Aruntam Tanzania Kokoa Kamili 72% cacao

This bar has a buttery taste to start and develops faint honey flavors. The aftertaste is moderate and clean. 8.8

www.aruntamchocolate.com

The package for this bar is fairly large, and I was surprised when I opened the package to discover a much smaller inner wrapper. This bar is made in Italy, so perhaps the larger outer package is intended to protect the bar when shipped.

Kokak Ecuador Artist palette Dark Chocolate 70% cacao

There is a sharp and clean taste profile for this bar. The notes are fruity, along the lines of red fruit with some citrus aspect. This gives way to a buttery texture. The aftertaste is brief and persists the fruity taste. 9.3

Ingredients: Dark Chocolate (organic cacao mass, cane sugar, cacao butter, organic sunflower lecithin), Cream, Condensed Milk, Vanilla Bean, Sucrose, Sorbitol, Sea Salt, Glucose Syrup, Liquid Soy Lecithin, Butter, Strawberry, Cacao Nibs

This bar was previewed in the Kokak Chocolate, San Francisco post. The artist palette theme of this bar is whimsical and fun.  Note that the ingredient list of this bar is probably the longest on ChocoCheck. I suppose that some of these ingredients are used for the ink drops on the palette, but if the Cream and Condensed Milk are used in the main chocolate I would be surprised, as the bar tastes as I would expect for the dark chocolate.

Whole Foods Organic Dark Chocolate 72% cacao

This is a mildly sweet dark chocolate, with earthy notes and some faint roasted notes. The earthy aspect leans toward mushroom, while the roasted dimension is akin to cooked pudding. 7.0

Ingredients: Organic chocolate liquor*, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter*
*Rainforest Alliance Certified

The label of this bar reports that "A portion of proceeds from this bar helps fund the education of children in the Kylea District of Tanzania." This is good, though they do not indicate what percentage of the proceeds will go towards this purpose. This note might make the purchaser believe that the cacao from this bar was sourced from Tanzania, but there is no indication anywhere else on the label that this is the case. 

I also note that while the label  says that this bar is "72% cacao", the ingredients list chocolate liquor and cocoa butter, which are derived from cacao, but are an additional processing step (or more) from the bean.

Dandelion Belize Maya Mountain 2021 Harvest 70% cacao

The bar has a distinct caramel flavor, edging towards toffee. Not very bitter, but the cacao flavor of the bar is dense, leaning towards a chalky consistency. The aftertaste persists due to the the chalky aspect, but is not bitter. 7.6

Compare to Dandelion Belize Maya Mountain (2017) 70% cacao and prior editions of this origin. This bar seems milder than the prior harvests, and the taste profile is quite different. The label suggests: "We taste European tasting chocolate and strawberry coulis." The density of the cacao flavor that I taste might agree with the tasting chocolate mentioned on the label, but I do not taste strawberry or any fruit flavor.