Dandelion Chocolate

A friend of mine has been raving about Dandelion Chocolate for ages, so I was really excited to try their chocolate, which I had the change to do at the SF Chocolate Salon and the Good Food Awards.  The bars I sampled were all 70%, single origin, with no cocoa butter, no vanilla, no lecithin, etc.  It was really interesting to see the profound differences in the bars, given that they have the same cocoa percentage and no extra ingredients, so the real difference does come from the beans, and only the beans.  They won a Good Food Award for the Costa Rica, but I saw that they had other samples hiding.  I asked to try them, and I’m glad I did, as I liked them much more!

• 70% Costa Rica.  Tasting notes: Fell short for me.  Flavors were ok but pretty forgettable and not complex at all.  They describe it themselves as a good starter chocolate since it is mild and not overbearing.
• 70% Madagascar.  Tasting notes: Hello there fruit!  This was an incredibly fruity bar.  [ This was the first chocolate I’ve ever had that required opening up. At first bite, you kinda tasted nothing, and then a few seconds later it hit.  A very firm chocolate, with a snap to it when you bit into it.  I didn’t really like this, as the flavor wasn’t particularly pronounced and I like chocolate smoother and creamer. ] [ Again, very fruity.  Slightly grainy. A more subtle bar.  Cherry notes on the finish. ]
• 70% Rio Caribe.  Tasting notes: Very fudgy, rich, brownie like.
• 70% Venezuelan.  Tasting notes: Nice classic bitter dark chocolate.  My favorite of their bars.