66% cocoa, deep chocolate aroma with floral and fruit notes
Ideal pairing: mocha
(We started documenting our chocolate world tour last summer, but drafts have been gathering digital dust in the post editor. It's time.)
The first taste was that floral and fruity type of sweet — "like nectar" according to Ian. More specifically, we could taste berries folded into a baking chocolate flavor. The floral notes were less pronounced, and of the honeysuckle variety.
The texture was light, and pleasantly adhered itself to teeth, allowing us to savor the building flavor just a little longer, which concluded with a bite in the aftertaste. Ian described the experience as "a roll of thunder." He's good at those catchphrases.
We didn't have mocha and were uninspired to trek to Starbucks, so we improvised and mixed hot chocolate with extra strength french-pressed coffee. Combining this quasi-mocha with the chocolate resulted in a chocolate chip cookie taste, and the chocolate itself was sweeter with a more centered flavor. The added sweetness balanced the coffee aftertaste and chocolate bite for a scrumptious lingering flavor.
Well done Ecuador, well done.