, the nibs were more distinct here than in the other bar, they had that metallic kinda flavour - due to the rawness. The salt worked very well, however when tasting again later it often became too saline. The chocolate beyond the salt had a strong taste of coffee and toastiness (which seemed ironic because it was raw)

Cuzco Pink Salt & Nibs

This salt was from Cuzco in Peru and the chocolate was a 65%. The aroma was leather, vanilla and coconut. The flavour was very smoky, then with a coconut taste (which resembles, to me, cheap dark chocolate) but then that fades out, with the smokiness dominating again. This bar wasn't too salty and it was sweeter tasting than its precursor, however I much preferred the RAW 70%

I like how Pacari state the % cocoa mass and % butter, and I overall like Pacari very much! The crunchy texture was enjoyable and I would recommend these bars. Interestingly, these chocolates tasted best with coffee

Pacari Raw 85%

Raw and 85%, although "antioxidant rich", I wasn't looking forward to this Pacari. I bought this bar in a small natural food store in my home town, I was so amazed to find Pacari in there, just when I was about to leave! (I also bought Pacari's wonderful Piura 70% again and their blueberry bar to try)

It was a very dark brown, looking nearly black. The aroma had a seemingly 'Pacari' feel. There was earthiness, leather, tobacco, whisky/metallic (something that suggests rawness), vanilla and citrus

The taste was bitter then came flowers with a tinge of citrus. There was something "meaty" nearing the finish, which I think is something of raw chocolate (like I found in Cocoa Raw). The texture was smooth, with the help of added cocoa butter and sunflower lecithin. I like the mould of Pacari, giving chunky bites

85% is too high for me, so I wouldn't buy this bar again, however I liked the buzz the caffeine and other stimulants gave me

Pump Street Bakery Rye Crumb, Milk & Sea Salt

An Academy of Chocolate gold award winner. A dark-milk bean-to-bar chocolate, with added breadcrumbs (wheat, rye, sourdough starter, sea salt) and sea salt, handcrafted in Orford

I made the trip to Orford just to visit Pump Street Bakery. There I was, a Sunday morning, with the sun shining, enjoying their pain au chocolat (made with their own Ecuadorian chocolate) and a Monmouth coffee: picture it

The aroma was delicious. It was very dairy: creamy, lactic; there too was nuttiness and wheat and freshly baked bread. Straight on the tongue it was soft, but once the melt kicked in it's an unexpected rough, gritty texture (the bread crumbs)

The taste was creamy. It lacked sweetness, despite it being a 60% milk chocolate, the rye savouriness dominated. The salt would come through occasionally, striking a sweetness. I loved that, though sometimes a salty taste would linger

I kept thinking 'this tastes like something / what does this remind me of?' Well, I thought maybe Milka Daim® as it had that crunchy texture and because the chocolate had a burnt caramel flavour, but it was also like Ritz/Tuc crackers, if they had been crushed and melted in chocolate!

The finish was somewhat savoury/wheaty, almost bitter with mild chocolate notes

I understand why this chocolate received a lot of attention. Pump Street Bakery are fine bakers, and so it's great to see them being so hands on with chocolate too. This particular bar had its cocoa sourced from Hacienda Limon, Ecuador 

£5.80 for 70g, this pricing is consistent with their other bars apart from the other one I bought: the limited edition Grenada! Stay tuned for my review of that bar. Overall, an enjoyable chocolate: chocolate + flavoursome bread/lightly salted crackers = pretty awesome

Askinosie 70% San Jose Del Tambo, Ecuador + Cocoa Nibs

This handcrafted chocolate was perfectly single origin. The added 2% cocoa butter (pressed in Askinosie's factory) and the roasted nibs on the back were both from the same batch of beans used to make the bar itself, "so in just one bite you can taste the entire story" - amazing

The bar was bought for me in the US by my brother, and I know that it is very difficult to find in the UK (only seen Cocoa Runners selling it - £6.95)! Askinosie pair this nib-studded Ecuador chocolate with nutty, savoury Gruyère, but here I am pairing it with solitude

The aroma instantly reminded me of the Tenende bar, it had a sweet smell, kind of like marshmallow - something distinct of Askinosie? It was immensely chocolatey with rubber and leather at the back, lots of delicate floral notes, bergamot and something like prune

Tobacco and cocoa were followed by flowers and earth, green banana, a little citrus buzz (bergamot). There was an acidic feel on the tongue nearing and in the finish. And in the finish there was a flooding of sweetness. Jasmine surfaced, and so did a rich chocolate flavour. The nibs gave their distinct generic taste (though superior to most)

When chewing came fruity notes, red berry, once blackcurrant, though I thought overall it remained very green, as if the heavier flavours were subduing the colourful, bright fruits

*UPDATE* I also had the chocolate without nibs, and I thought the chocolate to be so creamy, but also noticed an intense blueberry note!

