Amano Artisan Chocolate, helping us to easily compare single origin chocolate from Madagascar, Venezuela, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic

I was really excited when a small shipment of Amano Artisan Chocolate arrived.  It makes me happy that Amano was willing to ship their chocolate to me here in Canada. Many small artisan chocolate makers in the U.S.A. or countries other than Canada are not usually capable or willing to ship to me, so it is a treat that I have the opportunity to taste and review Amano's products.

Amano is an artisan chocolate producer who makes small batches of handcrafted chocolate. What I like about Amano is that they have focused on perfecting their single origin artisan bars before they moved onto confections, which is easy to see from the long list of awards they have received for their solid chocolate. They have kept their product offering simple and to a minimum, without losing focus on the quality of their products. I purchased the 10 Bar Variety Collection, available on their website, which means I am able to taste the main "bread and butter" of their product line.  I would like to try the limited edition bars and their handcrafted confections, but will save those for my next order.

So today I am tasting four of Amano's signature 70% cacao chocolate bars made from beans sourced at specific origins: the Dos Rios (made from beans from the Dominican Republic), the Madagascar (specifically from the Sambirano Valley), the Ocumare (from Venezuela) and the Guayas (Ecuador).  I like that these all have 70% cocoa solids and have the same number of ingredients (only the origin cocoa beans change), so they are easy to taste all at once and compare the flavour profiles of the beans.  Some artisan producers make their single origin bars with varying sugar amounts, so it is more difficult to compare the flavours from one origin bar to another (i.e. a chocolate manufacturer makes their Madagascar bar with 65% cocoa solids, but their Ecuador bar with 70% cocoa solids). I also like that real vanilla beans were used and there is no soy lecithin, making Amano chocolate as simple as possible for tasting.

I opened Amano's Madagascar and Dos Rios bars first and they couldn't have looked more different from each other.  I was amazed at the contrast between the very dark, nearly black colour of the Dos Rios chocolate bar and the milk chocolate colour of the Madagascar. Don't be confused, there is no milk chocolate in Amano's 70% Madagascar chocolate, it's just that the cacao beans from Sambirano Valley are lighter coloured than other beans. According to the Amano website, they are grown on a single family-owned estate and the beans are very high quality. But the trees are apparently offspring of Venezuelan Criollo trees that were brought to Madagascar at the turn of the century. This may also explain the light colour, since Venezuela is known for its procelana beans, which are distinctly white and produce light coloured chocolate, even when in a 70% chocolate.

I think I could fool a milk chocolate advocate into tasting the Madagascar chocolate bar by showing them its light milky colour. Although it does not taste like milk chocolate, the quality is so high and taste is so mild that I don't think they would mind being fooled into eating this chocolate. The Dos Rios chocolate bar is spicy, and has a bitter profile compared to the milder, slightly citrus Madagascar.

I then opened Amano's Guayas and Ocumare 70% chocolate bars.  The colour of the Ocumare and the Guayas are also light and milky (although not so milky as the Madagascar).  At first taste of the Guayas, I thought there was a very pronounced flavour, but when followed by a piece of the Ocumare, the flavour of the Ocumare seemed so much bigger and spicier.  The Ocumare package specifies "plum and floral notes", but I taste a really spicy semi-ripe plum with a hint of rose petals. I really like chocolate with a lot of flavour, and this is definitely a robust one.  It is easy to see why the Ocumare 70% won a silver in the 2009 London Academy of Chocolate Awards.

The Guayas smell and colour were more similar to the Madagascar, but with a spicier and smokier smell.

I have to say that I enjoyed all of the Amano bars. The one I enjoyed the least was the Dos Rios. The Guayas and Madagascar were my favourites.  So overall, Amano is worth a try if you like fine chocolate.  Also, if you are looking for chocolate with no soy lecithin or chocolate for vegans, check out the ingredients (see below) of the four Amano chocolate bars that I tasted today; you'll see that no soy or milk has been added.  Although if you have a severe allergy, be warned:  they do use the same equipment to produce other chocolate with soy lecithin. www.amanochocolate.com

 Here are the package details from the four Amano chocolate bars that I tasted today:

Amano Artisan Chocolate "Dos Rios", 70% Cacao Minimum, Made from Premium Beans from the Dominican Republic, 2 oz (56g)
Amano Chocolate, Orem, UT, U.S.A.
www.amanochocolate.com
Ingredients: cocoa beans, pure cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole vanilla beans. Our vintage equipment is used to process milk chocolate and chocolate containing tree nuts, peanuts and soy lecithin (an emulsifier).

Amano Artisan Chocolate "Madagascar", 70% Cacao Minimum, Made from Premium Beans from the Sambirano Valley in Madagascar, 2 oz (56g)
Amano Chocolate, Orem, UT, U.S.A.
www.amanochocolate.com
Ingredients: cocoa beans, pure cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole vanilla beans. Our vintage equipment is used to process milk chocolate and chocolate containing tree nuts, peanuts and soy lecithin (an emulsifier).

Amano Artisan Chocolate "Guayas", 70% Cacao Minimum, Made from Premium Beans from the Guayas River Basin in Ecuador, 2 oz (56g)
Amano Chocolate, Orem, UT, U.S.A.
www.amanochocolate.com
Ingredients: cocoa beans, pure cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole vanilla beans. Our vintage equipment is used to process milk chocolate and chocolate containing tree nuts, peanuts and soy lecithin (an emulsifier).

Amano Artisan Chocolate "Ocumare", 70% Cacao Minimum, Made from Premium Beans from the Ocumare Valley in Venezuela, 2 oz (56g)
Amano Chocolate, Orem, UT, U.S.A.
www.amanochocolate.com
Ingredients: cocoa beans, pure cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole vanilla beans. Our vintage equipment is used to process milk chocolate and chocolate containing tree nuts, peanuts and soy lecithin (an emulsifier).