Chequessett Dominican Republic 72% cacao

Clean, crisp taste. Faint maple notes are in front with faint cherry in the end of the flavor profile. The bar has a low bitterness and a short aftertaste. 8.9

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic evaporated cane juice, 

chequessettchocolate.com

Metiisto Solomon Islands Paspaskato 72% cacao

There is a crisp snap to this Australian made bar. As it melts in the mouth, caramel flavor emerges. There is very low bitterness but also little sweetness. Well made, but basic chocolate. 7.8

Note that a prior review of a bar from this same origin is: Dick Taylor Solomon Islands Paspaskato 72% cacao This post includes our visit to Dick Taylor Chocolate in Eureka, California.

Tosier Belize Maya Mountains 70% cacao

Toffee and caramel are at the front of this bar's flavors. More sweet than bitter, with a clean aftertaste. 8.2

Another winner! The label indicates this bar won the Academy of Chocolate's Gold award for 2018. Congratulations!

tosier.co.uk

Potomac Dominican Republic Duarte 70% cacao

Fairly bitter for a 70% bar. On the tart side too. Raisin and cherry flavors can be tasted. There is a lengthy aftertaste, but fairly clean. 8.4

Hummingbird Chocolate Dominican Republic Zorzal 70% cacao

This bar with a bird's name is very flavorful. Peach and cherry flavors are present, with moderate bitterness. The bar is well made, with a crisp snap and even texture. 9.6

hummingbirdchocolate.com

The label lists two awards won by this chocolate maker: Silver for 2015 (America) and 2016 (World) by the International Chocolate Awards. The inside label also has much information about the zorzal songbird, and chocolate making. Long live chocolate!

Omnom Tanzania 70% cacao

Delicious bar, with fruity flavors (cherry and berry).  Smooth cacao flavor throughout from start to finish. 9.7

9th & Larkin Tanzania Kokoa Kamili 72% cacao

Flavorful, with citrus and butterscotch flavors. Smooth and not bitter. Long lasting aftertaste, sweet but warm. 9.1

Ingredients: cacao beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter

www.9thandlarkin.com

This is our first taste of another local chocolate maker. Very nice product, well made and packaged. I will look forward to tasting other bars from 9th & Larkin.

Chocolove Organic 73% cocoa

The punch is back! I lamented about a lack of "punch" for the Chocolove Organic 61% bar, but the 73% bar does have a strong presence. It is fairly bitter, with solid cacao flavor. There is also toast and carrot flavors mixing in. The aftertaste is lengthy but not too bitter. 7.7

Also, the poem is back -- "Longing" but Matthew Arnold.

Dandelion Columbia Tumaco 70% cacao

Nice burst of flavors on first taste. With notes of  hazelnut and toast, the main flavor is a sweet maple. 9.4


Ingredients: cocoa beans & cane sugar

Ethereal Haiti 70% cacao

Fairly bitter. Tasting notes from the label says: Vanilla, Brown Sugar & Raisins. This is a fair characterization of this bar. Pretty surprising that there is a strong vanilla flavor, but the bar's ingredients do not include vanilla. The brown sugar and raisins flavors are also apropos. 7.8

Ingrdients: Cocoa Beans*, Cane Sugar*, Cocoa Butter*
*organic ingredients

www.etherealconfections.com

Cacao Prieto Dominan Republic 72% cacao

More sweet than bitter, though the aftertaste is persistent. Honey and molasses notes are present. 7.8

Ingredients: Dominican Criollo Cacao & Organic raw cane sugar

www.cacaoprieto.com

Castronovo Venezuela Amazonas 72% cacao

Fairly bitter for the cacao percentage. Flavors I taste are toast, rose, cherry. Aftertaste is more in line with the cacao percentage, not very bitter, with a nice trail-off. 7.9

Jcoco (Seattle Chocolate Company) Nicaragua, Matagalpa 80% cacao

This bar has elevated bitterness due to its higher cacao content and this rolls into the long-lasting aftertaste. Faint cherry may be noticed, as well as a grapefruit element. 8.0

Ingredients: cacao nibs, cane sugar, cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin

Castronovo Belize Maya Mountain 70% cacao

Flavorful and sweet, as I have come to expect from well made Belize-origin chocolate. Flavors that come to mind are cherry, butterscotch, toast. Smooth aftertaste. Very nice! 9.8

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

I note that the label shows two awards for this bar from 2016 -- they have maintained excellent taste in the current edition.

French Broad Peru Norandino 70% cacao

Fairly bitter, with a slightly grainy texture. Cherry note is strongest, but dark sweetness is apparent. Aftertaste is astringent, but not sharply so. 7.8

Note: the bar may have been subject to poor storage during shipment, as one side of the bar has some melting and powdered surface.

