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Cacoa Elora 70% St Vincent & The Grenadines Dark Chocolate Review

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In my search of suitable options for new chocolate reviews on Chocolatier.co.uk, I like to look at cocoa growing regions of the world that I've not experienced before. Take Firetree's 72% Vanuatu chocolate bar for instance, which uses single-origin cocoa from Malekula Island in the Pacific region of Melanesia.

Browsing the new Cacoa Elora webshop, a bar stood out from the rest, made with cocoa beans heralding from St Vincent and the Grenadines. Forming a triangle between Grenada, St Lucia, and Barbados, St Vincent is a Caribbean island I've yet to visit. But thanks to Cacoa Elora, I can get a taste of the country in the form of a small-batch bean-to-bar dark chocolate bar.

According to their website, Cacoa Elora in Derbyshire is the only small chocolate maker in the UK to use cocoa beans from the volcanic island of St Vincent and the Grenadines, alongside Islands Chocolate in London. Beans are sourced through St Vincent Cocoa Company and these impart gentle fruity notes with hints of cherry and blackberry into the finished bar.


Packaging

The bar is sealed inside a thick paper wrapper, printed with a pink- and purple-themed floral print. A sticker at the top includes the Cacoa Elora logo and the product name, and a Great Taste 2018 award sticker sits at the bottom right.

Cacoa Elora 70% St Vincent & The Grenadines Dark Chocolate Review
A colourful wrapper in pinks and purples

On the reverse is a sticker sealing the wrapper, printed with the ingredients, nutritional information, and best before date.

Cacoa Elora 70% St Vincent & The Grenadines Dark Chocolate ingredients:
Cocoa solids, cocoa butter, unrefined sugar. Cocoa solids: 70% minimum.

The 70% St Vincent & The Grenadines Dark Chocolate bar contains around 18.5% sugars and is suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Following John at Cacoa Elora on Twitter, I know that his chocolate bars are a labour of love, with the cocoa beans ground and conched for countless hours before he hand-tempers and moulds the chocolate into bars. He's a chocolate making machine. This is all information that I'd love to see on - or on the reverse of - the packaging to demonstrate why his bars are so special, especially if they're being given as a gift.


Cacoa Elora 70% St Vincent & The Grenadines Dark Chocolate Review

The bar is wrapped in a sheet of aluminium foil, making the packaging easily recyclable in full. The foil also means you can reseal the bar to dip in and out as a treat now and again, which is how I'd suggest eating this dark chocolate bar.

Cacoa Elora 70% St Vincent & The Grenadines Dark Chocolate Bar
A dimpled mould creates 32 bite-size pieces

A dimpled chocolate bar mould is used for this large, thin bar, and a clean and crisp snap along the lines means it's a doddle to portion this bar into 32 bite-size pieces.

Air pockets appear to have got trapped in the mould, creating tiny holes across the face of the otherwise flawless shiny chocolate bar.

Smokey, earthy notes dominate the aroma as I peeled back the foil. There's also a glimmer of molasses and Marmite in the mix for good measure too.

Cacoa Elora 70% St Vincent & The Grenadines Dark Chocolate Bar Close Up
A closer look at the Cacoa Elora dark chocolate bar

As soon as it hit my tongue, a bitterness revealed itself, alongside vegetal - almost minty - notes. The bitterness vanishes quite quickly just as a gentle sweetness swoops in to replace it.

The earthy, smokey qualities intensify during the melt and builds to a crescendo right at the end, where it vanishes in the blink of an eye. The creaminess also ramps up towards the end too.

What's left is a rich, cocoa flavour - sans the smokey, bitter qualities - and it reminds me of the flavour of a dense dark chocolate brownie. A very faint berry fruitiness briefly appears alongside too.

This is a very characterful chocolate bar and one that is best savoured mindfully. Don't wolf this one down as that would be a crime against good chocolate. Instead, let it melt slowly on your tongue and taste the many flavours that develop during the melt.

Cacoa Elora 70% St Vincent & The Grenadines Dark Chocolate Review

RRP: £6.50 | Cacoa Elora | Shop now

A complex and satisfying dark chocolate experience. Smokey notes dominate the aroma and the initial taste but switch to a more rounded, rich finish. I love the mould used and the fact I can portion the bar up to dip into as a cheeky treat that's a real treat.

Packaging
Appearance
Ingredients
Taste
Creativity
Score: 4.4

Where to Buy Online

You can buy the 70% St Vincent & The Grenadines dark chocolate bar direct on the Cacoa Elora website (£6.50). You can often find John at local markets around Matlock and Derbyshire too.

What's your favourite bar from Cacoa Elora? Let me know your top picks in the comments below.

Disclosure: I purchased a 70g bar of 70% St Vincent & The Grenadines Dark Chocolate from Cacoa Elora for £6.50. I was not asked for a review. My opinions are my own.

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