Review: Zotter Labooko Peru 100%

Richard's Rating: 8.0

chocolate maker Zotter bar Labooko Peru 100% region Peru plantation (blend) cacao trees (unknown) year 2013 size 70g ~ 2.5oz cocoa solids 100% added fat (none) sweetener (none) emulsifier (none) flavoring (none) other ingredients (none) list price 3,35€

color medium brown PANTONE 19-1015 Bracken texture smooth, relief, imprints, textured top, adhered bits aroma earth, roast (smoke), floral, spice snap hard taste roast (smoke, cocoa), earth, fruit, sour melt smooth length long finish tannin, slightly sour

Josef Zotter is the vision behind Austrian chocolate maker Zotter. They opened their own chocolate factory in 2006, and craft fair trade and organic chocolate from bean to bar. Zotter produces several single origin chocolates as well as a huge variety of flavored chocolates. Labooko is their line of chocolate bars that includes single origin and pure dark chocolates.

Labooko Peru 100% is their only chocolate made from 100% cocoa mass (with no added cocoa butter). As with all of the Labooko line, this chocolate was sold as a package of two 35 gram bars. Each bar was wrapped in gold foil-sided wax paper that was glued into the folds of a heavy outer paper wrapper (which was taped closed).

The bar itself had a relief of "zotter" on a small smooth upper portion of the bar and imprints of "Labooko" and stylized cacao pods (one of which was covered in writing) on a textured lower portion of the bar. The best before date was April 19, 2014. Based on the described shelf life of 14 months, the bar was likely produced in February.

The color of the chocolate was a medium brown Bracken (PANTONE 19-1015). The overall appearance was great, with some tiny bits of adhered chocolate on the surface.

A hard snap revealed its nice aroma of earth, roast, floral, and spice. The roast scent was somewhat smoky.

The taste of Peru 100% contained roast, earth, and fruit flavors. The roast included smoke and cocoa. I also tasted some sourness.

The chocolate had a smooth melt, not far from more smooth. The length was long, with the chocolate flavor lasting 40 to 45 seconds after the chocolate was gone. The finish was tannin and slightly sour, without any bitterness.

Overall, this was a wonderfully pleasant surprise and a great 100% bar. Even though the taste was not especially interesting, it was good, and the appearance, length, and finish were all excellent.

You can purchase Labooko Peru 100% online for €3,35 directly from Zotter or for $7.99 from Chocolopolis.

Northwest Chocolate Festival Living Social Deal

Living Social now has a deal running for passes to the 2013 Northwest Chocolate Festival on September 21 and 22. I haven't yet written a posting about this year's event, but here's info about the 2012 event and you can read about this year on the Northwest Chocolate Festival website.

With this deal for more than 50% off, you can purchase a one-day pass for either Saturday or Sunday for only $17 (vs. $35), a weekend pass for $32 (vs. $65), or a family pass for two adults and two children for one day for $36 (vs. $75).

Note that a similar deal on Groupon is still available as well. UPDATE: the Groupon deal is no longer available.

Review: Marou Dong Nai 72%

Richard's Rating: 7.0

chocolate maker Marou bar Dong Nai region Vietnam plantation (blend) cacao trees Trinitario year (unknown) size 100g ~ 3.5oz cocoa solids 72% added fat cocoa butter sweetener cane sugar emulsifier (none) flavoring (none) other ingredients (none) list price N/A

color medium brown PANTONE 19-1317 Bitter Chocolate texture smooth, scoring, imprint, uneven sheen, bubbles, adhered bits aroma earth, wood, roast (malt) snap hard taste sweet (honey), roast (smoke), spice (pepper, anise), earth melt smooth length medium finish somewhat bitter, slightly sour

Marou, Faiseurs de Chocolat, is the first artisan bean to bar maker to craft chocolate in Vietnam made from Vietnamese cacao. Samuel Maruta and Vincent Mourou released their first bars in December 2011 from their small nut-free factory in Ho Chi Minh City.

All of their chocolate is made from only cacao, cocoa butter, and cane sugar. They also make the cocoa butter they use from their own cacao. Marou currently produces five bars, each made with Trinitario cacao from a different region within Vietnam: Ba Ria, Ben Tre, Dong Nai, Lam Dong, and Tien Giang.

Dong Nai So Co La Den was hand-wrapped in bronze foil-sided paper and sealed using a sticker of the Marou logo ("M"). It was then enclosed in an ochre yellow paper wrapper with silk-screened gold ink and closed with double-sided adhesive. Each regional bar has a different colored wrapper. Here's an article about the design of Marou's outer wrappers.

This chocolate contained 72% cocoa solids (cacao plus added cocoa butter) and 28% cane sugar. It came in a large 100 gram bar. I prefer these traditional full-sized bars that have often been replaced by smaller sizes in an effort to lower the price per bar. The Dong Nai bar had the Marou logo imprinted in the center and surrounded by diagonal scoring that gave pieces of different sizes. The best before date was October 25, 2013.

