Africa | Choqoa

When taking you first steps in single origin chocolate bars, it’s always good to kick off with at least two bars so you can experience and compare how different tastes can be. It gets a little more adventurous when you start exploring various brands from one single origin, take for example the Michel Cluizel “Vila Gracinda” 67% and the Neuhaus “Sao Tomé” 74%, both from Sao Tomé, an island republic in the Gulf of Guinea and birthplace of African cocoa in the 19th century.

In general, Sao Tomé can be a bitter and very cacao-ish, often starting aggressive, right on to the senses, and offers little in the way of subtle undertones on the palate. It comes mostly earthy, smokey sometimes enriched with sharp red fruits, cinnamon or vanilla.

In this Sao Tomé “battle of the bars” I myself detected big differences which is very fun. The Neuhaus to my experience came rather flat: opening up with a very smokey and earthy palate, hard on the cacao, that could be typical to Sao Tomé, but it doesn’t compensate elsewhere on the taste curvature. It ends rather blunt only hinting some tones to vanilla or acids, some presences of all to subtle aromas that leave you guessing with not much pleasure. I think Neuhaus achieves to offer more fun for buds with their Venezuela Ocumare.
The Michel Cluizel was playing in a whole different league, I hadn’t expected anything different him being one of the master chocolatiers producing wonderful bars with a story. Although from the same origin, to start with Cluizel is more picky on his beans and only uses the ‘Vila Gracinda’ plantation yields. The Cluizel also starts with the very chocolatey Sao Tomé aromas but swiftly brings in very fruity undertones. Then the creamy bar perfectly starts working towards very mature aromas in coffee, some dark kind of sugar and other indulgent aromas, but all masked in a sumptuous experience that easily makes you grab for another chunk.

All in all a good learning experience in both evaluating cacao percentages, which I actually even haven’t talked about here, and the importance of the whole bean-to-bar proces that makes a creation outstanding or just plain good. But it maybe also hints the difference between brands that have dedicated control on their production process, and brands that source from big professional chocolate makers…

A while ago I passed by a local Neuhaus branch and for fun decided to jump in and have a look around. I noticed they had a bar collection of origin flavours I wouldn’t expect at this typical ‘pralinier’ brand, so off course I was rather curious to get their story. It turns out Neuhaus is offering an origin range with also a Sao Tomé, a West Africa and a Trinidad. They do so since 2005 at least but I hadn’t noticed them yet, then again the visibility is rather low at Neuhaus.

(more packaging photos on Flickr)

What is well done on this bar is the packaging: it opens like a booklet, and comes tied in with branded ribbon. Once unwrapped the packing reveals a bar foiled in yellowish paper. It’s one that clearly stand out from its competitors.
Ocumare de la Costa, a town near the Venezuelan “chocolate coast”, is a spot that delivers well-fermented Criollo with lots of delicate high notes. Local family-run cooperatives are harvesting some of the finest organic cacao in the world and the ‘Ocumare’ is the type of cocoa bean that gave Criollo its reputation they say.

For the bar itself, that is designed in bite size chunks, the texture is thick, smooth but not creamy, with a soft & munchy bite character that complements the luscious nature of the cacao. Aromas come one after another and hints nuts and cream, strawberries and has a clear ending that closes a modest but decently complex profile. This unobtrusive tasting experience makes this bar addictively easy to eat. Neuhaus (had) created a mild and very accessible origin flavour that doesn’t come too bitter at all, maybe some might discuss on the aftertaste.

All in all, I think this first Neuhaus origin bar was a nice discovery, and when the Ocumare wasn’t an immediate punch in the face, I surely may check out Neuhaus’ other flavours and buy some bars next time I walk by their store.