DISTINGUISHED BEANS
Reviewing the best in craft chocolate
White Label
Based in Santa Cruz, White Label Chocolate makes award-winning bean-to-bar chocolate with beans from around the world, including Madagascar, Tanzania, India, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Jamaica, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Vietnam, and Uganda. They strive for transparency in their sourcing process and provide more information on their labels than any other maker I've seen.
Madagascar Bejofo Estate 68%
Aroma: savory, raisin, leather, a little tanginess, floral, honey, beeswax, peach, milky
Flavor: rich but subdued, roasted almond butter, fruit – some red but more brown: freeze-dried raspberries, raisin, dried cherry. Toasted grains, sourdough bread, lemon sorbet, a pleasant tartness. It starts with sweetness, the grain and cherry complexity emerges, moves into caramel/butterscotch with lingering grain/sourdough notes (fades and come back), a rich complex sweetness with grass notes (sorghum molasses?). A rich tangy creaminess on the end like cream cheese frosting
Recommendation: Highly recommended. Complex and refined, with wonderful flavor development.
Batch info: SM68CECERST
Bolivia Alto Beni Wild Harvest 72%
Aroma: dried fruit/raisin, spice notes – pepper, split red oak, sourdough bread
Flavor: a light sweet dried fruitiness – raisin, dried cherry, with just a hint of fresh fruit like peach; port, brandy, cream caramel, toasted grains, graham crackers, a slight pleasant sourness, a slight greenness perhaps owing to a light roast.
Recommendation: Highly recommended; a beautiful example of what can be done with wonderful beans from the Beni region of Bolivia
Batch info: Batch WB722251922619. Enjoy by July 2021
Jamaica Bachelor’s Hall 72%
Aroma: soft, slightly nutty, sourdough bread
Flavor: Mellow. Graham crackers, toasted grains, sourdough, gingerbread, spice cake, toasty, some fruitiness, raisin, dark beer maltiness, butterscotch.
Recommendation: Highly recommended; a very well-made bar. It’s very pleasant, mild but with some complexity. I wonder if the addition of cocoa butter softens the intensity of the flavor somewhat.
Batch info: BHJ72471942619, Enjoy by July 2021