Lithuanian producer Chocolate Naive is one of the more intruiging chocolate makers around. Lithuania is little known as a chocolate country, but it shows it doesn’t matter where you are from, there is always a way to create something stunning. Former experiences with their products showed me they create wonderful tasting bars with an own vision and slightly coarser textures.
To me, flavor always comes before looks and texture when it comes to chocolate. But Naive recently acquired new machines for their production and people in the bussiness informed me their products have raised in quality so I was pretty excited to find this particular bar in a sample pack they forwarded to me.
So far I haven’t reviewed to many bars made from Nicaraguan cocoa. The ones I did tries featured great earthy chocolate flavors. One would expect the result of Naive’s bar to be in the same line. Interesting, this bar is made with Nicalizo® cocoa, a strain of Criollo family – known as being the best of the best when it comes to flavor.
At 70%, the cocoa percentage strikes my sweet spot. It is the perfect match between flavor and power to me and allows some mighty taste profiles.
Bean: Criollo
Origin: Nicaragua
Production: Chocolate Naive – Lithuania
Price: Unknown – sample bar
Color: a lighter brown, nearing milk chocolate
Aroma: Notes of hay, roasted nuts and a touch of spices and dry wood
Taste: the aroma starts of with a dash of roasted almonds and coffee plus a honey tone. Next comes a refreshing fruitiness reminding me of apricot, raisins and sweet mandarin. The taste remains light hearted and twirls on the tongue, moving back and forth between sweet and fruits. Underneath a slight bitterness keeps the aroma tango in pace and bundles the flavors to a nice harmonious flavor. Just before the end of the melt, a dash of warm spices and even a hint of mint pops through. The nicely melting chocolate is far smoother than the one Naive used to create and the dark molten liquor is gone to soon, but the enjoyment prolonged by the great aftertaste. Very chocolaty in nature it brings forth the smoky wood tones I noticed in the aroma.
This is one of the nicest bars I ever tried from Naive! I really have to pull myself away from it not to finish the entire bar in one sitting. Highly recommended!
Damn. I noticed only afterwards that this has not only soya lecithin in it but also clarified butter. Butter!