Ingredients: Organic cacao, organic sugar

Dandelion Sierra Leone Gola Rainforest 70% Cacao

A good chocolate bar with uncomplicated but tasty flavor profile. Some sweetness of molasses evens out the gentle bitterness. Aftertaste is of average duration. An unremarkable but competent chocolate. 7.2

Chapon Madagascar 75% cacao

This bar is fruity and flavorful, but also robust and bracing. Citrus and berry flavors can be tasted, with a rich cacao base. The aftertaste is fairly light. 9.2

www.chocolat-chapon.com

The label is in French, as would be expected from this French chocolate maker. On their website the description for this bar is: "Fruity and fresh in mouth. Aroma of candied mirabelles plums, light tangy of red fruits (cherry) and notes of almonds.
Extra fine chocolate, powerful, slightly bitter with a lasting flavor."

$14 / 2.65oz.

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.

Arcádia Línguas de Gato 70% cacao

Fairly bitter taste, which is noticed in the persistent aftertaste. Bourbon and oak notes are noticeable, with some honey. 7.7

Ingredients: Couverture dark chocolate -- cocoa: 70% minimum (cocoa mass, sugar, emulsifier: SOYA LECIHIN)

Note that "Couverture" means "chocolate made with extra cocoa butter to give a high gloss, used for covering sweets and cakes."

www.arcadia.pt

This bar was purchased by my colleague, Todd, on his recent trip to Portugal. The bar is manufactured in Porto.

Middlebury Belize Maya Mountain 80% cacao

Rich, chocolaty taste, with cherry and walnut flavors. Moderately bitter for an 80% bar, with clean and short aftertaste. 9.1

Ingredients: cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter

I previously reviewed this bar in 2015. At the time it had different packaging and I gave it a lower rating. Not sure whether the change is in me or in an improvement of Middlebury's manufacturing technique.

Ritual Bourbon Barrel Aged 75% cacao

Hearty flavors flow from this bar, including cherry and honey. This bar is "aged in bourbon barrels," but I am not noticing oak notes. The finish is clean and moderately bitter. 9.3

$16 / 2.12 oz

Ingredients: cacao, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter

Auro Philipine Savoy 70% cacao

Very flavorful bar with robust nuttiness. Also noticed are caramel notes, nearing on butterscotch. Clean afertaste. 9.0

www.aurochocolate.com

Raphio Tanzania 72% cacao

This is a very flavorful bar -- classic Tanzania cacao. Fruity and sweet, with a honey element. Minimal aftertaste. 9.5

Ingredients: Organic Cacao Beans, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Cacao Butter

www.raphiochocolate.com

Letterpress Peru Ucayali Private Reserve 70% cacao

This is a flavorful chocolate, with cherry and a faint maple note. The aftertaste is short-lived, but rewarding. The bar has a thin profile, allowing the chocolate to develop well on tasting. 9.3

Expensive at $18 for 2.3oz from Chocolate Covered. It is on the borderline of "worth it."

Godiva Dark Mexico 68% cacao

Rich chocolate flavor, tart with cherry notes. Clean aftertaste. 8.0

Ingredients: Unsweetened chocolate, sugar, cacao butter, butter oil (milk), natural flavor, emulsifer (soy lecithin).

I assume that the "natural flavor" is vanilla.

Koruna Pralines 80% cacao

This bar is quite bitter, not surprising from an 80% cacao bar. Earthy and woody flavors accompany the basic cacao taste. As expected, the aftertaste is persistent. 7.3

pralines.cz

Website is in Czech. This is the second bar brought back from my colleague Kyle's recent European trip.

Steiner & Kovarik Extra Dark 70% cacao

Fairly bitter for a 70% bar. Flavor is rich with caramel and molasses. The aftertaste is strong, but declines quickly. 8.1

Ingredients: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifiers: soya lecithin and E476.

www.prazskacokolada.cz

My colleague Kyle brought this bar back with him from his recent European trip. Thanks, Kyle! This is the first bar on ChocoCheck from the Czech Republic.

The bar has a nice mold, which features the company name.

Harper Macaw Brazil 70% cacao

Very smooth chocolate, with floral and strawberry notes. It has a gentle aftertaste, which tapers off nicely. 9.0

Compare to Harper Macaw Brazil 67% cacao.  This bar adds the qualifier "rainforest" to the source.

