Bar: Bourbon Cask Aged Unroasted Dark Chocolate
Maker: Raaka Chocolate (Brookyln, NY, USA)
Chocolate Percentage: 82%
Price: $5 / 1.8oz Bar (sale at Whole Foods)
Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar, organic maple sugar, organic cacao butter
Additional Notes: Chocolate Origin: Kokoa Kamili, Tanzania Awards: 2013 Good Food Award Winner

Packaging: Textured paper with an abstract print of pink, brown, red and cherry on the outside. My wrapper noted this bar was part of Batch 220. On the inside of the packaging, Raaka outlines what they mean by “Transparent Trade“, which includes details on the region/country of the cacao used to produce this chocolate (Kokoa Kamili, Tanzania) , the type of sourcing (grower-centered fermentary & exporter in this instance), and prices paid. It is the most detail I have seen thus far on the wrapping of a chocolate bar. The bar itself is wrapped within another piece of paper, with one-sided silver foiling.

Appearance: Solid rectangular bar with layers of horizontal ridge lines on the front and an imprinted logo in the upper-center of the bar. The lines evoke the sense of overlapping mountain ranges or waves.
Aroma: Sharp, bright, cherry notes but with earthy undertones
Melt & Snap: gentle snap, smooth and slow melt
Flavor: Admittedly, this bar was the first in my foray of trying artisan craft, bean-to-bar chocolate, and I probably started with a fairly complex one given the advertised flavor profile. The chocolate is bitter at 82% but still packs a surprisingly bright taste that reminded me of cherries and goji berries. Given the slow, smooth melt, undertones of the oak also shine their way through. The chocolate even has a very slight gritty, velvety texture to it, which seems to play to the “tuxedoed sophisticate” superlative Raaka has given this chocolate of theirs. I wonder if the mouth feel has to do with the fact that these beans were “unroasted”, which is Raaka’s unique processing method. The complexity of this chocolate has made me feel compelled to have two tastings on each occasion of enjoyment.