Catching up with Amano

Last spring three new bars were released by Amano Artisan Chocolate. They were a limited 70% (Montanya,) and two milk chocolates made with origins that were already in production as bittersweet 70% chocolates (Jembrana and Ocumare.) With two brand new origins hot off the presses now this month, I take the opportunity to combine all five into one article and get caught up to speed with what's happening at Amano. Chocolate maker Art Pollard has found he likes to hang out at the 70th percentile, it seems, as this is where the Amano bittersweet origins all dwell, and the milks are both 30%.

Dos Rios
rating: 9.2

Very distinctive chocolate with a strongly perfumed aroma of a character you won't find elsewhere. You might think this bar is a flavored chocolate, as the perfumes start to fill the air the minute you even open the paper box, even while this chocolate is still wrapped in foil. But no, it is straight "dark" chocolate with no flavorings, (other than vanilla, which Amano adds to each of their chocolates.) Every chocophile must try Dos Rios at least uno, or perhaps Dos veces? Even if it probably won't be a "crowd pleaser," not all will want to return to it more than that, but here is a chocolate experience best not to miss out on as you explore the world of cacao, it's just that unique.

Now I normally try to go into the tasting of each new chocolate with as little as possible knowledge of exactly what notes I am "supposed" to find there, and then check in, after my first tasting, about what some others may have noted, and read the package, etc. But I also like to keep tabs on what's going on in the world of fine chocolate, and so peruse various websites, and the inside scoop is that Martin Christy, of 70%, has had a little to do with the creation of the Dos Rios chocolate. On his blog Martin tells the story of how he discovered a unique chocolate liquor in his travels, and talked with Art Pollard about the possibility of making this into a chocolate. The basis of the article was indeed the uniqueness of the flavor profile, so it was pretty tough to avoid an advance expectation about the nature of this chocolate.

So there has been a little hype and some built in expectation, but how does this chocolate measure up now? Does it taste very strongly of bergamot, as in the orange, Citrus bergamia (such as the essential oil, found also in Earl Grey tea) and rose? Yes, the bergamot/Earl Grey is strong, and so is the rose, but I found lilac perhaps at least equal to the rose. Does it taste strongly of cinnamon and clove, as the package suggests? I found cardamom played a greater part than either of those spices. Other strong tones in this chocolate are brown sugar, caramel, and pepper notes. There are hints at artificial perfume and a tiny presence of some chemical notes. Maybe a touch of Aqua Velva (aftershave) in the aroma? Hair of "carpet cleaner" in the flavor? Little bit of quasi artificial rose perfume in the long aftertaste? Most of this is quite fleeting, except the persistent floral/perfume aftertaste. Without these perhaps this chocolate would receive a 9.3 or 9.4. As it is, 9.2 is nothing to sneeze at, and it's one of the more memorable chocolates around at the moment, and certainly up there with Art Pollard's best work to date.

At this time both the Dos Rios and Guayas chocolates may be ordered only through the Amano blog, so you may add them to your cart on this link, and then continue shopping on the main Amano website if you wish, either way all items will be totaled and shipped through the same shopping cart.



aroma: bergamot, rose, Earl Grey tea, cherry, citrus, cardamom, lilac, candle wax, strawberry, fresh wet moss, earth, olive, chestnut, oak barrel, coconut, banana, caramel, bubble wrap, mint, birch bark, white pine, vanilla, almond, aged white wine, perfume, nougat

flavor: Earl Grey tea, cardamom, molasses, brown sugar, old fashioned candies, lemon, coffee, ginger soda, tongue (meat,) squid, shrimp, black pepper, root beer, cigar tobacco, rose, lilac, mint, lime jelly, strawberry pudding, seaweed, almond, dew, carpet cleaner, angel food cake, mist, old maple syrup, rubber, slippers

finish: Earl Grey, pearl barley, sassafras, coffee/mocha/espresso, ladies perfume, vanilla bean (right from tree,) pearl, sage, Whoppers candy, Red Hots candy, tarnished silver, oak tree/leaves/propellers, dandelion, thistle, pepper, Oolong tea, dental fillings (plastic kind,) rhubarb wine, boysenberry, canela, chai, geranium, leather from a drum, doughnut, hay, raspberry, cinnamon stick, rose, rooibos tea, oil can, tin, wheat, olive, mushroom, boysenberry pudding, plum, lavender, pear tree , banana, fig


Guayas
rating: 9.4

Excellent Ecuador chocolate, much to explore in this well orchestrated chocolate. An exciting complexity, but also possessing a calm and a quiet. Strong peanut butter, yam and potato in the aroma, with dried fruits, vinegar, pear, and butterscotch in the flavor. The finish has many dairy, alcohol, and vegetable notes, as well as roasted fruit and toasted seed notes. Overall a bit of a smoky/burnt quality to this chocolate. The usual floral aspects of Ecuador chocolate are present, but somewhat downplayed compared to some other elements.