The color of Dong Nai was a medium brown Bitter Chocolate (PANTONE 19-1317). The surface was smooth with an uneven sheen. There were some bubbles and bits of adhered chocolate.

The bar had a hard snap. The aroma of the chocolate contained earth, wood, and roast scents. The roast included malt.

Dong Nai tasted sweet, with roast, spice, and earth flavors. The sweetness came in the form of honey. The roast was smoky. I tried to identify individual spice flavors, and the two closest seemed to be pepper and anise.

The chocolate had a smooth melt. The flavor lasted 25 to 30 seconds after the chocolate was gone, giving it a medium length. The final aftertaste was somewhat bitter and slightly sour.

You can purchase Marou Dong Nai 72% online for $9.00 from Chocolopolis.

Northwest Chocolate Festival Groupon

There's another Groupon running with some of the same terrific one-day deals to the 2013 Northwest Chocolate Festival on September 21 and 22. I haven't yet written a posting about this year's event, but here's info about the 2012 event and you can read about this year on the Northwest Chocolate Festival website.

You can purchase a one-day pass for either Saturday or Sunday for only $18 (vs. $35) or a one day pass for two people for only $34 (vs. $70). Unfortunately, the full weekend passes sold out in the prior Groupon. This is my favorite chocolate event of the year, and this offer is likely to be the best price you'll find to the event.

Here's a direct link to the Groupon. It is scheduled to run through Sunday, August 18th, but may end sooner.

Review: Åkesson's Brazil Fazenda Sempre Firme 75%

Richard's Rating: 6.0

chocolate maker (unknown) bar Brazil region Brazil plantation Sempre Firme cacao trees Forastero year 2011 size 60g ~ 2.1oz cocoa solids 75% added fat cocoa butter sweetener cane sugar emulsifier soy lecithin flavoring (none) other ingredients (none) list price N/A

color medium-dark brown PANTONE 19-1317 Bitter Chocolate texture relief, scoring, smooth, uneven sheen, scuffing aroma earth (hay), roast (tobacco) snap hard taste earth (hay), roast (tobacco), bitter, fruit (berry, raisin), sweet melt smooth length short finish somewhat bitter, slightly sour, slightly acidic

Åkesson's sells three single origin plantation bars: Madagascar Ambolikapiky and Bali Sukrama Farms that we've previously reviewed, and this one: Brazil Fazenda Sempre Firme. Åkesson purchased this plantation in Bahia in 2009.

The cacao grown at Fazenda Sempre Firme is a Forestero variety called Parazinho. Åkesson's Brazil chocolate was made with 75% cocoa solids (cacao beans from this plantation and added cocoa butter). The other 25% were cane sugar and soy lecithin.

Åkesson's chocolate is made by an unnamed French company (presumed to be Pralus). Even though they did not make the chocolate themselves, Åkesson's was actively involved in production decisions.

The bar came sealed in a clear cellophane inside a black paper box. It weighed 60 grams and had a large "Å" relief in the center. The bar was scored into symmetrically, but unevenly, into 9 pieces. The best before date for this particular bar was December 16, 2013.

Brazil Fazenda Sempre Firme had a medium dark brown Bitter Chocolate (PANTONE 19-1317) color. The chocolate was not in perfect condition (probably from improper transportation or storage at some point), yet the surface was smooth with an uneven sheen and a little scuffing. The picture above over-emphasized the contrast -- the bar looked better in person.

The aroma was primarily a strong earthy scent that reminded me of wet hay. There was also a tobacco roast. The combination smelled slightly unpleasant to me. The snap was hard.

The initial taste of this chocolate was similar its aroma: a powerful earthy hay with tobacco roast undertones. Bitterness and sweetness were present as fruit flavors developed. I tasted berry and raisin in particular.

The melt was smooth. The chocolate flavor lasted 15 to 20 seconds after the chocolate was gone, giving a short length. The finish was somewhat bitter, slightly sour, and slightly acidic.

Åkesson's previous Brazil bar, made with cacao from a neighboring farm (Fazenda Monte Alegre), won a gold in 2011 from the Academy of Chocolate.

You can purchase Åkesson's Brazil Fazenda Sempre Firme 75% online from The Meadow for $7.95.

Chocolopolis kickstarter needs a little help

If you're willing to help out a fantastic independent Seattle chocolate store with an amazing selection (that ships anywhere in the U.S.), please consider contributing to their kickstarter project.

The project is more than 80% funded, but with only 5 days left, they need your help for this project to succeed (and you get some nice perks). Please note that I am not affiliated with Chocolopolis in any way. I am simply a happy customer whose life is a little better with them here.

If you're at all considering contributing, please pledge even a small amount.

