David Bacco: Peru 68%

Last year I picked up two chocolate bars by David Bacco in San Diego; this year I only chose one more since I already had a lot of other chocolate products to try out. Once more, these are purchases from Rust General Store in the Old Town Historic District--which is absolutely the best.

As a reminder, David Bacco is a chocolatier in San Diego and not only is this bar fair trade, it is also marked as "pure genetics verified," a particular phrase/sticker I haven't seen before. There are only three ingredients: cacao, cocoa butter, and cane sugar, all organic (note that there is no vanilla). A good starting place. Price-wise, these bars fall toward the pricey side but are still perfectly reasonable, all considered.

To try out something a little different, I got the Peru 68%; inside the card box is a little white card detailing the crop number, harvest date, and cacao bean profile (they're an heirloom variety). Normally this isn't a cacao percentage I reach for, though the flavor notes did sound appealing. "Spicy-acidic-woody, intense red cherry floral aromas and flavors, a natural sense of cacao sweetness follows, accompanied by nut and floral top notes, a hint of cardamom, finishing with vanilla and bitter coffee." Unless you have a very attuned palate, I wouldn't expect you to taste all of those notes--especially considering the somewhat low cacao percentage.

Here's how this chocolate is to me. On removing the chocolate bar from its clear wrapper, I find that the aroma has a bite to it, hinting at some bitterness. But this is not so. The one word that describes this bar is smooth, quite the opposite of bitter. Smooth mouthfeel from start to finish and smooth flavor, as well. Not strong or biting at all. It has a bit of sweetness because it is what I generally consider a milder dark chocolate (70% or 75% is where I place the average), with fruity notes. I would perhaps agree with the cherry notes.

The flavor is also in many ways a basic chocolate flavor--so if you're one of the people who likes to stick with chocolate that tastes primarily of chocolate (as opposed to all the complicated flavor notes), this may be a chocolate for you. It has layers of flavor--but it sticks pretty well to cocoa. It's also just right if you want neither a sweet nor very dark chocolate, nor something middling and bland.

This chocolate melts slowly, softly, smoothly, as if it will keep melting forever; the consistency is very smooth without being plasticy. It finishes off nice and tender. A classic chocolate, very nicely carried out. In fact, it's quite gorgeous. Sometimes I like to introduce people to new types of chocolate just so they can experience them--but this I would give to friends just because I think they would really enjoy it. It's like the dark chocolate version of Theo's 45% Creamy Milk Chocolate--not because they taste the same, but because of their wonderful edibility that is still combined with ethics and quality. Those three traits make for a winning chocolate.

David Bacco: Guanaja 80%

I'm kind of upset with myself that I didn't check the best by dates on the two David Bacco chocolate bars I bought in San Diego. The Madagascar (click here for that review) had a date in December and this one is marked for Halloween. That is, a month and a half away. (Okay, that was an additional month or so ago that I bought the chocolate, but still.) I really wish I could have tasted this chocolate in its prime instead of here towards the end of its life. 

Last time I said I was waiting until I got to the second bar to read more about the company. As it turns out, their website has very little information. It's more David Bacco's resume than information about the company and the chocolate. He has quite a background in the culinary world, working with desserts, pastries, candies, and chocolates. But I'm left wondering why he had David Bacco Chocolats from 2008 to 2010 before beginning David Bacco Chocolatier later that year; maybe those were the different names for the shops, but the company is essentially still the same? 

His background working with desserts explains why I liked the chocolate bar design: desserts are very much about presentation and beauty. But when I am set with a high-end chocolate bar, I want to know about how it is made and how it comes together. Sure, these bars say they're Fair Trade and the cacao origin is provided, but at least on the website I want to hear more about the plantations where the cacao is grown and the factories where the chocolate is conched and refined and molded. 

But let us return to the chocolate and its taste, apart from what I do or don't know about the company. Once again, there is some light, ignorable bloom, which remains on only half of the bar. The other half was somewhat stuck to the clear wrapper, which must have removed the bloom. I find myself strangely fascinated by the combination of light and dark, the pale white against the rich brown, all set in these wonderful triangular shapes. 