aroma: peanut butter, yam, strawberry, honeydew, almond, croissant, timber, candle wax, mushroom, wild rice, cedar, frog, whiskey barrel, mango, cinnamon, sassafras, cardamom, cotton fabric, maple syrup, liver, hot cocoa, lilac, anise, applesauce, oak, birch, pine nut, nutmeg, smoke, potato, grapefruit oil, dried currant, ash, cashew

flavor: dried currant, dried apple, cider vinegar, dried pear, molasses, cane sugar, butterscotch pudding, rose water, salt, cardamom, cucumber, buttercup flower, succulent type plant, dew, mango, caramel, dried fig

finish: Gruyere cheese, olive juice, sap, roasted fruits, raw onion, oatmeal stout beer, coconut, butter, banana, parsley, tabouli, honey wine, applesauce, plum pudding, almond, whiskey, carrot, melon, lemon spritzer, wood from a canoe, doughnut dough, salty yeasty dough, coriander, currant, molasses, cedar, apricot jam, watercress, juniper, carbonated mineral water, lavender, Oreo cookie, lime zest, blueberry juice, diamonds, rust, poached pear, fig, caramel, nutmeg, fern, oleander, musk, river breezes


Montanya
rating: 8.8

All around good chocolate, plenty of interest. Package tells us to find notes of apricot and marshmallow, well they are there all right, but I think not quite the dominant tone of this chocolate. I would describe it as having plenty of vanilla, ice cream, rice pudding, and cream soda going on, maybe that equates to marshmallow. What's interesting, though, is that later in the aftertaste, there does come a very strong, clear and persistent note that is distinctly marshmallow. Amano has shown mastery in the fine art of orchestrating the late aftertaste, and here again another example. Interesting to characterize a chocolate by the last thing you remember about it, rather than what might have been dominant or more noticeable up to that point.

aroma: molasses, leather, raspberry yogurt, blackberry, peaches and cream, pear, hammock, grapefruit, rice pudding, lemonade vodka, brandy, plum wine, avocado, apricot, rhubarb, sand, clay, Playdough, ginger, tobacco, cream, vinegar, orange candy, vanilla wafers, clove, allspice, cinnamon

flavor: olive, strawberry, ginger, molasses, cream pie, grape, oat, fig, tangerine, mushroom, carrot, raisin, cherry ice cream, herbal teas and roots, wheat flour tortilla, chili powder, orange marmalade, flan, hot pepper, green tea, Grape Nuts cereal, green banana, papaya, forest, vanilla ice cream, cognac, cream soda, choke cherry, strawberry ice cream, buttered popcorn, espresso, begonia, fresh grass

finish: rum, caraway, mint, tobacco, malt, whiskey, fresh wheat, peanut butter, maple syrup, honey, barley, coffee, bourbon, dark tea, butter, cotton, tobacco, oak, caramel, oyster shell, cantaloupe, green melon, Tabasco sauce, wheat fields, dried apricot, graham cracker, cream, wax, ginger bread, fresh vanilla bean, onion, olive tree, grass, pine sap, old fashioned candy store, marshmallow




Ocumare milk
rating: 8.6

Might be more interesting with a higher cacao percentage, but still good.

aroma: honey, caramel, oak, oat, milk, nutmeg, dried mushroom, dried raspberry, cognac, sweet wine, raspberry, blackberry, mint, palm tree, sweet and sour sauce, mint, leather, applesauce, soy sauce, turpentine, molasses, wood, nut, won ton wrapper, fig, raisin

flavor: pear liqueur, green apple, hickory, fresh squeezed carrot juice, strawberry candy, cologne, milk, almond, currant, birch, grapefruit peel, grape, forest

finish: pear, cotton, ash, peanut, anise, allspice, walnut, cashew, marmalade, clove, honeysuckle, caramel, rose bush, paper, tree bark, mint, lilac, apricot, waffles, goat milk, cheddar cheese, hazelnut


Jembrana milk
rating: 8

Jembrana is made with cacao grown n Bali, see my earlier review of the Amano Jembrana 70%. I've ended up having two different samples of this milk chocolate. The first time I thought it was an 8, but thought it lacked complexity, the already quite subtle and patience-requiring Jembrana bittersweet, of which I am yet a fan, well — shall we say the subtlety turned to pretty much not-thereness with the addition of all that milk and sugar. In all it was just another gourmet milky, caramelly milk chocolate on the market, with nothing to distinguish it, not the best of the milky type high end bunch, and in spite of the fact it was good, I just did not see a need for its existence.

