Summary

70% Alto Piura Valley, Peru

• Black cherries, smooth with micro-granules
• Nice sampling bar for fruity chocolate lovers
• Cost: $6

80% Polochic Valley, Guatemala

• Oranges and light-roasted coffee tones
• Most ‘chocolate-y’ bar of the 3
• Cost: $6

100% Tumbes, Peru

• Smoked wood chips and sesame
• Suited for the chocolate purists who want that 100% cocoa
• Cost: $12

Review

These three Ranger Chocolate bars were of the fruity, tangy flavor variation. The packaging was nice and simple, and it was the first time I’ve had pure solid bars with zero pattern. The lack of break lines made breaking the chocolate more of an exercise, but it added to the personality of the bar.  I tasted these bars in parallel for contrasts and comparisons, although I did not cleanse my palate between the tastings.

For the 70%: the aroma wafted off the bar the moment I put it in my mouth and had a solid black cherry “tanginess” — as I let the bar melt in my mouth, I could taste the tang the most when the chocolate reached the sides of my tongue.*

For the 80%: it started off with off with a chocolate-y flavor profile that would make for delicious hot chocolate. After half a minute, the flavor slowly developed a ‘tanginess’ that surpassed even the 70%.

100%. Smooth mix of bitter-sourness — tastes like I’m eating 100% chocolate 🙂 I wouldn’t recommend this bar to folks who aren’t into the “100%” stuff. While it was nice to sample, I prefer nuttier chocolates, so I would likely go for a mellower 100% bar (yes, I’ve had nuttier, mellower 100% bars). This also left a bit of an aftertaste.

Of my tastings, I could only identify a couple of the flavors noted on the back of the bars. (Specifically, I could identify the black cherries in the 70%, and the sesame in the 100%.) I noted my own tasting profiles above, rather than following the flavors written on the bar. Other flavors written on the bars included molasses, tamarind, and raw almonds, but since I don’t recall what those things taste like, I’m not surprised I couldn’t identify them in my tastings.

This is my first time trying Ranger Chocolate, and I’d definitely be curious to taste the profiles of their bars that come from non-South American countries.

*Supposedly the ‘sour’ sensitive region of my tongue, but according to modern biology, the tongue map isn’t accurate. 

The Story of this Bar

This past July, a few friends and I decided to travel to Portland to celebrate the 30th birthday of my childhood friend, Jackie. Last time I visited Portland, I remembered discovering the Cacao store after visiting the famous Powell’s City of Books. So, when Jackie suggested we visit Powell’s during our trip, of course, I suggested we pay Cacao a visit afterwards.

As I shopped for bars, Caroline and Jackie decided to get the hot chocolate tasting flight. (It would be one of the two tastings we’d do during our trip in Portland.) We chilled in the store, sipped hot chocolate, and tasted the above bars. From what I recall and to my amusement, neither Caroline or Jackie enjoyed the 100% much.

It was a good time catching up with old friends, recalling old memories, and chatting about entering our new decade of life.

Summary

• Coffee tones, cherries, earthy
• Artisanal chocolate from the streets of Paris
• Cost: N/A (book a trip to Paris)

Review

The bar is thick, and you don’t realize it until you feel the weight of a chunk melting in your mouth. It starts off with warm coffee tones but cherry flavors quickly develop that are sour at the tongue tip. It tastes tropical.

Like the beans were picked after a tropical storm rained through Vietnam. (I know — a bit much maybe. But the best tastings let the imagination wander.)

It begins smooth but as the chocolate melts, you begin to feel nuggets of small chocolate pieces, as the melt occurs in patches throughout the large chunk.

The Story of this Bar

This bar was a gift from my manager. We were in Paris for a work meeting. He knew I was a fan of chocolate and picked this up for me when he was exploring the Le Marais neighborhood.

Three of us (my manager, my tech lead manager, and I) were waiting for our coffee at La Caféothèque de Paris when he presented me with this thoughtful gift. As we waited, we did a quick tasting of the bar. It was fun to sit around the eclectic coffee shop, taste the bar, enjoy some coffee, and chat about random topics all the way from politics to photography.

H, N, and me have worked together for over a year and a half, and I would typify us as all as workaholics in some sense or another. It was nice to have down time where we sat together, enjoyed each others’ company, and talked non-work stuff. It was nice…since usually we’re always talking about work, haha.

The memory of this bar is not so much the bar itself (though quite delicious), but the memory of good company and good conversation!

Summary

• Almonds, cocoa, and floral notes
• Unique, light-profiled award-winning chocolate
• Cost: N/A (came in a box of chocolates)

Review

The chocolate tastes light, cool, and silky. Sometimes after you eat earthy chocolate, it feels heavy and warm. Most chocolates I eat feel heavy. I would analogize it to drinking light roast coffee versus dark roast coffee or light green teas versus dark oolong blacks.  

The flavor stays consistent and mild throughout the entire experience. It is the type of bar where, if you are not careful, you can easily consume in one sitting because of its light profile. The silkiness of the bar reminds me of chocolate shells made of poured chocolate liquor.

The beans come from a remote Guatemalan cocoa farming village called San Juan Chivite. (You can read about the farm on Goodnow Farm’s website.)

The Story of this Bar

My sister and brother-in-law gifted me a chocolate subscription from Bar & Cocoa for Christmas of 2018. For three months straight, I would arrive home to a surprise box waiting for me.

Each surprise box would contain four bars of chocolate from various makers. Apart from the delight of coming home to open up a box of surprise chocolate, the another fascinating and fun part of the experience was observing how Bar & Cocoa changed its packaging approach across the three months.

I did some research on Bar & Cocoa and stumbled across the internet’s growing populace of craft chocolate lovers, including a person who had interviewed the Bar & Cocoa founder for a podcast. My research and obsession of chocolate has been a slower and steadier one, as I continue to learn more about the fledgling cocoa fan club as I do research along with each blog post.

These photos also coincide with my brother-in-law purchasing a lightbox for me to take fancier photos. Photography is not my forte, but the product manager in me has convinced me that trial-and-error is a good thing…and perfection can never be the goal.

This bar came in the first shipment. It is also one of the first that I took photos in the lightbox with.