Kallari’s cacao is, as always, very gentle. Here it is accompanied by candied ginger pieces, with ginger essence woven into the chocolate itself. The result is a calm, quietly composed chocolate — one that has no interest in overwhelming, preferring instead a delicate, fragrant sweetness.
In Otavalo, north of Quito, the Muyus café sells coffee and chocolate — including bars of their own, though the fine print reveals a collaboration with Huma.
Another chocolate from Lua, all in pointillist touches — very gentle, give it time to reveal itself, and the delicate flavor notes emerge one by one.
Fruity and floral, as the purple box of this Conexión chocolate promises. It’s true: a light interplay of bitterness and acidity recalls grapefruit, softened by the sweetness of red grapes and deep fermentation notes.
I found this bar in the souvenir shop of the Napo Cultural Center, deep in Yasuní National Park, in the heart of the Kichwa Añangu community in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In a thatched hut, tucked among beautiful handmade jewelry by indigenous women, a small foil-wrapped package.