Well the second time, I am still giving this chocolate an 8, but have found more complexity with this sample. Either the chocolate has settled and improved, in that sense, with a bit of aging, or this batch is just so different, or Art has really changed his recipe. Whatever the story here, it is better, in the sense of complexity. But the rating did not go up, I still don't think it's anything like one of the better examples of a fine milk chocolate, and still am not sure it needs to exist — when compared to other Amano products this does not measure up. I would say to up the percentage of cacao, and for the Ocumare milk chocolate too. For the Jembrana milk, now sensing the flavors that are there more clearly, there are some pretty funky notes, and the whole affair is jut not that well orchestrated — a bit jumbled up and ping-pongy. This is not what I have come to expect from Amano.

aroma: whiskey, coconut, paint, rusty nails, shoe polish, pineapple, almond, jasmine, mildew, rum soaked raisins, shoebox, marshmallow, orange, honey, shark meat, steak, bee pollen, bone/ivory, vanilla, cream, leather, citrus pith, skin cleanser, tree bark, pistachio, apple pie, cherry, lemonade, must, brown sugar, cake batter, berries, red wine, pear tart

flavor: pistachio, rum, leather, seashell, salt, chives, black pepper, pumpkin, pretzel, fava bean, chickpea soup, clover, tapioca starch, mushroom, banana, turtle soup, paper, strawberry, tangerine

finish: vanilla, cake doughnut, yarn, Certs candy, Hershey syrup, molasses, olive, honey, clove, almond, mango, worms, wine, bread dough, wheat, coffee, hazelnut

Amedei Toscano black

Here comes a really good review of the Amedei Toscano black series, but to put things in perspective, there aren't many chocolates from Amedei which I count among my favorites, for me a lot of it tends to be over conched, though good, and sometimes a little too "frilly." The Porcelana and Chuao are up there among their best, though not my personal favorites for those categories either, and some of the origins are excellent, but many of their blends, milk, white, and flavored bars are "merely" good, with the price tag not justifying something easily outdone by less expensive chocolates of the same type. Don't get me wrong, there are many wonderful things about some of the Amedei products, but I just feel the company is slightly overrated as being "the best," and therefore many of the products overpriced.

For instance I put Amedei only in the second tier on my pyramid, when I wrote about Valrhona (and put Valrhona on the third!) I know that some in the chocolate world would disagree, perhaps even think it outlandish for me to state that Amedei and Valrhona were "below" some of the American small batch bean to bar makers, but to me these microbatch chocolates are simply more exciting, original, possessed of more (rough) charm, and sometimes a little closer to the spirit of chocolate — what can I say? So far, the Amedei "9," a blend of cacaos from 9 different plantations, doesn't really do much for me, but a lot of folks really seem to love it, and Amedei claims this as their "family treasure."

I do, however, find two of the three percentages of the Toscano black series to be quite something, and would like to see more chocolatiers using these for couverture, but alas, it is so expensive for the chocolatiers to obtain. You may purchase the Toscano as individual bars or a set of tasting squares for each one, or for all three. Reviewed here is a box of tasting squares with each percentage, 63, 66, and 70, obtained from Chocosphere.

Toscano refers to Amedei's blended chocolates, as opposed to I Cru, the origin chocolates. Toscano black is the bittersweet and semisweet, in other words dark, brown is milk, and white is white chocolate. We also have a Toscano red, with dried raspberries, cherries, and strawberries, and the blond, which contains dried apricots and peaches. The red was a delicious confection, the white and brown were not quite as worthy as their competition, and I have not yet tasted the blond.


63%
Rating: 9.2

What a wonderfully sweet enticing aroma of pastry dough, of crêpe batter, cinnamon rolls starts you off, and what a pleasantly salty pretzel dough or cracker lingers on for some time in the aftertaste. As if you just ate some salted caramels. A great blend, which is only very slightly marred by a minor mold note in the flavor. Quite memorable.

aroma: blackberry, apple pie, butterscotch, crêpe batter, cinnamon, currant, dough, banana, jewel weed, apricot, caramel, lime, cardamom, dandelion wine, tuna, walnut, grass, tobacco, anise, cherry, strawberry

flavor: grapefruit, lavender, mold, strawberry, banana, nutmeg, clove, beer, grape. dirt, cheese, fig, caramel brownie, cardamom, mustard, geranium, orange, lime, plum, Cabernet, musk

finish: beer, pine nut, cigar, apricot, fig, cashew, almond, plum, ginger, strawberry, tart crust, fresh coconut, pastry dough, salty pretzel dough, cracker, sea salt, prune


66%
rating: 9.4

Easily a favorite of mine. As with the 63% there is something of a salty bread dough that comes on later in the aftertaste, it is not as strong, and is of different character than the 63.


Aroma: booze, molasses, elm tree, pine needles, birch, forest, cinnamon, pear, mango, café au lait, ginger, tapioca pudding, cigar, sand paper, cherry, dried apricot, dried raspberry, freshest cream, peanut butter banana sandwich, oak leaves, grasshopper, coal, banana leaf, plantain, fresh spring rain, caramel

flavor: buttercup, roots, leaves, pine cones, velvet fabric/ribbons, sassafras, oak, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, coffee, honey, moss, forest, alfalfa, wheat, honeydew, paper, new money, rayon fabric, dry sherry, beer, wood, smoke, fire, carrot, chalk, oat, mist, seashell, strawberry, dirt, clove, cardamom, red wine, night air, geranium, lilac, mint, campfire

finish: olive, wood, coffee, tomato, onion, cognac, salmon, cigar, oak, honeydew, caramel, honey, fresh river water after a storm, strawberry gelato, banana, Oreo cookie, nutmeg, cinnamon, forest, lime, baking soda, sourdough dough, rye, sea salt, yeast, wheatgrass, morning dew, egg yolk, rhubarb, marshmallow, yogurt, turbinado sugar, bourbon, cinnamon stick, raspberry, caraway


70
rating: 9

The 70 is not my favorite of the trio, but still quite good, and just a rather satisfying, cozy, and refreshing chocolate bar.