If you have already pledged, thank you! Consider increasing your pledge, as I did recently.

Review: Spartak Bitter Elite Aerated 72%

Richard's Rating: 4.0

chocolate maker (unknown) bar Bitter Elite region Côte d'Ivoire plantation (blend) cacao trees (unknown) year 2012 size 75g ~ 2.6oz cocoa solids 72% added fat (none) sweetener sugar emulsifier soy lecithin flavoring vanillin other ingredients (none) list price N/A

color medium brown PANTONE 19-1431 Fudgesickle texture rough, scoring, aerated, adhered bits, scuffing aroma vanilla, sweet, roast, fruit (prune, coconut) snap medium taste roast, sweet, vanilla, fruit (prune), hint of almond melt aerated, less smooth length short finish somewhat bitter, somewhat tannin

Spartak is a company from Belarus. I do not know whether they make their own chocolate or have someone else produce it. I did find out that they source their cacao from Côte d'Ivoire.

Aerated chocolate is made by foaming the chocolate with a gas (typically nitrogen). The result is chocolate filled with bubbles, increasing both volume and surface area. Spartak sells both normal and aerated chocolate bars.

The ingredients of Bitter Elite Aerated were cocoa mass, sugar powder, soy lecithin, and "natural vanilla flavor" (which is the artificial ingredient vanillin fermented from edible inputs). A friend of mine gave me this chocolate bar to review (thanks Edward!) Normally, I would not consider reviewing any chocolate containing vanillin. However, since this bar was also aerated, I thought it would be interesting to make an exception.

Bitter Elite Aerated came sealed in a plastic wrapper, but was otherwise unprotected. The 75 gram bar contained 72% cocoa solids and was scored into 24 pieces. The production date was December 3, 2012. Unfortunately, as you can see in the photo above, the bar experienced some terrible conditions on its way to me.

The chocolate had a medium brown Fudgesickle (PANTONE 19-1431) color. The surface was rough, with some sheen, bubbles, and lots of superficial damage and adhered bits. The snap was medium, partially due to the aeration.

The aroma of Bitter Elite was a strong vanilla, with sweetness and scents of roast and fruit. The fruit scent included prune and coconut.

I tasted some roast, sweet, and prune flavors in the chocolate, but the dominant flavor was clearly vanilla. There was also just a hint of almond in the taste.

The melt was interesting due to the aeration. There was a sensation similar to carbonation as the chocolate melted and collapsed. Due to the low density, seemingly substantial pieces of chocolate were consumed surprisingly quickly. The melt seemed less smooth to me, though the aeration made it more difficult to compare.

The chocolate flavor lasted about 10 seconds after the chocolate was gone, giving a short length. The final aftertaste was somewhat bitter and somewhat tannin.

I definitely prefer the melt of traditional non-aerated chocolate. As for this particular chocolate, while its strong aroma was pleasant, the flavor was overwhelmed by the vanillin.

It appears that you can purchase Spartak Bitter Elite Aerated online from Russian Products for $2.64, though I've never shopped there.

Review: Rogue Balao 75%

Richard's Rating: 8.0

chocolate maker Rogue bar Balao region Ecuador plantation Camino Verde cacao trees (unknown) year 2012 size 60g ~ 2.1oz cocoa solids 75% added fat (none) sweetener cane sugar emulsifier (none) flavoring (none) other ingredients (none) list price $13.00

color medium-dark brown PANTONE 19-1015 Bracken texture smooth, glossy, spot of uneven sheen, adhered bits aroma earth (must), wood (cedar), spice, floral snap hard taste earth, spice, fruit (papaya), sweet, wood, floral melt more smooth length long finish tannin, slightly sour

U.S. chocolate maker Colin Gasko hand-crafts single origin bean to bar chocolate as Rogue Chocolatier. As you've probably read in our enthusiastic reviews of his other bars (Hispaniola, Piura, Rio Caribe, Sambirano, and Silvestre), Colin seeks out excellent cacao, works with farmers to help improve fermentation and drying, pays 2-4 times fair-trade prices, and maintains his focus on quality during every step as he produces each chocolate bar.

All of Rogue's chocolate is absolutely pure: made from only cacao beans and cane sugar. The factory in Three Rivers, Massachusetts, is soy-free, nut-free, wheat-free, and dairy-free. The ingredients of Balao were 75% cacao beans from Ecuador and 25% cane sugar.

Rogue provided an insert with extensive information about the cacao of this bar:

Vicente Norero of Camino Verde in Balao, Ecuador, is obsessive about quality. He has painstakingly renovated 500 hectares of traditional Ecuadorian varieties of cacao on his farm and in the process is raising the bar for Ecuadorian beans. He carefully controls fermentation and drying following the latest science and then tastes the liquor to determine profile. Vicente even goes so far as to sort cacao pods by phenotype (shape) and process them differently! For the Balao bar, we worked with Vicente to process two special lots. We blended two phenotype-optimized fermentations to create the world's first single-farm blend. One fermentation is more floral, green, and herbal and the other more spicy, woody, and fruity. The combination produces a remarkable chocolate that highlights Vicente's passion.

