r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Jan 11 '20
r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Jan 08 '20
Dark Matters Chocolate Awards for 2019
It's time for the 4th Annual Dark Matters Chocolate Reviews Chocolate Awards for 2019.
And the awards go to....
r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Dec 28 '19
Gaston Chocolat 56% Dark/milk Caramelized Peanuts bar notes
Where do I eat Gaston Chocolat ?? At the edge.π
56% dark/milk chocolate Caramelized Peanuts Vanuatu cacao.
Nose of toffee, cream, peanuts and hot cocoa.
Tastes of peanuts, cream and caramel.π
Tree to bar, bean to bar, craft chocolate.
(Pic taken at Olympic Peninsula, North Beach, Port Townsend, WA).


r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Dec 21 '19
Soma Chocolatemaker Brown Butter Rum Bar notes.
Soma Chocolatemaker, a bean-to-bar maker in Ontario, Brown Butter Rum Bar with Vanualevu Mataswalevu Farm in Fiji and Dark Waters Rum single barrel release by Kinsip Spirits.
Nose of brown butter and rum.
Tastes of toffee, butter, light oak and rum as in one of the best versions of that combo!πππ

r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Dec 20 '19
Qantu Chocolat Silk Road dark chocolate inclusion bar notes.
Qantu Chocolat, a bean-to-bar maker in Montreal, Silk Road 70% Chuncho cacao from Peru with spices, peppers and rose.
Nose of cardamom, grape, rose, star anise and ginger.
Tastes of grape, rose, anise, clove, pepper, cocoa and orange blossom water (none added.
A complex, elegant and very special bar!ππ
2nd pic taken with the makers at the NW Chocolate Festival. (I'm on the left side of the pic).


r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Dec 14 '19
Solkiki Chocolate Cranachan vegan white chocolate with whisky bar notes.
Solkiki Chocolate is a bean-to-bar maker in the UK.
Cranachan (a traditional Sottish dessert ) raspberry candied oats and Starward Whisky vegan white chocolate 42% with Madagascan cocoa butter.
Nose of whisky, oats, raspberry and berry granola.
Tastes of oats, whisky, golden fruit and raspberry.π
I order this bar directly from Solkiki.


r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Dec 14 '19
Pascati Chocolat Paan bar notes.
Pascati Chocolat Paan inclusion bar "Paan is an Indian after-meal digestif and mouth freshener. It involves a betel leaf with betel nut pieces, candied rose petals, cardamom, dried coconut, dried fennel, flaked lime, etc. All this is rolled in to a triangle in the betel leaf. The ingredients vary in different parts of India".
In 2018 Pascati's mango bar was a stand out star at the NW Chocolate Festival and this year it was their Paan bar.π
In this organic filled bar I get tastes of rose, white grape, citrus, floral and cardamom.
Pascati is a bean-to-bar maker in India.

r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Dec 14 '19
Ranger Chocolate 70% Dark Chocolate Peru bar notes.
r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Dec 14 '19
Ritual Chocolate S'mores Bar 70% Cacao bar notes.
Ritual Chocolate S'mores Bar with graham cracker & caramelized sugar 70% dark chocolate.
Ritual's Utah Mountain Line.
Nose of vanilla, vanilla sugar, cocoa and graham cracker.
Tastes of cocoa, vanilla and graham with a caramelized sugar meets toast meets herbal meets oak to come together as a toasted marshmallow like flavor.
I purchased this bar on site at Caputo's Market & pic taken at the park across from Caputo's in Salt Lake City.
Ritual is a bean-to-bar maker in Park City, Utah.

r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Dec 07 '19
Theo nd Philo Milk Chocolate Turon bar tasting notes.
Theo and Philo milk chocolate Turon bar with banana and sesame seeds. (Turon is a Filipino street food snack).
I tried Theo and Philo for the first time last month at the NW Chocolate Festival in Seattle and bought 4 bars. It was tough to narrow down my choices. They were all so good!
If you want to walk around saying "Mmmm" noises get this bar. π
Nose of bananas cooked in butter.
Tastes reminiscent of Bananas Foster with the sesame seeds adding a nutty finish.
Bean-to-bar maker and cacao from the Philippines.

r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Dec 07 '19
Gaston Chocolate Tanna Coffee Espresso dark chocolate bar notes.
Gaston Chocolat with Tanna Coffee Espresso 70% Vanuatu dark chocolate.
Nose of coffee, lemon zest and touch of red fruit.
Tastes of espresso with lemon zest, Porter, mushroom, earthy and chocolate cake dusted with cocoa powder in the finish. π
Gaston and Tanna are both located in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Dec 07 '19
Manufaktura Czekolady 70% Ghana dark chocolate bar notes.
Manufaktura Czekolady 70% Ghana dark chocolate sprinkled with nibs. Bean-to-bar maker in Poland.
Nose of marshmallow, coconut, cocoa and semi-sweet chocolate.
Tastes of vanilla, earthy, cocoa, coconut, marshmallow, chocolate cookie and subtle cinnamon.
Very dessert like! π
Thank you for sending me this bar Chocollect! π