Aroma: molasses, plum, ginger, oak, sugar cane, forest, pearl, tobacco, cinnamon, cardamom, raspberry, cocoa pudding

flavor: oat, ginger, fig, banana, rain, banana peel, coconut cream pie, blackberry, cherry, spearmint, leather, hazelnut, sherry, smoke, marshmallow, blackberry, Hawaiian Punch soda

finish: raisin, light rum, oyster sauce, cognac, carrot, plum sauce, mushroom, wine vinegar, sparkling wine, mayonnaise, Worcester sauce

Ocumare: three degrees of separation

Lately I've had three different Ocumare chocolates on hand, and so thought to do a "taste off." I'm not so fond of writing about such things, as I know that it can depend on the mood I am in, on the particular sample of the chocolate before me, its harvest year, batch, how it was stored, and all of that. So declaring a winner — "Who makes the best Ocumare?" — always seems silly, but for your reading pleasure, here is a slam of three recent Ocumare tastings. I will say that one of the more memorable Ocumare chocolates I've had was from Rogue Chocolatier, reviewed here, and not currently in production. Last time I wrote about the Amano Ocumare I gave it a 9.4, not quite as outstanding for me this time around, but still excellent, and receives a 9.2, so barely misses the "win" of the day, which goes to Chocovic, by the tiniest margin. I recommend trying such tastings yourself, it can be fun to sit down and compare three or four different chocolate makers' takes on the same region, in this case the Ocumare Valley of Venezuela.


Amano
Rating: 9.2

All the complexity, interest, and chocolatiness that is Ocumare. In evolving moods the finish changes tune to become unripe fruits, citrus, alcohol, and darker, spicier notes.

aroma: wood, plum, blackberry, molasses, beer, dried blueberry, pine nut, oregano, cherry, ginger, fig, raspberry, sage, ash, grapefruit, juniper, oak, cream soda, cinnamon, applesauce, peanut butter, tree bark, cocoa pudding, cardamom, burnt caramel, brownie, pine

flavor: caramel, oak, tobacco, sea shore, seashell, autumn mist, blackberry, black pepper, honey, cream, coffee, prune, green grape, banana, peanut butter, fig, water chestnut, pineapple, mango, sassafras, strawberry, papaya

finish: pine sap, unripe fruit, leather, balsam, birch wood, caraway, dark beer, pond, lime, grapefruit, cake doughnut, sand, patchouli, forest, pineapple, coconut, white pepper, dark coffee, coconut, peanut, almond, dark rum, clove, vodka, raised doughnut, cotton


Chocovic
Rating: 9.3

Full bodied, yet light and quite refreshing. Combines the best of the old world candy with the new world artisan gourmet. The good news is this chocolate not only clobbers its competition, ha ha, but it is the least expensive, and is readily available at places like Trader Joe's and your local grocery stores.

aroma: coconut, wood, tangerine, marshmallow, lemon, fig, cotton candy, olive, oak tree, cypress, cherry, orange marmalade, white pepper, honey, clove, dry sherry, currant, raisin, silk, molasses, wine cork, paper, raspberry, buttercream, ginger cookies, French roast coffee, orange dreamsicle, cream

flavor: apricot, almond, coconut, rum, honey, anise, olive, tobacco, banana, clove, peanut, Reese’s peanut butter cup, cantaloupe, coffee, sassafras, Fig Newtons, hazelnut, mountain air, vodka, raspberry, cream pie, ginger, apple cider vinegar, cola, ash, black cherry

finish: mountain dirt, lemon drops, cinnamon chewing gum, honey, mint, figs, Swiss Roll, beer, apple sauce, country road, ceramic, bee pollen, lollipop, pumpkin, apple cider, carrot juice, salt, spiced rum, pear wine, black pepper


Neuhaus
rating: 8.7

Nice and complex, just as it should be the order of the day for this origin, if not at the top of the pile, it makes a good showing nonetheless. This one dwells heavily on the coconut, a couple funky notes and occasional industrial candy notes are the only things to slightly mar what might be greatness, but very good as is, and will be a crowd pleaser. Long aftertaste that goes on and on.

aroma: peanut butter, anise, gasoline, lilac, tangerine, potpourri, perfume, olive oil, marshmallow, mushroom, caramel, sumac, black tea, plantain, cinnamon, scented pillow, blackberry, coconut, Sea Breeze skin cleanser

flavor: lime honey, jasmine, cocoa pudding, burnt fig pudding, cotton candy, clove, wet sandy beach, honeydew, sea salt, Oreo cookie, olive, mushroom, strawberry, carrot juice, banana, raspberry, tallow, vodka, wheat grass, cantaloupe, dried fig, molasses, plum, currant, sea shell

finish: strawberry, tuna melt, cotton canvas, rayon fabric, cheddar cheese, Velveeta processed cheese spread, turkey sandwich with mayo, honey, black licorice, cigar smoke, wet earth, cardamom, raspberry sprtizer, orange, mango, lime candy, honeydew, plastic, fishing line, cream soda, root beer, yogurt, rubber tires, salt, green onion, carob, forest floor, patchouli, maple syrup, incense, blackberry pie, cinnamon stick, sugar cane, ocean breeze

When I grow up, I wanna be the Tweetmeister

If you really want to know my deep, dark, dangerous daily chocolate thoughts, then you may now follow them on twitter.

