Your Connection for Ecuadorian Chocolate, Part 2

Now for part two of our series on Conexión Chocolate, a woman-owned company that is focused on bringing Ecuadorian chocolate to the world. We did all of the Conexión testing on the same afternoon over the course of two hours, but I've spaced them out to give this small brand more attention and all of you more time to discover them here. This time we looked at darker couvertures ranging from 64% to 70%. All were single origin allowing us to really experience the difference that soil and farming will have on chocolate. We were sent these samples from Conexión Chocolate in exchange for writing this article sharing our experiences; no other form of compensation was received.

We tackled the 64% dark chocolate couverture from Fortaleza first in this set of testing. I smelled some vanilla, but our Mocha Acolyte did not; she did taste the vanilla however. I let the first disc melt in my mouth and immediately got a vanilla flavor followed by the darker chocolate, and then a fruity edge. Mocha described a general sweetness; I think it has a light red berry essence in it, thus my fruity classification.  I don’t see vanilla though on any of the samples from Conexión, so I believe this is all differences based on soil and farming. This was our Mocha Acolyte’s favorite of this kit.

Next up is the Esmeraldas grown 70% dark chocolate. This might be a bit darker in color than the previous, but not enough to show up on my camera. It has a noticeably darker, bitter scent to it. However, when I let the first disc melt in my mouth, it was not bitter at first, just a soft earthiness, but that hid the increasing bitterness as you let it continue to melt. I also felt that the chocolate revealed a caramel-like tartness, but our Mocha thought it was a bit coffee like. At the end, I got that burst of red berry fruit again, but for Mocha, it was primarily bitter not sweet. This was my favorite of this group of four samples.

The second 70% dark chocolate we tested comes from the Los Rios region of Ecuador. I got a caramel scent from it as well as the dark chocolate; Mocha couldn’t smell anything this time. She thought it had a waxiness to the flavor and texture and it was almost too bitter for her. I also found the texture waxy and the disc was more flexible as it melted on my tongue. The flavor, too, was a little off, though I did like the bitterness, with a more intense fruity edge than the previous sample. Was this damaged in some fashion when made that would explain the color and the waxy nature? (Come back in January to see another sample from the Los Rios region to get a possible answer to this question.)

The final 70% dark chocolate for this session is from the Manabi region. This had the strongest fragrance of the bunch, a clearly darker chocolate scent even though it should have been identical. When I let a disc melt on my tongue I got the darker, slightly bitter chocolate first, then it turned into that sweeter, reddish berry essence, but the dark chocolate never faded. Mocha didn’t get any sweetness at all, only the bitter, slightly woody darkness when she tested it. Surprisingly, we both liked it, it was our secondary favorite of this foursome.

These were enjoyable on their own but could also work well for dipping any treat into. Later when I melted the Los Rios couverture and mixed it in with other foods, the waxiness disappeared.