This second bar of mind is the Guanaja 80%, which comes with this label: "Cherry-floral-cacao aromas lead to deep, rich cocoa, tobacco and leather notes, release bitter cocoa, and black coffee-molasses notes, with a hint of red fruits ending on a bitter and tannic finish." I know these kinds of labels are called flavor notes, but aren't those a little too many commas and a little too many clauses falling on clauses? I'm getting distracted again. 

At 80% cacao, this is the type of chocolate that some people will find too dark and that I usually have to have two pieces of before I can begin to taste it properly. It tastes bitter at first, but once your mouth is used to it, it tastes rich and even gentle. Like the Madagascar bar, the Guanaja also melts at a nice and slow pace, very smoothly without any graininess. But I'm not sensing as great a depth of flavor notes as the label suggests. The type of flavors given make sense: it is deep and rich and red. But usually when a chocolate gets into this high of a cocoa percentage, the reward is a complex layering of flavor (unless it is a badly made chocolate where all you taste is bitterness). And I'm just not sure that I'm getting that here. 

It's the same story as with the Madagascar. This is a good chocolate. I'm enjoying it. It delivers quite a pure, in depth experience of cocoa flavor. I would much rather have a couple of triangles of this chocolate than many a flourless chocolate cake I've had. And I would much rather have a bar of this chocolate than many another bar of chocolate I've had. While I think I wanted to enjoy these David Bacco bars more, they're not bad and this one certainly is better suited to my tastes. It's rich in chocolate without falling into either intense sweetness or bitterness.

9pc Box Assorted Chocolates by David Bacco Chocolatier

David Bacco: Madagascar 64%

You know what I'm going to do? Since I bought two David Bacco chocolate bars, I'm going to wait until I get to the second bar to read more about the company. Sound fair? This way I can look at the chocolate, apart from the company; I like to start that way when I can. 

These two bars were yet another of my purchases from Rust General Store in San Diego--and don't worry, I'm almost done with my San Diego chocolates. I got excited about these expensive white squares because I had never heard of the company, but it looked like it might be worth: it's Fair Trade, it mentions cacao origin and percentage, there are flavor notes on the back, and there are no filler or artificial ingredients. The minimalist design of the card box suggests that the focus is on the chocolate, not frilly packaging. 

That said, I do not like this packaging. You see the back of the card box here? It's sealed with a red sticker, which is where the info about cacao origin, tasting notes, and ingredients is. So to open the box, you have to tear the sticker. Really? That means two things: you tear the words and can't read all of them as well anymore and you can't really close the box again. This may all seem like a minor detail, but to me it's quite annoying. 

The best buy date on this bar is December, so it does have a light coating of bloom. (Why do I always end up with chocolate with bloom?) As you can see, though, it's the kind that brushes right off, so the only thing it really affects is looks. And that is a shame because I like the design on this bar. It looks like a puzzle, with twenty angular pieces of different sizes and shapes all arranged inside the single square. It's like a choose-your-own collection: you can pick a piece you like or easily break one in half if you want something smaller. Visually, it has the right blend between sleekness and fun. 

Out of all the choices available, yes, I chose a traditional Madagascar. The fact is, I like the taste of cocoa from Madagascar and it just seems like a familiar place to begin investigation of a new company. The thing is, it's only 64% cacao; that's fairly low. The seventies are more common. As a result, this chocolate is on the sweet side for a gourmet dark chocolate. I can't help but wish there were less sugar and slightly more focus on the cocoa. 

Specifically, the cocoa beans in this bar are Trinitario and Criollo varieties from the Sambriano Ebene area of Madagascar. The flavor description that David Bacco gives is: "Dried figs, raisins, red fruit, and soft cacao aromas entwined with a sense of fresh figs, wild berries, and roasted hazelnut, finishes with an intent cacao flavor." Was that supposed to be "intense" instead of "intent?" Anyway. The fruity notes listed there are what compose Madagascan origin chocolate and what give it that approachable liveliness. As the chocolate melts, it does give way to a more general chocolate flavor--might I also add that this chocolate melts very smoothly. It's good chocolate and it is worth the high price I paid (which was not the most I've spent, per gram, for chocolate), but I keep wondering if it is missing something. What I keep coming back to is the sweet side to this chocolate bar. It may be that the Madagascar is simply designed to be semisweet, a bridge on the way to darker chocolate. If that is the case, maybe the second David Bacco bar will be more to my tastes. We shall see. 

9pc Box Assorted Chocolates by David Bacco Chocolatier