Posh Chocolat

Missoula, Montana, perhaps an unlikely locale for gourmet chocolates with names like white truffle oil & Tahitian vanilla, and fennel pollen? Perhaps not, co-owner of Posh Chocolat, Jason Willenbrock, explains that Missoula is a college town, and students come from many different culinary backgrounds. Although Jason also admits he knows of only three gourmet chocolatiers in the state of Montana.

Jason and Ana Willenbrock met at the Culinary Institute of America, and were trained as chefs, with Ana having more experience on the pastry side. Ana is originally from Brazil, and Jason from St. Louis, and one year he fell in love with Missoula while visiting some college buddies, and always planned to return. Later, when he and Ana did return to the area, it was as executive chef and pastry chef at Triple Creek Ranch, which according to Jason the pair helped to put on the culinary map. The switch to chocolate may have been more business consideration than divine inspiration, as Jason tells it he and Ana wanted to have their own business, but wanted to do something different than what everyone else was doing. No one else in Missoula was doing chocolate, so chocolate it was. In spite of the fact that Jason had up until then only one three week long course at the CIA on chocolate, he is now head chocolatier, while business and life partner Ana makes the pastries. Whatever the motivations behind the creation of Posh Chocolat, the company puts out a good product.

The influence from the savory side is easily seen in some of the flavor combinations for the filled chocolates. Posh Chocolat is distinguished not only by the use of ingredients such as hemp seed, pollen, and white truffle oil, but also by the fact that they are, as far as my research can uncover, the only US chocolatier using Republica del Cacao couverture, making their own signature blends from various percentages from this Ecuadorian chocolate maker. A unique choice, and perhaps this is part of their secret.


The business was opened four years ago, and it was not long before Ana and Jason gained loyal customers and fans around the region. Recognition began to escape the bounds of Montana, when in both 2008 and 2009 Posh picked up several awards at the Seattle Chocolate Salon, most notably recognizing the salted caramels, the mojito and garam masala truffles, and the milk chocolate flavored bar.

I sampled the Posh collection of truffles, a 20 piece set with one of each flavor. My rating for these truffles is 8-9.5. I'll agree with the masses and say that the award winning mojito and garam masala are excellent, but the real stars of this show for me were the white truffle & vanilla, and the matcha green tea. The fennel pollen, hemp seed & banana, lavender, cardamom, and raspberry were also up there.

I tried the five flavored chocolate bars, with flavors such as apricot, crushed Brazilian coffee bean, chili pepper, and chai. My favorite was the coffee, and I give these bars 8-8.5

Lastly I tasted the salted caramels. I give these all about 9.2, let's say. Here we have flavored caramels paired with different gourmet salts. How does Thai peanut caramel with ginger sea salt grab you, or how about a coconut pineapple caramel with Hawaiian pink sea salt? My favorite once again was the Turkish coffee caramel with espresso brava sea salt, but I'd say these were all roughly equal. Each is very flavorful and delicious, but not a cacophonous overload.

Pralus Pyramides des Tropiques

Beware good chocolate in a bad package.
This story turns out to be a lot more Consumer Report than chocolate review. Firstly, I would criticize Pralus for the skimpy packaging. Are you honestly expecting us to pay such high prices for chocolate which you have not even taken the time to properly package? The chocolates are merely slipped into paper, not air tight, not even sealed first in foil, in cellophane, or any barrier. This leaves the chocolate vulnerable to absorbing flavors, developing off flavors, and to losing flavor and aroma, all in a much shorter period of time than might otherwise be the case. Even in the rare case that these chocolates are stored immaculately, you would have to purchase immediately, for soon nature will break through this flimsy little paper regardless of the storage, and steal some of the flavor and aroma from your chocolate. Strictly speaking, a pyramide collection purchase, then, can easily be a rip off. It may sound like the best way to get to taste a greater variety of such expensive chocolates as Pralus' by buying these smaller bars and getting more different kinds. Such is not the case, I recommend that you go another way, and spend the full bucks on the full 100 gram bars, and get your money's worth. Indeed, Pralus makes very fine chocolates, worth the expenditure, under the proper circumstance.