Solomon Islands Pakpaskato / North Vela 72% cacao

The tasting notes on the label are: "Cherry / Almond butter / Dried Apricot" I get all three of these flavors, especially the almond butter -- there is a rich, buttery texture to the bar with an almond edge to it. The aftertaste is even, not very bitter, and persistent. 9.3

This is a small bar, with "exclusive release" on the label. The note card inside the bar describes how the Dick Taylor team met with cacao farmers in Solomon Islands to discuss farming and harvesting techniques, and the beans used with this bar were from one of those farmers who has been consistently growing high quality beans. These were the "winning beans" from Solomon Islands Chocolate Week.

Dick Taylor Guatemala Lanquin 70% cacao

There is a sharp stab of bitterness on tasting, developing into a blend of sweetness and spice. 7.9

The bar's tasting notes are: "Plumeria / Blackberry Peach Cobbler / Espresso." I think that bitter/spicy element might track to their espresso note. I am lost on the cobbler, though I can see the blackberry element. As for the plumeria, that's a tough one, as I have not experienced its fragrance for a while.

Brasstown Venezuela Guasara 70% cacao

Fairly bitter, with a smoky flavor. Aftertaste is mild, though. Label suggests these flavors: "citrus, guava, ginger." I would concur with only the ginger note. 8.2

Harper Macaw Brazil 67% cacao

The bitterness is quite low for this bar, which has a caramel flavor base with nutmeg notes. The bar is thin, a profile that enhances flavors as the bar melts in the mouth. 8.9

Note: The "Best Enjoyed By" date for this bar is October 1, 2017. However, the bar does not appear degraded in quality, visually or in taste.

 www.harpermacaw.com

Brasstown Ecuador Manabi 75% cacao

Robust flavor, fairly bitter. The label mentions "floral notes, honey, coffee." I concur on the coffee aspect, but floral and honey not so much. My summation would be "earthy." Long aftertaste due to the higher bitterness. 8.5

I previously reviewed another Brasstown bar from Ecuador: Brasstown Ecuador 75% cacao  The label does not list the province of origin, so it may be from a different province than Manabi.

Philip Marks Bolivia 68% cacao

The bar has a light touch on the bitterness scale, quite smooth. The flavor profile tends towards the nut and earthy side, but again, quite light. The finish is clean and sweet. 8.2

I tasted this same bar two and a half years ago, and it appears I have it a very similar rating: Philip Marks Bolivia 68% cacao I am not noticing the cherry and honey notes mentioned in that review, but perhaps that is due to changes in my tasting rather than the bar.

Patty Pan Cooperative Haiti - Single Origin

There is a caramel flavor dominating the initial taste. A faint smokiness can also be noticed. The bar's bitterness is moderate, with a nice aftertaste duration. 7.3

Indi Chocolate Philippines Mindanao and Haiti 72% cacao

These are the last two bars from Indi Chocolate that I purchased during my Thanksgiving trip to Seattle.

Philippines: Heavy cacao taste with earthy, molasses flavors. Bitter aftertaste. 7.1

Haiti: Medium cacao taste with mild licorice notes. Aftertaste is mild. 7.3

I was surprised to see so many single-origin bars during my visit to Indi's store in Pike's Market. I would expect a relatively new chocolate maker to develop a few products and then expand as they gain experience.

I purchased bars from eight different origins from Indi. After tasting the range, I have not found the dynamic flavors I have seen from other bars manufactured from the same origins. Some quality may have suffered from the quantity of products.

Indi is still a fairly young chocolate company, and I would expect their chocolate making to develop over time. I will revisit their products on future trips to Seattle.

Mānoa Hawaiian Island Hilo 70% cacao

Fruity burst on tasting, citrus and berries. The bar has a crisp snap, and the aroma is very pleasant. Quite low bitterness, with a gentle aftertaste. 9.4

Just as Hawaii is the only state that grows coffee, it is also the only one that farms cacao. I have tasted several Hawaiian bars, including an earlier Mānoa bar: Manoa Hawaiian Crown Estate Hamakua Hawaii 72% cocoa. Comparing notes, the taste has developed nicely in the five years since I tasted the earlier bar.

The packaging has also improved, with a nice mold for the bar and a wrapper that brings out the atmosphere of the islands.

Indi Chocolate Ecuador, Ecuador Los Rios and Ecuador Fortezza Del Valle 72% cacao

Three of the bars I purchased from Indi Chocolates were from Ecuador. The first does not specify a region of origin, but the others do. Let us compare!

Ecuador
I taste nutty and earthy flavors in this bar. It has a robust cacao flavor, with some bitterness. The aftertaste is of moderate duration and strength. 7.0

Ecuador Los Rios
There is a distinct caramel flavor from this bar. The bitterness is mild, which results in a short aftertaste. Nicely made. 7.8

Ecuador Fortezza Del Valle
This bar is similar to the Los Rios bar: caramel flavor and mild bitterness. The profile seems flatter, though. 7.6