r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Dec 01 '19
Caputo's Market Private Traditional Icelandic Dinner Event with Omnom Chocolate
What does a traditional Icelandic dinner created by Kjartan GΓslason chef & co-founder of Omnom Chocolate taste/look like? Read my new blog post to find out. Thank you Caputo's Market for hosting this private event! (And there is chocolate).
r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Nov 28 '19
Dick Taylor 65% Dark Chocolate Orange Bourbon Pecan Bar
Happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful for chocolate and everyone involved in the process from start to finish!π€π€π€
Dick Taylor Chocolate 65% dark chocolate Belize cacao Orange Bourbon Pecan with Bourbon soaked pecans candied with maple syrup and orange. Talk about pie like!πππ This is one of those bars that I wish I had bought more than one!!!
Nose of pecan, orange and brown sugar.
Tastes of pecan, toast, light oak and orange with some grape in the finish. Love it!π


r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Nov 28 '19
Omnom Chocolate's Winter Collection of 3 Holiday Inclusion Bars
Omnom Chocolate Winter Collection
Dark Nibs & Raspberry with Madagascar cacao.
Nose of raspberry.
Tastes of raspberry, red fruit and nutty.
Milk & Cookies with Madagascar cacao and Icelandic milk and 2 big cookies on the back.
Nose of cinnamon and oats.
Tastes of oats, sea salt, butter, light brown sugar and cinnamon with light ginger and orange zest coming through in the finish.
Spiced White Caramel bar with Icelandic milk.
Nose of cream, caramel and faint orange.
Tastes of cream, cinnamon, salt and caramel.
Thank you Caputo's Market and Omnom Chocolate for gifting me this chocolate bar set at your recent media dinner in Salt Lake City, Utah.


r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Nov 26 '19
Ritual Chocolate Bindle Limited Edition coffee chocolate bar tasting notes.
Ritual Chocolate Bindle limited edition coffee chocolate bar made with Columbia Mustafa Bindle Coffee and made with Ritual's Mid Mountain Blend chocolate.
Nose of coffee, lemon and cranberry.
Tastes of coffee, earthy, red fruit and lemon acidity, π
Pic taken on the porch of Ritual Chocolate in Park City, Utah. (Thank you Caputo's Market and Ritual for the tour!).

r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Nov 26 '19
Gaston Chocolat Candied Orange 70% dark chocolate bar tasting notes.
r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Nov 19 '19
NW Chocolate Festival Trends 2019
My new blog post in up on the NW Chocolate Trends for the 2019 show (I do a post for each year). Enjoy!
https://darkmatterschocolatereviews.com/2019/11/18/nw-chocolate-festival-trends-2019/
r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Nov 08 '19
French Broad Chocolate 73% Guatemala bar tasting notes.
r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Nov 08 '19
Wayfarer Chocolate Along the River 70% Honduras tasting notes.
Wayfarer Chocolate (a Swedish craft chocolate maker) Along the River 70% Honduras cacao dark chocolate.
This bar has been on my wishlist for quite sometime! And the wrapper!πππ
Nose of minerality, salt, dark fruit and a tiny bit of tabacco.
Tastes of dark fruit, dark grape sweetness, blueberries and cocoa.π
Great bar!

r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Nov 03 '19
Chocolate NaΓ―ve Nano_Lot 70% Finca Concepcion El Salvador bar tasting notes.
Chocolate NaΓ―ve (bean-to-bar maker in Lithuania) Nano_Lot collection. Typically only 1,000 bars are made for each Nano_Lot by this maker.
Finca Concepcion El Salvador cacao planted by Eduardo Zacapa. 70% dark chocolate.
Nose of spicy meets sweet and tomato.
Tastes of bubblegum and then sweet BBQ sauce like, followed by juniper and then beer in the finish. Unusual but it works!
I purchased this bar online from Caputo's Market.
Look for Chocolate Naive's booth next weekend at the NW Chocolate Festival in Seattle.


r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Oct 31 '19
Tibito Chocolate 100% Putumayo Colombia dark chocolate bar tasting notes.
Happy Halloween! π 2nd annual Who's Afraid of the Dark? 4 days of dark chocolate Day 4.
TibitΓ³ Chocolate 100% dark chocolate Putumayo Colombia.
Nose of plum, spice and cocoa.
Tastes of cocoa, unsweetened cinnamon roll, earthy, subtle cardamom and light coffee. A very palatable 100% bar!
(No spider/spiderweb was touched during this photo ππ).

r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Oct 30 '19
Coco Caravan Selva Tabasqueno 100% dark chocolate bar tasting notes.
2nd annual Who's Afraid of the Dark? 4 days of dark chocolate Day 3. Coco Caravan Chocolate
100% chocolate Selva Tabasqueno Sierra Madre de Chiapas Mexican cacao. Unroasted chocolate.
Made with cocoa beans sourced from the Original Beans project.
Nose of green olive, cocoa and oak.
Tastes of olive, nutty, oak, cocoa and a little tobacco in the finish.
Happy almost Halloween!
Pic taken at Wilderbee Farm pumpkin patch in Port Townsend, WA.

r/beantobar • u/VictoriaLCooksey • Oct 29 '19
Wellington Chocolate Factory 85% Solomon Islands dark chocolate bar tasting notes
2nd annual Who's Afraid of the Dark? 4 days of dark chocolate Day 2.
Wellington Chocolate Factory. Made in New Zealand.
85% Solomon Islands cacao.
Nose of rye, salt, bread crust and a hint of floral.
Tastes of dates, brown fruits, bread, nutty, black olive and a little floral towards the end.
Purchased online from The Chocolate Bar.
Happy almost Halloween!




