In the same box that contained my order of a 70% St Vincent & The Grenadines dark chocolate bar, John at Cacoa Elora had kindly bundled in a sample of his latest project, another bean-to-bar dark chocolate bar but this time with beans from Gaura, Sumba Island, in Indonesia. That's another new region to me so I was keen to unwrap this bar as quick as I could to have a taste.
This bar is made with cocoa beans from a single estate, specifically the 815-hectare Gaura family Estate on Sumba Island. Through a blend of criollo and trinitario cocoa beans, John seeks to tease out notes of dried apricot and grapefruit in his handmade chocolate bars.
Packaging
As with the St Vincent bar, this chocolate bar features another floral wrapper, although this one features a navy blue background and a collection of bright flowers in white, pinks, and greens.
The paper wrapper has a sticker on the front listing the product name, while the sticker on the reverse lists the ingredients and nutritional information.
Cacoa Elora Sumba Island 70% Dark Chocolate bar ingredients:
Cocoa beans, cocoa butter, unrefined cane sugar. Cocoa solids: 70% minimum.
This bar consists of around 18½% of sugars and is suitable for vegetarians and vegans. The sticker on the reverse of the bar also lists tasting notes which is really handy as a reference. I'm always interested in learning about what notes chocolate makers seek to tickle out of their cocoa beans, and compare that to my own tasting experience.
Cacoa Elora Sumba Island 70% Dark Chocolate Review
The chocolate bar inside is wrapped in aluminium foil, which makes it easy to squirrel this bar away in the cupboard and dip in and out as a snack or a quick pick-me-up.
The 50g bar is shaped in a classic cacao pod mould that leaves an imprint of cacao pods and leaves on the surface of the bar, together with irregular grooves. A handful of air bubbles were trapped in the mould so the shiny mirror-like chocolate bar is mildly dimpled in places.
The aroma of this small-yet-chunky bar is rich and satisfying. Earthy notes of prune and raisin come through alongside a base note of smoke.
The snap is crisp and clear. I managed to eke this bar out into around 12 pieces, allowing me to savour it over a longer period of time, dipping in and out as I please.
The melt is gentle with this smooth dark chocolate bar - it doesn't want to be rushed. A leathery, mildly smokey flavour kicks off the melt, punctuated by a distinctive grapefruit-like bitter tang and faint vegetal notes.
In the middle, more of the creamy sweetness is teased out, with playful glimmers of honey and lemon sitting behind the grapefruit notes.
The zing peaks towards the end of the melt where it dives out, leaving a rounded fruity flavour in the aftertaste. Little remains of the the smokiness or grapefruit tang, but I do find glimmers of dried apricot here.
Cacoa Elora Sumba Island 70% Dark Chocolate Review
RRP: £6.50 | Cacoa Elora | Shop now
This is definitely a characterful dark chocolate bar to be savoured often in small quantities. The zesty notes in this rich chocolate add character and morph into gentler fruity flavours in the aftertaste.
Where to Buy Online
You can buy the single estate Sumba Island 70% dark chocolate bar direct on the Cacoa Elora website (£6.50).
You can often find John at local markets around Matlock and Derbyshire too.
Which bar in the Cacoa Elora collection should I sample next? Leave a comment below with your suggestions and recommendations.