Twice I have tasted my way through each of the Tropiques chocolates. My ratings below are based solely on the second purchase. From the first supplier, the result was a nightmare, and I would take the time do a double whammy and openly slam World Wide Chocolate for selling such a product. It first of all was sold well past its sell by date, the website did not advise to that fact, as any reputable seller does. It second of all was clearly stored very improperly and had all kinds of crazy off flavors. If you had only tasted Pralus chocolate this one time, you would think it shit. But this easily illustrates my point about the packaging, and Pralus must take some of the blame in this. However, the story goes a bit further with World Wide Chocolate, and I warn you never to purchase from this company, and I certainly never will again. The rest of the story is that they also sent me incorrect bars, botched my order. They were going to have me send back the chocolates, then they would send out the correct ones, but would not replace a certain one, saying that they did not get that part of the order "wrong." Because this one chocolate they sent me "correctly" was a milk chocolate, one year past its sell by date. Now dark chocolate has much flexibility with such dates, and does not really "expire" in the same way that most food products do, but because of the milk powder, milk and white chocolates do have a shelf life, and can develop nasty off flavors. I asked the company to explain their storage and expiration date policies — did they understand the difference between these milk/white chocolates and the darker chocolates? I received no reply to these questions, and would receive no refund or replacement for the bad product. Well I had already decided not to order from them again, but made the mistake of ordering from them anyway! But I did it for your sake, Chocolate Note readers, as it was such a convenient place to pick up a couple of certain somethings in one stop shopping, to complete a couple articles I had been working on, rather than pay different shipping charges.

With this "mistake" I have learned the worst part yet about this business, World Wide Chocolate is practicing customer deception. One of the items in this last order, placed this October, was the Slitti SuperNovanata Tropicale, which had on its label a Best Before date of February, 2008. Now this date had been crossed out with a permanent marker, and then this black splotch was covered up with a little white label on which was printed World Wide Chocolate. Now go over to Chocosphere and they will not be practicing this deception against you, they do not sell chocolates past their dates at full price, and they do tell you what that date is right up front and on the website, as any fine chocolate dealer should. This is what a reputable company does.

Going back to the Pralus review, my rating for this chocolate package is 7-8.2, with only a few of the chocolates being able to escape from the paper problems and shine at 8 or above, and in looking at my notes I see "paper" turns up a lot more often than statistically normal for my chocolate tastings, ha ha! The entire package costs $40-$50 USD for ten 50 gram squares, it looks pretty and sounds like a great idea, but it goes without saying that my value for price rating is: low. Origins include Madagascar, Ghana, Tanzania, Venezuela, Trinidad, Columbia, Ecuador, Sao Tome, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Universally skimpy on aroma, and normally rather flat and uninteresting in the finish, these chocolates were strongest in the flavor department, with some still managing to be downright delicious for that part of it. Taken as it is, this product is not at all up to snuff for Pralus.

Now I love Pralus, one of my favorite chocolate makers, but how can a company of such reputation, and quite clearly knowing so much about fine chocolate, even consider selling their chocolates in this manner?! I have racked my brain but can't figure it out. The chocolates in the Tropiques selection are each 75%. Both times I tasted the pyramides, the aromas always fell flat and struggled to get out. Therefore my notes were the result of my sensitive nose very carefully searching, and I decided not include any of these here, it would be misleading. I can only conclude that the chocolate aromas have all lost potency due to being in the paper. I have experienced this with one chocolate from a different maker which had a very powerful, potent aroma at first. A few months after being opened, yet even still partially sealed in foil, in the original box, and stored carefully in my chocolate box, it still had managed to lose a lot of its oomph, I would have described this as a very different, and not too interesting, aroma. So this really does make a difference. Should I guess then, that most of these could get a higher rating than 7 to 8.2 in "reality" — who knows? If this is the product that Pralus would offer to the public, then this is the product that I review. Both times I tasted these pyramide selections there was something funky that I did not like about each chocolate, not something I would say of my experience of any foil wrapped 100 gram bar Pralus purchase. So I must harshly criticize Pralus for this rather significant business error, and urge each of you never to buy any Pralus pyramide products. They also have a milk and flavored chocolate pyramide collection, and an organic pyramide set of chocolates. Just steer clear of the lot of them, I say.

Valrhona

So I have taken a bit of a summer vacation from writing The Chocolate Note, after all summer is not exactly fine chocolate's season – it melts!. But time now to get back into the swing of things.

Well, it's been close to two years since I started writing The Chocolate Note, and some of you may be wondering – "Why has she she not written much about Valrhona?" The truth is, Valrhona bores me, just a bit.

I've sort of touched on this earlier when I compared Scharffen Berger to Valrhona. For various reason, however, Valrhona has a reputation of being one the very best chocolates in the world. I would not put things that way at all, but there are some great chocolates here, and there is some basis for this myth about Valrhona being so great. One of the big reasons that it gets this reputation though, is because it was the first one, the first that many came to know of fine chocolate. Yes, they were so much better than any of the industrial chocolates out there at the time in the 80s and 90s, when some of the first true connoisseurs of fine chocolate were discovering the world beyond mass market chocolates. And you know what? Part of this truly is nostalgia, it's like with your first favorite candy when you were a child, like it holds a place in your heart no matter what. Not to make it sound like there is some bad chocolate there, it would be a joke if I were to say Valrhona makes bad chocolate. I should be very happy indeed if Valrhona replaced Hershey, Ghiradelli, and even Callebaut and the like as the world's standard "lowest common denominator" chocolate. But in that (perhaps not too distant) future, maybe the fine chocolate blogs won't even have much to say about Varlhona.

