This bar is made with cocoa beans from Manabi and Los Rios provinces in western Ecuador. Once harvested these beans are shipped to Quito, Ecuador’s capital where Conexion turn them into one of their chocolate bars.
My experience of Ecuadorian cocoa tends to be one of classic chocolate flavours that are well presented. A mixture of chocolateyness and cocoa flavours mixed with caramels and the possibility of lemon, milk and nuts. I think this experience might be more precisely of Ecuador as a country wide origin or of arriba cacao as I have tried a few bars, which break from this mould and display more individual characteristics. Ecuadorian cocoa is also well known for being floral in character, especially the arriba cocoa, which I have experienced in limited amounts. I have tried a a few bars made with nacional beans and found them to be slightly more fruity. Still I’d expect a chocolatey chocolate, with archetypal qualities, with my main hope being for a chocolate that still presents an individual profile. Opening the packaging I’m presented with a 5 x 3 segment bar with a rhomboid relief print and a glossy matte finish. Breaking off a piece reveals fruity and floral aromas of blackcurrant and violet. Placing a piece in my mouth the chocolate is rich and buttery with the texture of a lightly chewy caramel. To taste this bar is simple, but mostly due to the clarity of flavour, there’s notes of blackcurrant and violet that provide the fruity and floral flavours. Those flavours come through with clear distinction and are backed by powdery sugar notes and cocoa flavours all riding on a caramel backbone. While simple, there’s good balance here and overt expression, if fruity and floral is what you’re after there’s a whole bunch of it here. This is one for those looking for an obviously floral cocoa, fans of traditional sweets or those looking for a lighter cocoa. Best enjoyed with italian meringue, cream filled rum baba, Richard III Wensleydale or cold climate pinot noir.
Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter
Appearance 8.5/10
Colour: Darker brown
Texture: Light milky ridging
Mould: 5 x 3 rhomboid relief
Snap: crisp
Temp/Shine: Glossy matte
Aroma 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 9
Notes: Blackcurrant, violet, cocoa
Quality: Fruity, floral, fermented
Melt/Mouthfeel 9/10
Length: Long
Evenness: Even
Texture: Buttery, caramel
Quality: Rich, lightly chewy, buttery
Acidity 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 3
Notes: Blackcurrant
Quality: Mild, soft, floral
Sweetness 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 9
Notes: Caramel, palma violets, confectioners sugar
Quality: Silky, floral, powdery
Flavour 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 9
Type: Sweet
Notes: Violet, caramel, sugar ring doughnut, blackcurrant, confectioners sugar
Quality: Clear, simple, fruity, floral, stable
Length /10
Flavours are full and long from the outset, making rounds on peaks of floral acidity
Finish 9/10
Notes: Confectioners sugar, blackcurrant skin
Quality: Confectioners sugar fills the finish, that powdery sugar they put on freshly baked sweet breads, with a slightly astringent blackcurrant skin that lingers like a mildly grippy red wine
Balance 9.5/10
Bar has a natural balanced with complementary flavours, medium structure provides effortless anchoring and tonnes of stability
Overall 9/10
Bar has good depth and good dimension, complexities are easily balanced and structure is consistent, expression is clear and honest with processing encouraging open expression and sweetness
Conexion’s Tasting Notes: Deeply fruity and floral
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