Harper Macaw Brazil Tomé Açu Bourbon Barrel Aged 75% cacao

This is a first for ChocoCheck, a chocolate bar made with cacao aged in bourbon barrels. The bourbon and oak flavors are certainly noticeable. Other flavors take a backseat, but are mostly from the same palette -- maple and cherry. The bitterness if fairly low and the aftertaste is clean. 9.0

Ingredients: cocoa beans, cane sugar*, cocoa butter*
*organic

The label mentions that the bar was made in the spirit of experimentation. From my tasting the experiment was a success. I do not review chocolates with added flavorings (except for vanilla in prior years) or add-ins, but this processing technique of aging the cacao beans in an oak barrel is an interesting angle taken from whiskey manufacturing. I will be interested to taste other applications of the technique.

Rózsavölgyi Tanzania Mababu 75% cacao

A very flavorful bar. There is a strong cherry note to start, followed by a airy, lemon-meringue sweet-citrus taste. Bitterness is very low, and the cherry carries through in the aftertaste. 9.5

Ingredients: cocoa beans, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter

www.rozsavolgyi.com

This chocolate maker is located in Budapest. I had thought I reviewed one of their bars previously, but could not find one on ChocoCheck. Looking at my reviews of other bars with Tanzania cacao, most ratings are above 9.0, with the lowest at 7.7 (a Whole Foods bar).

Rózsavölgyi has an artistic mold, well worth including in this post.

Alnatura Feine Bitter 70% cacao

Quite bitter and stark. Earthy and woodiness comes to mind, but some sweetness with a touch of maple. Long aftertaste with trailing bitterness. 7.0

www.alnatura.de

Zutaten: Kakaomasse*, Rohrohzucker*, Kakaobutter*
* aus biologischer Landwirtschaft

which translates to:

Ingredients: cocoa mass*, raw sugar*, cocoa butter*
* from organic agriculture

One of the benefits of my colleagues know that I am a chocolate taster is that my desk is often piled high with chocolates they bring back from trips. This time Agam brought back a bounty of Swiss chocolate from his recent trip to Europe.

There were three dark chocolates in the batch which I will review here. The others are being enjoyed across the team. 

Hogarth Fiji Matasawalevu 73% cacao

Very rich, dark chocolate. Quite bitter for 73% cacao. Tannic, with a molasses underlay. Long aftertaste. Bracing. 7.9

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, pure cane sugar, pure cocoa butter.

 www.hogarthchocolate.co.nz

This is the first chocolate of Fiji origin I have tasted on ChocoCheck. It is also the first bar from Hogarth Craft Chocolates that I have tasted.  I always enjoy a beautiful mold, and Hogarth has a fine one which echos the ship-on-turbulent-sea motif on the wrapper.

Neuhaus São Tomé 72% cocoa

Robust and earthy, though not too bitter. Some raspberry notes filter through the rich cocoa flavors. Aftertaste is fairly brief, though echoing in the earthy cacao. 7.9

Ingredients: Dark chocolate 72%: cocoa mass, sugar, emulsifier: soy lecithin

This was another bar brought home by my colleague from his recent trip to Europe. Thanks, Todd!

I previously tasted another Neuhaus bar of São Tomé cacao, though that bar was 74%. The review was from 2010 -- early in ChocoCheck history.

Tiny House Tanzania Kokoa Kamili 71% cacao

Very flavorful, with berry, toast and honey notes. Low bitterness, warm aftertaste. 9.4

Ingredients: Cacao and Organic Sugar

tinyhousechocolate.com

This is a local chocolate manufacturer from Santa Cruz. Their website indicates that their products can be purchased in just two stores, a Santa Cruz yoga store, and my favorite chocolate source, where I bought this bar, Chocolate Covered.