Tadzio Vietnam, Venezuela, Brazil, Philippines

Tadzio, a one-bean; two-ingredient chocolate-making operation, taking inspiration from Japanese minimalism in his presentation, has a growing collection of cocoa beans. When life hands you cocoa beans, you make chocolate, when life hands you chocolate, you relish and write ...

Bén Tre, Vietnam 71%
From 2 batches, the second bettered the first. It was smoky, spiced, Bourbon, pecan nut, honey, maple, later came an occasional sharp acidity, but prior to that, it was fantastic with its flavours

Puerto Cabello, Venezuela 71%
A taste of cocoa husk, real-rustic chocolate, spice and marjoram, green notes and rocks. It had a smooth melt. The aroma hadn't been as inviting, but nothing from the aroma gets picked up in flavour. This one is rather chocolate-y! 

Bahia, Brazil
Rainbow Dust yields to roasted coffee. It melts so cleanly, quickly gone. I go back to this one a week later, it's still that lime and Rainbow Dust sherbet, but now it's followed with hazelnut, then raisin, meanders to Cadbury's Brazilian Darkness. Great flavours, and just really quite interesting. I am very familiar with these Brazilian cocoa beans, but not with this flavour profile. This chocolate had the smoothest, coolest and softest melt of Tadzio's collection

South Cotabato, Philippines 73%
Sweet and warming on the nose. Straight away it's toasty, a high roast - these Philippine beans are very small, so "easy to do" says Tadzio in revealing a possible over-roast. With the roasted profile is rich, dark chocolate. And then slowly develops a curry-like aura with fragrant spices. A really lovely chocolate

Marou Ben Tre Coconut 58%

A bar I heard great things about, like really great things about; who knew a week later I'd get to try it. It's the first milk chocolate from Marou. Marou being tree-to-bar chocolate made by two French chaps with Vietnamese cacao in Vietnam, the rest is just noise (named provinces in Vietnam)

Ingredients: Ben Tre province cacao, coconut milk, cane sugar, cocoa butter

Coffee at Prufrock, Marou's very special coconut bar lands on the table. Ah!

The aroma was fresh creamed coconut, exotic holidays. The taste always had the coconut, but amongst it was a journey of raspberry jam to cocoa, brightness to comfort

It tasted just like a hybrid of Snowball cakes and jam teacakes (milk chocolate coated) - British biscuit culture galore

The melt was thicker and not as smooth in texture compared to Marou's dark chocolates. It still finishes cleanly, and there was no bitterness at all

It's not quite "only available at Maison Marou" like the packaging states, as this was bought in Bangkok, but it is a rarity. Three extra thoughts: it pairs beautifully with a dark beer, I love the more rustic packaging, it's just really well crafted chocolate with quality ingredients 

Marou Dong Nai 72%

Marou make their chocolate with only Vietnamese cocoa beans, cane sugar and cocoa butter, apart from their limited edition bar which had a cashew praline in the middle layer. This Dong Nai 72% was of cacao produced at Marou's own fermentation and drying station in Dong Nai, Marou say that this makes it "a very rare 'pod-to-bar' chocolate"

The aroma straight away had a roasted timbre to it, with grapefruit, clove and little metallic undertones

The taste was very roasted (thoughts of burning toast), bitterness transitioned into a lightness of creamy coconut, hazelnut, chilli, followed by Vietnamese characteristics I lovingly recognised (acidity and spice)

The melt wasn't as silky smooth as Marou often is, it felt more waxy. The butteriness in taste and texture gave a calming feel, however I am more about louder, more expressive chocolate. Overall a good chocolate, not my favourite of Marou's but still good

Hotel Chocolat Rabot 1745 Vietnam 80%

This chocolate from Hotel Chocolat is a Vietnamese blend, with cacao from "Mekong Delta and Dong Nah" [sic] - It is Dong Nai, or Đồng Nai. I have Marou's 72% Dong Nai, which will be interesting to see how these two differ and resemble

The aroma was tobacco, sour cherry, leather. The taste begun toasty and cocoa, cue sour cherries in club soda (carbonated water). The finish was marmite

Texture wise, to my surprise, there was a notably short grind. This made the chocolate, along with the Rabot bark-like mould, feel very rustic 

This was not a bitter chocolate, because of that carbon dioxide (sour) and sweet acidity. The carbonated water taste was strange, but really quite fascinating

For an 80%, this chocolate was so easy to eat - which made me respect Hotel Chocolat, as they have evidently taken care over wonderful Vietnamese cocoa beans 

Marou Treasure Island

This 75% Vietnamese cacao chocolate bar came in my Cocoa Runners box a while back. It is made from cocoa from various farms on the Tan Phu Dong Island

I loved Marou's Ba Ria 76 so much, and it was the 2nd small batch, single origin, craft chocolate I had had! I look back so fondly upon it

The aroma, nonpareil. Honey drizzled in rooibos tea and stewed plums, orange blossoms, ***cinnamon*** spice, almond nougat, milky, vanilla and wood. There was a sweet sweet sweetness seeping through which revealed itself to be liquorice root. Ethereal 

The taste, au contraire. Cocoa, opening up to a roasted profile: loose tobacco, still the rooibos tea, and wood. The taste felt like: (   .   ) - almost like it was in the middle of a void. I feel there was too much added cocoa butter. A loss of the true flavour of the cacao! It is a shame because this cacao was phenomenal and the added cocoa butter subdued it

The rooibos built up and then the cocoa finished. I think cocoa in red bush tea would be very nice. This chocolate only fell short of perfection due to its lost taste, but its aroma was beautiful

Marou Ba Ria 76%

Made from Trinitario cocoa beans of the Bà Ria province in Vietnam and cane sugar only, I was excited to taste this chocolate as I hadn't heard of Vietnam growing cocoa. Also, as there was no added flavouring, it simply meant that I was about to experience the real flavour of these fine, Vietnamese Trinitario beans. Marou currently produce 5 different single origin bars, each made from cocoa beans of a different region in Vietnam 

The chocolate was wrapped in gold foil with a Marou 'M' sticker concealing it. The consistent gold being used for the packaging made it seem grand and the three colours contrasted well

It was a dark aromatic chocolate, with fruity tones being most noticeable. Although subtle, the roast along with a slight earthiness deepened the aroma. It wasn't intense but very mature

The embossed logo along with the diamond scoring is nice

A prominent rich fruity taste to match the aroma, as well as there now being a little spice. The sweetness was like a warm honey, making it taste soft and mellow. It wasn't bitter at all. And it was dynamic to say the least. I then had balsamic vinegar, a white grape... it wasn't overly acidic as a sweetness dominated, but it did feel ever so cool on the left side of the tongue 

This 76% provided a smooth, long melt which enhanced those flavours for you to appreciate the complexity of the chocolate even more. I found that when chewing, it appeared to have an almost oily flavour and texture and the sweet fruity tones became quite numb... developing into a subtler taste of green grape/olive

The finish was quite long with soft oaky tones as the sweetness fades. Ah such a beautiful chocolate - full of flavour, surprisingly sweet and very interesting. The complex flavours engage the senses and really make you think. Very impressive chocolate