The Creator:
Finding a chocolate brand you haven’t heared of before is always exciting. Especially if they offer bars from an origin like Dominican Republic. Next to my first love, the Madagascan origin, I have become very fond of Caribbean cocoa, as they often offer lush tropical, warm flavors.
Doing a little research about Definite, doesn’t reveal much info. The company was founded by Marjorie and Jens. She was born in the Dominican Republic and married Jens who I presume is Dutch. (actually, Jens is German, but he was born close to the Dutch border, as he explained to me after this review was published. I guess I was close. 😉 ). They settled in the Dominican Republic and Jens became a chocolate maker. Marjorie runs the design and financial side of the company. Starting out very small, making chocolate in their kitchen, they were pick up by the Academy of chocolate and won awards. Today, Definite is running a bigger workshop and the chocolate maker is growing steadily.
What appeals to me immediately, is that Definite is producing the chocolate at the very origin of the cocoa. They only use Dominican cocoa in their chocolate and the range of cocoa beans is far larger than you might expect.
Growing cocoa since the 17th century, the country is the 10th largest cocoa exporter in the world. But more important, they are the largest supplier of organic cocoa beans by far. The sector has moved into producing higher quality and fine flavor cocoa beans and is well know with chocolate lovers.
Yet, producing chocolate in the country itself, provides an even bigger added value to the local population. A trend you see more and more in the chocolate world. And in many ways, it makes a lot of sense to keep the production of the final product close to the cocoa farms themselves.
Today, I try a bar made with cocoa from the Öko-Caribe post harvest processing center.
Here we go!
The Bar:
A vibrant green cardboard box greets me. Decorated with flower figures and golden writing, the box feels luxurious. At the front, we see the company logo (a butterfly), the percentage and the origin. Flip it over and you discover the tasting notes, ingredients and nutritional information. My example features a label by the Dutch importer and distributor Clearchox,
The box has an envelop style design, which I love. Easy to reclose after a tasting session. On the inside, a wealth of info on the origin, a map where the cocoa is situated in the Dominican Republic, a representation of the bean to bar process and some info on Definite itself. Splendid.
Inside a celophane wrapper, a gorgeous bar awaits you. No scoring, just one big slab of chocolate, delicately embossed with the butterflies of the logo and the company name. The execution is flawless, not a single imperfection or air bubble. Impressive. An inviting looking piece of chocolate indeed.
Tasting:
Bean: Not mentioned
Origin: Öko Caribe – Pimentel, Duatre Province – Dominican Republic
Maker: Definite Chocolate SRL, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Ingredients: organic cocoa beans, organic cane sugar
Price: £ 6,5 – 60g – webshop Definite Chocolate UK
Batch: T0683 – best before 30/09/2022
Harvest: Not mentioned
Color: Dark brown but with a glorious reddish glow
Aroma: cocoa, light wood, fruity mixed with a floral hint
Taste: a sweet start with a touch of wood, opens up for a fruity orange note, followed by an explosion of floral aromas in the back of the mouth. There is Jasmin and a second, harder to grasp element. The fruity impression returns and leaves a little tingle in the throat. Passion fruit! Honey pops up. The floral notes swirl in the back and come bck to the front at times. The melt is very smooth and enjoyable. Near the end of the melt, coffee pops up briefly and a dry finish is started with a touch of wood and roasted bread,
The finish itself is long. Sweeter than the main flavor, the fruity-floral notes subdue and give way to more roasted bread and chocolaty cocoa.
Final evaluation:
Visual appeal: 5/5
Aroma: 4/5
Melt and mouth feel: 5/5
Flavor profile : 4/5
Complexity: 5/5
Overall: 23/25 (*****)
A 80% chocolate can be a hard percentage to get right, but Definite sure created a splendid chocolate bar. It’s light and nimble, not overwhelming at all and could easily pass for a lower percentage bar. But what really punched it to the maximum appreciation in my reviews, is the wonderful complexity and flavor evolution in this bar. This is what chocolate is all about.
Links:
