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Back in April 2009, Bertil Åkesson and his Brazillian partner Dr. Angelo Calmon de Sa, purchased a mammoth 120 hectare cocoa plantation. Sat in the heart of the Mata Atlantica forest, Fazenda Sempre Firme in Bahia, Brazil is home to a Forastero cocoa variety called 'Parasinho'.
The cocoa variety has notes of wood and autumnal flavours and so, Åkesson paired it with Brazilian Bourbon coffee nibs, which have notes of honey, malt and maple syrup. This 60g 75% dark chocolate bar was born and has gone on to win many chocolate awards worldwide.
As a dark chocolate lover and a coffee lover, this bar had my name all over it, which explains why it "fell" into my shopping basket on a trip to London.
Packaging
The packaging is fairly plain compared to other brands. A square pale green cardboard box sets this bar apart from the rectangular norm. Large red print lists the Åkesson's brand name and the fact that this is single plantation chocolate. Small black text explains that this bar heralds from the Fazenda Sempre Firme plantation in Brazil and that it uses Forastero cocoa and cocoa nibs. It gives very little away about what to expect.
Academy of Chocolate Silver 2018 and Great Taste 2015 stickers occupy the remainder of the space on the front of the box.
The rear of the packaging is crammed with much more information about the history of this particular bar.
The ingredients list and nutritional information appears in English, French, German, and Italian.
Åkesson's Brazil Single Plantation 75% Forastero with Coffee Nibs ingredients:
Cocoa, cane sugar, pure cocoa butter, coffee nibs, emulsifier (soya lecithin). Cocoa solids: 75% minimum.
Sugars make up around 24.5% of this chocolate bar. This 60g bar of chocolate is made in France in a facility that handles nuts, milk, gluten, and wheat.
Åkesson's Brazil Single Plantation 75% Forastero with Coffee Nibs Review
The square form of this chocolate bar makes it stand out from the crowd. Most of the bars that pass through Chocolatier.co.uk HQ are rectangular, so anything else stands out.
The bar, sheathed in a plastic film, was generally quite clean and blemish-free, but it was mottled in places.
The face of the bar features the 'Å' symbol, surrounded by four rectangular and four square shapes. While the raised shapes helps to add texture, they don't help guide the clean and crisp snap into neat portions, so you inevitably end up with odd-shaped chocolate shards.
The aroma of this bar was powerful, with smokey notes and a particularly bitter edge. The aroma verges on metallic in nature, and there's a mild aroma of 'green' coffee.
The snap is crisp and clean, with the bar breaking along the moulded grooves.
On tasting, a mild smokiness comes through first alongside a vegetal edge. Then the bitterness develops, which is enhanced by the coffee nibs.
I didn't pick up a rich coffee flavour as I had expected to experience. Instead, the coffee plays second fiddle to the cocoa, although the green quality of the coffee seems to contribute a little towards the bitterness.
The coffee nibs understandably add a grittiness to the texture which distracts a little.
The bitterness continues long into the aftertaste, while the smokey quality tapers off. Brief glimmers of tobacco notes shine through at the very end.
Åkesson's Brazil Single Plantation 75% Forastero with Coffee Nibs Review
RRP: £5.95 | Åkesson's | Shop now
I found this bar to be smokey and bitter, with the coffee nibs just exasperating the bitter quality. Personally, I wasn't keen on the metallic aroma nor the overall vegetal flavour of the bar.
If you like your dark chocolate bitter with a smokey edge, and you like coffee, then you'll love this bar. For me, I wanted some creamy notes to shine through or some sweetness to cut through the richness and to temper the aggressively bitter edge.
Where to Buy Online
You can buy the Åkesson's Brazil Single Plantation 75% with Coffee Nibs bar direct from the Åkesson's website (£5.95). It's also available on the Cocoa Runners website (£5.95).
Have you tried this Åkesson's Single Plantation chocolate bar? Did you love it? Let me know in the comments below.
