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

Mast Brothers Vanilla & Smoke

A chocolate bar before Mast Brothers' wordmark became MAST, and before Vanilla & Smoke became just Smoke. Mast Brothers have recently launched their new range, and seem to have removed the vanilla from this Papua New Guinea smokey chocolate

The 'smoke' comes from the Papua New Guinea cacao beans being smoked. I feel confident in saying that this post-fermentation act was done at source, due to Papua New Guinea cacao being most commonly fire-dried, which naturally adds a smokey flavour. Mast Brothers stating that it is smoke is good, as we know what to expect

scuffed because from NY to LA to NY to LDN

It's an aroma of smoking car tyres. The taste was smoke, leather, vanilla comes in super quick, the smokiness flattens out and brings out pure cocoa. A nutty taste then leads to citrus acidity, which then rounds to mulberry acidity, all whilst smoking

The texture of Mast Brothers is a lot better than I remember. I liked it. The Dominican bar I had last year was pretty dry, but this Smoke & Vanilla bar was a huge improvement in texture, with the delivery of flavour being more successful 

Zotter Labooko Papua New Guinea 75%

Zotter's "island dream chocolate" is made from Papua New Guinea's first cooperative to meet all organic and Fairtrade criteria. Like all of Zotter's Labooko bars, this chocolate contains raw cane sugar, added cocoa butter and salt

The aroma had a lot on offer. Purple grape, smoked, black currants, butter, vinegar, metallic and peachy

The taste was chocolate, a blunt fuzzy sweet-sourness to it, wood and blueberry. It was very mellow with a toasted cocoa finish

This Papua New Guinea has a good smokiness and acidity. I liked it more the second time around. It can bought from Zotter (spend £15 to qualify for free delivery) or from Cocoa Runners (spend £20 for free delivery)

Fresco 219 Papua New Guinea 69%

Cacao beans from a single estate plantation in the Markham River Valley, fermented for 5 days, dried for up to 3 days, shipped to Fresco in Washington, lightly roasted and medium conched, with then cane sugar and cocoa butter thrown into the mix - this bar is recipe no. 219, the first of 4 that Fresco have for the same Papua New Guinea beans

The aroma hit before I intended on testing it. Smoke. There was berry and citrus fruits, it was spiced, dairy and with a woody background

The taste started cocoa with the smoke coming straight after, then opens to a lime'd flavour [but] a lemon acidic kick. It was spiced and oak smoked, with a dash of vinegar. It was not bitter and the texture was smooth

Great chocolate, very sour. For most, I imagine, this 45g bar (£6.95 from Cocoa Runners) would be most appropriate as a 'tasting' chocolate, but I liked it! It has a more summer-feel to it than a winter one. It's fresh and lively, and if it had that caramel note that Willie's' Indonesia had.... "oh yeeah!" -Duffman 

Pralus Papouasie 75

An interesting fact: Papua New Guinea (the eastern half of the island New Guinea) is independent from Indonesia

Pralus has a dark reputation for roasting. Heavy roasting isn't something I am a fan of (Willie's Cacao comes to mind) - so I wondered how I would fare with Pralus, who is considered the deepest chocolate roaster

Heavy roasting, to me, seems like the action one takes when one has a cacao, what T.S Eliot had said in regards to Hamlet, "full of some stuff that the writer could not drag to light, contemplate, or manipulate into art.” But I guess the proof of good chocolate is in the pudding tasting. Pralus, unlike many chocolate makers, are knowledgeable (they too have a cocoa plantation in Madagascar), so maybe in their roasts is an art, opposed to just a signature (think Mast Bros, they could not possibly smoothen their texture now - brittle/roughness is their signature)

The aroma was a bbq picnic in the woods: smoked (first thoughts: pork, and Polish Oscypek cheese, but probably more a smoked Gouda), blackberry, chilli roasted nuts, dark chocolate, wood shavings and somewhat floral. It was buttery and deep fruited sweetness

The flavour was smokey, cocoa, blackberry, spice (sweet), forest fruits, and an overall sweetness. This was a very easy-to-eat chocolate, surprising, when considering the influences (Pralus' roast, PNG volcanic soils, PNG drying techniques) 

many bubbles

I am fond of Willie's Indonesian (Java 69), and I know I cannot compare the two chocolates (too many variables) but I did anyway. The Papouasie was less smoky, more nuanced, softer on the palate