But I do have something to say, as now in this time, we do have some history to acknowledge, like honoring the ancestors or something, and also there is the fact that some of these chocolates cannot be denied, no matter how much they may be "Valrhonized." Let's just say with one of my recent tastings, the first impression that struck me when sniffing the first piece of chocolate was "Valrhona" almost as though I might use this as one of my aroma descriptors. But in fact, this is something for the company to be proud of, their legacy of contributions to fine chocolate as pioneers in the field will live on. So let them become a household name, and indeed, a tasting note.



But it still does get a bit boring for me, there is so much that many a Valrhona chocolate has in common, often enough of the same tendency to make what one may sense could ultimately be truly great chocolate into just good or very good, often into high class mediocrity. So often the same flavor profiles, that certain little quasi-industrial feel, the common notes, especially in the aftertastes, of candy and soda pop.

After years I have hundreds of fine chocolates from the world's top makers in my database, and each one carefully tasted. To find what are my top twenty (for today anyway,) you might find one or two from Valrhona, but even that one or two might be there only for a part of that chocolate, like one of the top ten aromas, etc.

However, for me, and I believe also for most chocolate connoisseurs, the fine chocolate experience is to be taken as whole, and you can't separate it out in many cases, really. As an example of this, one Varlhona tasting of late, which will be detailed in the reviews below, was such that the aroma and flavor held promise to receive and least a 9 rating, and also distinguished itself as one of the more unique Valrhona chocolates. But something odd happened in the aftertaste that sort of erased some of the earlier experience, making the total experience more like an 8. Now that is still pretty good, right? Oh yes, there are only a couple of Varlhona chocolates that I have so far tasted that have received below an 8 rating. And I do say that anything over an 8 is worth writing about on the blog, worth recommending. And so it is, but there is sort of a caveat here with some of these, even though I may give a chocolate an 8, such as the case with Madecasse, for example. I don't always know how to explain this difference among 8s, so hope the individual reviews do something to help to convey the truth.

So while an aroma or flavor might make its way into some of my most memorable chocolates, and I'll give the whole nine yards to Valrhona's vintage Chuao 2002, it is one of my tops ever. But Valrhona itself does not make into my list of top makers. So I just wanted to talk about that because I get emails all the time from people asking me about different fine chocolates, about advice for this or that, and sometimes hear things like "Well, isn't Valrhona the Rolls Royce of chocolate?" and so on. My quick answer is no. So here's my pyramid guide to the world's top chocolate makers, for those who have been curious, it seems like a convenient time to publish something like that.

Who are, in my opinion, the world's top fine chocolate makers?

If I were to give five levels in this pyramid, I should describe them as follows, keeping in mind this is how they are as makers, and it doesn't mean that they don't make anything that can be described as of higher or lower quality than these descriptions, but overall.

first/top level: excellent to classic
second level: very good to excellent
third level: very good
fourth level: good to very good
fifth/bottom: good

At the top of this pyramid we have the micro batch bean to bar makers: Askinosie, Amano,
Patric, Rogue Chocolatier, Taza, Claudio Corallo, Steve DeVries, Black Mountain Chocolate. Alongside these we have the larger European companies Bonnat, Michel Cluizel, and Pralus.

For the second tier we have the Italian twins Domori and Amedei, maybe I would put Grenada Chocolate Company in here also, perhaps even Theo.

Thirdly we have a level that is occupied by many of the world's fine chocolate makers, and here is where I put Valrhona. Alongside El Rey, Slitti, Scharffen Berger, Kallari, Malagasy and others. None of these are anything to sneeze at, not remotely. I just get a bit tired of the flavor profiles, and the dumbing down of the Valrhona chocolates and of hearing the same thing again and again about how they are so tops. So just a bit of perspective on this is what I am after.

On the fourth tier we find Guittard, Dagoba, Green & Black's, Santander, though I'll add that a few from even these companies are more distinctive to me that many from Valrhona.

Fifth we have your entry level fine chocolates like Callebaut and Schokinag.
Below I'll cover some of the highs and lows of the Valrhona pantheon, I've tasted my way through just about everything. The best of the best from Valrhona are all mainly among their vintage chocolates, plus Le Noir Gastronomie, a blend. Another article is forthcoming all about vintage chocolate, so I won't include my reviews of the Palmira, Gran Couva, and Ampamakia. But for now I'll tell you that the Palmira 2005 and the Chuao 2002 are not only the very best Valrhona has ever produced, but also find themselves among the most memorable chocolates in general. The Palmira 2005 is no longer available, and different years are somewhat different, and as I said, more on the vintage chocolates soon.



