The Creator:
Ah, autumn. The days are getting shorter, leaves and temperatures start dropping. Time to meet up with my old pall chocolate. It has been some time since I last had a chance to sit down to do a proper tasting. Opening my storage box I’m welcomed by amazing smells, exciting end yet so familiar. The thrill is definitely not gone.
On the table is a recent purchase. The summer has been cruel to my chocolate stash, the temperatures were just to much and many have lost their shine. With an aching heart I had to dismiss several bars I had waiting for a review. But just at the end of the summer, I visited Mi Joya in Tervuren, Brussels. Next to making chocolate, they also produce splendid artisan ice cream and I was waiting for the perfect opportunity to visit their shop.
Nicolas de Schaetzen and Caroline Aussems recently gave up their main job and are now fully dedicated to their chocolate and ice cream production. The Mi Joya shop already has a place where you can enjoy their products, but Caroline mentioned me big plans are ahead and soon it will be even more of a treat to visit them. So check them out if you are in the neighbourhood.
While enjoying my great coffee ice cream, I browsed their chocolate display. Caroline told me the recently released Cameroon origin was a bar I really needed to try. So I did. Let’s see where the flavors take us.
The Bar:
Hidden in the typical Mi Joya package (cardboard box with a distinct sticker for every origin – orange with an Elephant in this case). Below, the percentage and origin is mentioned. On the back, the ingredients are shown: Cameroon cocoa, sugar and cocoa butter.
Inside the box, a leaflet gives more info on Mi Joya, the origin and on their product line.
The bar itself is wrapped in a clear cellophane.
The bar is made of elongated rectangular chocolate pieces. Very different from what I normally see in the chocolate world. Unfortunately, the bar also seems to have been affected by the last hot days and I slightly dull from resting in my cupboard. Yet nothing too bad and flavor wise it is not affected at all. I love how you can break of a single small bar while the rest of the chocolate remains in perfect shape. Perfect for a chocoholic like me who enjoys a bar over several sittings.
Tasting:
Bean: Forastero
Origin: Plantations de Haute-Penja, Cameroon
Maker: Mi Joya
Price: € 6,5 – 75g
Batch: Best before 30/06/2020 – Batch CAM190618
Harvest: not mentioned
Roast: not mentioned
Conche time: not mentioned
Color: subtle earthy aroma’s, roasted cocoa, nuts
Aroma: deep earthy, roasted cocoa
Taste: Surprising sweet in nature at the start. Classic dark chocolate notes kick off this Cameroon bar, in line with expectations. A lush, thick river of satisfying chocolate brownie keeps rolling over the tongue. Just when you think there won’t be more to this chocolate, the flavor river it produces, takes a sharp bend and drops you in rapid, mingling in popping fruity notes. Dark berries, zingy citrus fruits such as lemon and blood orange flash by. They lift the over all flavor from satisfying to exciting. Suddenly roasted nuts appear and coffee bubbles up in the back. To soon, the chocolate symphony is all gone. At first the after flavor seems to be a bit vague, but as it keeps rolling you experience the same main chocolaty flavors and roasted nuts in a more volatile way. And they keep hanging around for a long time.
A perfect bar to show that using a high quality Forastero cocoa bean can yield a very flavorful chocolate with exciting flavors. Definitely a very nice way to start off my new chocolate season and thumbs up for Mi Joya.
Final evaluation:
Visual appeal: 4/5
Aroma: 3/5
Melt and mouth feel: 4/5
Flavor profile : 4/5
Complexity: 5/5
Overall: 20/25 (****)
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