Your Connection for Ecuadorian Chocolate, Part 4

Let’s start 2023 off with a brand that is focused on Farm to Bar chocolate production. Our final article about Conexión Chocolate goes back to the tasting kits they sent me in 2022. We tested all of thes sample over the course of two hours on afternoon and split them into different posts to give Conexión Chocolate more coverage and all of you more opportunity to discover them.  If you think chocolate at 70% is too dark, these would blew your mind. Our Mocha Acolyte was willing to give it a go and she did a great job, but 70% if really pushing some of her taste limits. I do like the upper 70s for my dark chocolate, so I, too, had to be open minded. We were sent these four samples for free by Conexión Chocolate in exchange for testing them and writing about our experiences; no other form of compensation was received.

We built up from least to most cacao content again with this foursome, starting with the 81% dark chocolate from the Calceta region of Ecuador. This had a darker brown look and a darker scent to it that the 70% samples we shared with you all back in November 2022. I let the first disc melt in my mouth; it has almost no flavor in the beginning and melted very slower, it took a few minutes for it to melt, and nearly 20 seconds for the first hints of bitter yet nutty flavor that finally turned into a deep red berry like fruit note. Our Mocha Acolyte wanted to figure out what type of nuttiness it was but it was more generic than specific, though she thought it was near to a walnut; she didn’t get any fruit or sweetness. I’m in the cacao buzz zone by the time the first disc of this couverture melted fully, my vision turned clearer and bright.

Next was the Vinces region's 85% dark chocolate. This was certainly above what I normally like for my chocolate; my favorite range being 72-78% in general. I got a hint of wine; our Mocha Acolyte is also our alcohol expert and she got a "red wine scent" as well, which had her spending extra time trying to determine what is was most like. Letting a disc melt I first got a smooth chocolate flavor that quickly turned bitter then was joined by “red wine notes” which our Mocha liked a lot. I’m not a red wine fan, so I found it as more bitter this time around than I was hoping while Mocha surprised herself by how much she liked it.

We had two 100% couvertures to try out. We began with the Pure Ecuador variety from the Manabi area. This had a purplish edge to the color which I hope you can see; no, that wasn't just the lighting. It smelled like pure, dark chocolate, not other hints at all to either of our noses. I tried to let a disc melt on my mouth; at first it is nothing then it starts to built up to more and bitter, until it is almost sour. “No, nope, that’s horrible,” our Mocha replied as he took it from her mouth. Now remember, everyone, this is not for straight eating, this would be used as ingredient where you’d add a lot more ingredients. When I added it to other foods like oatmeal and in cup brownie, it was great.

The final couverture and the final chocolate for us to test from Conexión Chocolate, was Gran Cacao Virgin, meaning it was minimally processed. This had that waxy look to from a previous tasting we did and that was from the same location in Ecuador, the Los Rios, too. This had almost no scent to it. We sense a waxiness again in texture and flavor, the bitterness quickly appears when I let a disc melt on my mouth and it quickly turns sour, much more sour and bitter than the previous couverture, ending on the extremely bitter. This made our Mocha Acolyte stand up and get more water to drink and state, “This is terrible.” Again, this should only be an ingredient, folks, I don’t think most of us would eat more than one of these discs in a day. It did crank up my cacao buzz, making the words blur on the screen as I tried to type in our results live. This was wonderful added to oatmeals and cup brownies, too. You should also note, that is was this couverture that was used in the two bars we revealed to you all in December 2022 from Conexión Chocolate.