The 60 gram bar came sealed in a plastic pouch inside a heavy white paper envelope. It arrived with the top corner broken. The bar reviewed here was from batch 1 of Balao chocolate and was produced in December 2012.

Balao had a medium-dark brown Bracken (PANTONE 19-1015) color. The bar was a single unscored slab. It was smooth and had a lovely glossy sheen. There was a spot of unevenness in the sheen, and some adhered bits of chocolate. The bar had a hard snap.

The aroma contained earth, wood, spice, and floral scents. The earthiness was musty, and the woody aspect smelled distinctly of cedar.

The chocolate tasted much like it smelled, but without the cedar. An initial earthiness was soon joined by spice and fruit. As the taste became sweet, it seemed to me that the fruit included papaya. Woodiness and floral flavors were also present.

I categorized the melt as more smooth, though it was nearly creamy. The length was also remarkably long, with the chocolate flavor lasting 45 to 50 seconds after the chocolate was gone. The finish was tannin and slightly sour.

The superb sheen, wonderful melt (with no added cocoa butter), and enduring length were evidence of the production quality of this chocolate. Overall, this was the best Ecuador bar I've tasted in a long time.

You can purchase Balao 75% online for $13.00 directly from Rogue or for $11.99 from Chocolopolis. I've never purchased chocolate from them before, but I also found it available from Bar & Bean for only $8.00!

Review: Askinosie Davao Philippines

Richard's Rating: 6.5

chocolate maker Askinosie bar Davao, Philippines region Philippines plantation (blend) cacao trees Trinitario year 2012 size 85g ~ 3.0oz cocoa solids 77% added fat cocoa butter sweetener cane juice emulsifier (none) flavoring (none) other ingredients (none) list price $8.00

color medium-dark brown PANTONE 19-1015 Bracken texture smooth, scoring, character reliefs, tiny bubbles, adhered bits aroma earth, roast (malt, tobacco), fruit, sweet snap medium hard taste earth, acidic, bitter, fruit, wood, roast (smoke, cocoa), sour, caramel melt more smooth length medium finish bitter, somewhat acidic, slightly sour

In 2011 we reviewed three of Askinosie's four unflavored bean to bar dark chocolates: Cortés Honduras, San Jose Del Tambo Ecuador, and Tenende Tanzania. Today, we're finally posting a review of the fourth: Davao Philippines.

As you might recall from those prior reviews, Shawn Askinosie has developed personal relationships with the farmers who grow his cacao. He also shares the profits from his chocolate with them. The Trinitario cacao for this chocolate comes from the Davao region in the southeast Philippines. Peter Cruz is the lead farmer there, and is pictured on the wrapper.

Davao is the first single origin chocolate made by anyone from Philippine cacao. The 77% cocoa solids in this chocolate consisted of 75% cacao and 2% added cocoa butter. The remaining ingredient was organic cane juice (the other 23%). Note that the cocoa butter was actually pressed from the same Davao cacao, rather than a cheaper, lower quality cocoa butter used by most chocolate makers.

The 85 gram bar was scored into 18 pieces, each with a single letter of "Askinosie chocolate". It came wrapped in NatureFlex™ inside a waxed brown paper bag.

Askinosie uses a best before date of 1 year after the bar was produced as a "Choc-o-lot #" to identify the production run of the chocolate bar. The Choc-o-lot # is stamped on each wrapper and you can view a brief production history by entering it on their homepage. The Choc-o-lot # of the bar reviewed here was 060613, indicating it was finished on June 6, 2012.

The color of Davao was a medium-dark brown Bracken (PANTONE 19-1015). The surface was smooth and the bar looked great other than some small imperfections: a few tiny bubbles in the raised lettering, some adhered bits, and a couple of places where the sheen was uneven. The bar had a medium hard snap.

Davao had an earthy aroma, with scents of roast, fruit, and sweetness. The roast contained both malt and tobacco.

The earthiness of the aroma was just as prominent in the taste. The earthy flavor was acidic and bitter, but not unpleasantly so. I tasted additional flavors of fruit, wood, roast in the form of smoke and cocoa, caramel, and some sourness.

The chocolate had a melt that was more smooth. The length was medium, with the chocolate flavor lasting 25 to 30 seconds after the chocolate was gone. The finish was bitter, somewhat acidic, and slightly sour.

You can purchase Askinosie Davao Philippines online directly from Askinosie for $8.00. To combine it with the purchase of other chocolate, you can buy Davao for $7.99 from Chocolopolis or Caputo's.