Aretè Peru Nacional Marañon Canyon 66% cocoa

The first taste of this bar reveals low bitterness, and a blend of cherry and tobacco flavors. As the chocolate develops, the aftertaste is smooth with a rapid falloff of cocoa flavor, but persistence of the cherry. 8.8

Ingredients: cocoa (Peru Nacional), organic case sugar, cocoa butter (Peru Nacional)

aretefinechocolate.com

This is the first taste I have had of a bar from this local (SF Bay Area) chocolate maker. Nice to find them!

Marou Viet Nam Bà Ria 76% Cocoa

Like other Marou bars I've tasted, this bar has a punch. Robust cocoa flavor with coffee and earthy flavors. Overall the taste is rather bitter. This continues into the aftertaste, which drifts towards a metallic edge in the finish. 7.1

Ingredients: Cocoa & cocoa butter (76% cocoa), cane sugar (24%)

The Smooth Chocolator Tanzania 70% cacao

I notice honey and graham cracker flavors in this well made chocolate. The aftertaste is smooth, with echoes of the cacao. 9.0

Ingredients:  Cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter

The label reports that this bar won the bronze at the 2016 International Chocolate Awards (Americas). This is an Australian chocolate company.

www.smoothchoc.com

Nói Síríus Icelandic Chocolate 45% cocoa

The flavor is underscored by the "bourbon vanilla" ingredient.

Ingredients: 45% Dark Chocolate - Sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, emulsifier (soya lecithin), bourbon vanilla.

www.noi.is

My colleague brought this bar back with her from her recent trip to Iceland.

Recchiiuti 63% Illanka Bar

Clean bar, with a loud vanilla flavor. Smooth taste throughout, nicely manufactured.

Ingredients: Dark chocolate (cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, soy letichin, natural vanilla extract)

This Recchiuti bar is made from the Valrhona 63% Illanka bar. Valrhona is donating some proceeds from the sale of the chocolate to its Clean Water Project.

Mt. Shasta Bar Dark Chocolate

This specialty chocolate tastes about as expected -- chocolaty. The vanilla in the ingredients dominates the flavor. Not bad, but not great.

Ingredients: Bittersweet chocolate (chocolate liquor processed with potassium carbonate, sugar, cocoa butter, butter oil), soya lecithin and pure vanilla.

This bar represents the Mount Shasta area of California, a couple hours north of the bay area. We traveled to Madras, OR for Eclipse 2017, and our first stop was near Mt. Shasta. Unfortunately, the smoke from fires further north has encroached on the area, so the mountain was not very visible.

We continued on north to Madras, where the air was much clearer.

The label indicates that this bar was produced by Chocolate de Nannette in Redding, CA for Mt. Shasta Products: www.chocolatdenannette.com

Rococo Organic 65% cocoa

There are some earthy elements in this bar, with butter/maple notes. Some faint fruit flavors are present, cherry/raisin mostly. Low bitterness and clean aftertaste. 7.7

rococochocolates.com