Review: Escazú Guapiles, Costa Rica

Lindy's Rating: 7.0

Richard's Rating: 6.5

chocolate maker Escazú bar Guapiles, Costa Rica region Costa Rica plantation (blend) cacao trees (unknown) year (unknown) size 80g ~ 2.8oz cocoa solids 65% added fat cocoa butter sweetener sugar emulsifier (none) flavoring vanilla other ingredients (none) list price $5.00

color medium brown PANTONE 19-1015 Bracken texture smooth with scoring, bubbles aroma earth (must), roast, floral snap hard taste earth, sweet (brown sugar, caramel), coconut, vanilla melt smooth length medium finish slightly sweet, very slightly sour

MORE RECENT REVIEW: Escazú Guapiles, Costa Rica

Escazú is a small U.S. bean to bar chocolate maker in Raleigh, NC, started by Hallot Parson in 2005. They make pure chocolate, flavored chocolate, hot chocolate, and truffles. Guapiles is one of their two pure single origin chocolates, and is made with cacao beans from Costa Rica.

Guapiles, Costa Rica was made with 65% cocoa solids (including added cocoa butter made from the same cacao beans). Other ingredients were sugar and vanilla bean. The generous 80 gram bar was scored into 24 pieces, wrapped in gold colored foil, and enclosed in a paper sleeve. There was no production date or best before date on the bar we reviewed, and the Batch # space on the sleeve was blank.

The color of this chocolate was a medium brown Bracken (PANTONE 19-1015). The surface was smooth, but there were small bubbles in several of the top corners of the pieces. The bar had a hard snap.

There was musty earth, roast, and floral in the aroma. Initially, the earth was dominant, but the floral scent grew to become nearly as strong.

The taste of Guapiles, Costa Rica started off earthy, but soon revealed sweet flavors of brown sugar and caramel. We also tasted coconut and vanilla.

The chocolate had a smooth melt. The flavor lasted 25 to 30 seconds after the chocolate was gone, giving a medium length. The sweet flavor remained into the finish, along with a very slight sourness.

Last weekend, this bar won one of the 2012 Good Food Awards.

You can purchase Guapiles, Costa Rica online directly from Escazú for $5.00, or, to combine the purchase with other brands, from Chocolopolis for $5.99.