The Negroni Bar with 70% Hacienda Costa Esmeraldas- Muisne - Ecuador Dark Chocolate with Negroni-soaked nibs and orange peel.

2023 Harvest -

Single Estate - Fair Trade - Bean to bar

Cacao provenance: Hacienda Costa Esmeraldas | Muisne, Ecuador

This is a crazy idea that turned magical after a long, laborious but very fruitful process. If you like the famed Negroni drink, this is a chocolatey cousin. 

First the nibs were soaked for 3 weeks in a Negroni drink. The nibs were then dehydrated to extract most of the alcohol and moisture out of them. (I left them a bit boozy to experience the Negroni flavors). When dehydrating, the nibs caramelized with the sugars from the liquors beautifully. After tempering the dark chocolate, I molded the bars and then added the dehydrated nibs and freshly grated orange peel. Once the bars were finished hardening, I immediately placed them in our packaging pouches to start the lovely marriage of the chocolate and the Negroni. This type of fine chocolate gets deeper and better with age. 

Our tasting Notes: 

Aromas: Orange marmalade, stewed berries, gin and cloves. This is the best aroma in a bar of chocolate in the world. Fight me!

Flavors: The pleasantly bitter, herbal, distinctive Negroni taste and orange peel mixes splendidly with cedar wood, banana and complex, fudge flavors from the chocolate. 

Ingredients:
Inclusions: Nacional Cacao nibs soaked in a Negroni drink (equal parts of Campari, Gin and Sweet Vermouth) and freshly grated orange peel.
Chocolate: Nacional Cacao beans, cane sugar and cacao butter.
Contains traces of alcohol. Infused nibs have been mostly dehydrated.

Cacao tasting Notes:

The overarching impression for this bean is nuance and elegance. The aroma starts off with chocolate and lightly toasted warm cedar. The solid chocolate backbone is backed with delicate wood tannins and brown sugars.

The flavor starts off with fudge brownie and pleasant wood tannins. There is a creamy, slight nutty note that is clean but earthy. The inherent dark brown sugar sweetness and bitterness lend a note of a rich mocha. The acidity balance is perfect leaving you with an unmistakable satisfaction.

About this cacao:

The cocoa orchards were established 6 years ago on former cattle pasture with very steep terrain. Establishment of cocoa, timber, and other fruit trees has reduced erosion on the farm site. Esmeraldas has an unusual climate, with little variation in average temperatures. The region has relatively short wet season from January to May each year, but during the dry season, the weather is almost always overcast with light drizzling rain.

Costa Esmeraldas is a family owned and operated 100-hectare cacao farm. All members of the Salazar family (Fredy, Monica, and siblings Freddy and Indira) actively participate in the business. Freddy is directly responsible for managing operations at the farm and post-harvest center.

Management of the cacao orchards create over 40 full-time jobs within the local community in rural Esmeraldas.

Fermentation is set up a five-tiered cascade system. The wood boxes are Cedro (Cedrela odorata) with a 450 kg capacity. The fermenting mass is turned once at 36 hours, and then every morning until fermentation is complete. Total duration of fermentation is 5 ½ days.