It was not a bitter chocolate (far from), but its roasted flavour latched on to the back of the tongue in the finish, which I guess masqueraded as a bitterness

This Ecuadorian bar had a crunchy texture. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I love Askinosie's packaging, and seeing the farmer, Vitaliano Saravia, on the front made it a more personal, yet connected, chocolate bar

The Chocolate Tree Ecuador Milk 55% Arriba

This small batch, craft chocolate, like The Chocolate Tree's purer 84%, was made with cacao beans from the El Ensueño farm in Ecuador. The rich aroma was dairy: cheese and creamy, and honey

The taste, concisely, was bitter, honey and cocoa. It was very tannic, particularly the finish, with dairy, wood (sawdust) and almond. The texture was fairly smooth, more so than the 84% due to the added cocoa butter

Bergamot & Raspberry

The aroma was intensely bergamot with just a whisper of raspberry. The flavour was potent bergamot with the former tannin. Concentration was needed to experience the raspberry, I initially didn't get it at all. There was the bitterness of the Arriba cacao and an astringent feel on the tongue

I'm undecided whether I like bergamot. Its bitter, floral and aromatic flavour is an acquired taste. And in this case it, almost violently, dominated the chocolate. Though when it was delicate it was heavenly. The raspberry would surface and the chocolate tasted so poised

There is something so exquisite about craft chocolate. It's like fine literature. Often too coarse to be a poem, but no less delightful than a beautifully written, irresistible novel. The Chocolate Tree's Bergamot bar (only when delicate) was like Nabokov's prose style: rich, beautiful *and* poetic 

Domori Arriba Ecuador 70%

^Photograph from Domori^

The Arriba Nacional cocoa was grown in the area of Salinas de Guaranda, Ecuador. Domori say it's extremely fresh, delicate and mellow with notes of hazelnuts, bananas and citrus fruits

The cocoa nib/metallic aroma was so heavy, I did not like it. There was earth, vanilla, and coconut too, and an unusual sweet and sour sauce. Deep in the aroma I did find nice chocolate hints and blackberry though. Whilst experiencing the aroma I thought: how could this chocolate possibly be "delicate", "mellow" and "fresh"?

The chocolate touched the tongue and it turned to silk. It was so remarkably smooth that it made me question the absence of extra cocoa butter. The ingredients were simply: cocoa nibs and cane sugar

The taste did so happen to be mellow. There was hazelnut, followed by a subtle citrus, and I most definitely tasted banana, which was ever so creamy. There was a taste of almond too (which I first recognised as marzipan). The chocolate wasn't bitter considering the rich cocoa flavour. There were mild vanilla, metallic and coffee notes

I know that Arriba cacao isn't my preferred chocolate, but this really wasn't too bad. It was just too nutty and not fruity enough for my palate. I do have more Domori chocolate to taste and, like always, I'm hopeful it'll be chocolate to lust after

The Chocolate Tree Ecuador 84%

84% Ecuadorian cocoa beans and the rest cane sugar. Without any extra cocoa butter, it simply meant the cocoa was purely Ecuadorian! I loved this, though it did suggest a slight hinderance of a potentially smoother texture

The Chocolate Tree, for their Ecuadorian bars, have sourced fine cacao from their partner Golden Bean. This single estate Sabor Arriba is rare and real. It's far from the imitating CCN-51 (a strain designed for yield opposed to flavour) of which often masquerades itself as "Arriba/Nacional" on single origin Ecuadorian chocolate - so don't be fooled. But like I said, this chocolate is truly Arriba. The Chocolate Tree work directly with organic farmers, paying them considerably higher than the going rate for cocoa, this encourages the growers to care for their heirloom cacao as well as sustaining biodiversity and fine flavour chocolate

A bold aroma. It initially had that alcoholic/urine tone, which I refined such description to Narcissus "paperwhite" flower. A flower with a concentrated aroma. The chocolate was heavy with prune and red wine, hints of date syrup, grape and earth. There was a delicate buzz of citrus orange which brought honey to the nose too

The snap gave a little *click* sound. The taste opened with cocoa, and then the prune/red wine/earthy notes from aroma could be tasted along with wood. I loved when a fruitiness/acidity could be tasted and felt on the tongue, though rare, it really refreshed the cocoa 'bitterness'. A deep roast was tasted too

The texture wasn't completely smooth, but considering there was no extra butter it was well refined and tempered. The long finish was cork, tannin, astringent, mildly sour with fragrant raisin being the very last note

I appreciate this fine chocolate for the extremely high quality it is. It had the characterises of true Nacional (Arriba) bean. Although there were a number of fruity notes, I personally would not consider it to be fruity. It was some great chocolate, but the flavour just wasn't the flavour I desire when it comes to cocoa. I had a preference for The Chocolate Tree's Madagascan bar

£5.95 for 90g can be purchased here