Tanariva 33% milk
rating: 7
Under some weird stuff, and a fairly generic milky milkiness to this bar, there is a good bean that still makes itself known, and I wonder what a good chocolate might be like with this bean. You can't hold a good bean down, so I guess it's a 7. I've also had the organic milk chocolate which I like even less than this one.

aroma: beer nuts, pretzels, cheese, cheap butter, grilled cheese sandwich, malted milk balls, strawberry, cherry jubilee, anise, caramel, ginger ale, clay, licorice, caramel apple, fruit punch, jasmine, cotton candy

flavor: refrigerator, Milky Way candy bar, 3 Musketeers candy bar, ginger coconut, rotten eggs, Jim Beam whiskey, almond, orchid, margarine, cranberry, ylang ylang, epsom salt, honeydew melon, caraway, cashew, buttered popcorn, toffee

finish: Wonder bread, stale ginger ale, dirt, fluoride toothpaste, chamomile, strawberry milkshake, vanilla, oak, ocean, butterscotch, rum, oat, paper, Sun Maid raisins, banana, fig, chocolate pudding, nail polish, Chicklets chewing gum, bugs



Abinao 85%
rating: 8.5
Nice chocolate overall, not too exciting finish.

aroma: orange, jasmine, lilac, honey, strawberry, fig, olive, onion, leather, birch, tree bark, pine needles, cherry, oak, palm oil, dirt, coconut, coffee, tea tree oil, myrrh, red lollipops, licorice

flavor: pineapple, mango, sand, granola, wheat, rubbing alcohol, clove, clay, black licorice, pumpkin seed, sunflower oil, carrot juice, turnip, beet, daffodil, ginger, sassafrass

finish: leather, mango, chestnut, watermelon, cocoa, turpentine, gun powder, metal, raspberry, salmon, strawberry


Alpaco 66%
rating: 8.7

aroma: rose, lilac, saddle, anise, autumn leaves, peanut butter, horse, apricot jam, plum, honey, nutmeg, oak, walnut, sage, red pepper jam, pumpkin pie, bread dough, mist, grape jelly, green chilies, green grapes, crab apple

flavor: vanilla, peach, marshmallow, maple, oregano, green stalks, salt, earth, Oreo cookies, raisin, olive, molasses, coffee

finish: tart crust, custard, green leaves, lemon meringue, cardamom, watermelon, maple syrup, dirt, fig, lemon, blackberry


Taïnori 64%
rating: 8

Thought mabye we had something interesting on our hands with the aroma, perhaps this might be a a 9? But no, it was fabulaous aroma, a good flavor, and then an aftertaste that just dropped off the planet, into some 7UP soda pop.

aroma: raspberry, molasses, mango, dirt, sand, peach, caramel, blueberry, anise, clove, spiked lemonade, brandy, fish scales, rose, lilac, cardamom, ginger bread, pumpkin pie, ocean, sea foam, doughnut,

flavor: leather, tangerine, cherry, grapefruit, peanut brittle, honey, lemon, lime, cocoa powder, olive oil, cherry cake, cognac, plum, ginger

finish: 7UP soda, cherry Coke, cheap wine, piss, leather, dirt, cardamom, anise, onion flakes, juniper, Pop Tart




Caraïbe 66%
rating: 8.7

Strong alternating berries with coffee and spice, and it's like the Malt Shoppe meets fine chocolate, in a good way.

aroma: plum, apricot, molasses, yogurt, raspberry, butter, ginger, orchid, beach, insect, strawberry, cake frosting

flavor: caramel, white wine, black pepper, soft cheese, cheddar, caraway, honey, malts, blueberry, patchouli, Chardonnay, mold, lemon

finish: coffee, rum, apple, spice, rose, chamomile, red lozenge, hot cocoa, oak, fresh, tobacco, cafe au lait, orange marmalade



Le Noir Gastronomie 61%
rating: 9.1

Valrhona shines brightly with this blend, it is a delight to use for confectionery, baking, and plain eating. Long lingering fruity aftertaste.

aroma: fresh rain, lemonade, tobacco, mango, raspberry, strawberry, lemon pound cake, currant, river, cherry, banana, apple, wood, smoke, sassafras, mountain ash, cinnamon, tangerine, sand, peach, molasses, orange, nougat, pie crust, blueberry Pop Tart, ginger, honey, leather

flavor: piña colada, orange, honey, molasses, yogurt, raspberry, cigarette, guitar, paper, blackberry, sandpaper, French toast, bird feathers, fruitcake, white rice, tapioca pudding, honeydew melon, maple syrup, grapes, coffee,

finish: banana pudding, lemon, paper, glue, olive, brandy, lime jello, citrus peel, cherry, orange grove, dirt, ashes, sand


Araguani 72%
rating: 8.7

At last we see, 8.7 is where Valrhona lives.

aroma: leather, lemon, lime, cinnamon oil, clove, coffee grounds, molasses, red wine, green grapes, malt shop, chocolate bubble gum, red licorice, palm tree, anise, raisin, mint, sap, dirt, patchouli, blueberries

flavor: peanut, lilac, perfume, cherry, plum, banana cream pie, coconut, black forest cake, cigar, citrus, watermelon, muddy river, hazelnut, green leaves, honey

finish: pine, tobacco, whey, seashells, turpentine, cocoa wafers, poppy seed bread, sunflower seeds, doughnut, cool whip, graham cracker, dandelion, oatmeal, grapefruit