Like many 100% cocoa chocolates, this bar has a powerful and marked presence in the mouth, but as is often the case with arriba cocoa, it is not particularly bitter. However, Pacari manages to avoid a common pitfall with 100%: this chocolate is less doughy than its counterparts.
In more detail, one can appreciate the notes of roasted nuts and a little acidity and bitterness that are characteristic of Pacari. It is an important experience: one understands what makes the basis of other chocolates.
In itself, it is a very pleasant chocolate, although it should be reserved for those who are looking for it.
Another very special bar. Piura is in Peru - so it is outside the usual borders of Pacari, which usually focuses on Ecuador.
More special: in the Piura region there are albino cocoa trees, i.e. with white seeds (as opposed to the usual red/brown). Research has shown that this is a Nacional cocoa, of the same family as the Ecuadorian. In short, a unique cocoa.
In addition to the traditional chocolate bars, Pacari offers small delicacies to be nibbled one by one: cocoa nibs covered with chocolate. Dusted with cinnamon, they are left to melt in the mouth until only the crunchy, slightly bitter, pure cocoa piece remains inside. Pacari offers three flavors: natural, banana, and ginger.
This is a chocolate that hits hard from the first second. Its well-defined character, quite full-bodied and a little bitter, makes you think at the first bite of coffee or wood. But after the first impression, if you give it time, the arriba chocolate takes over, with small touches of raspberry and cherry. The more you eat it, the less your taste buds are affected by the bitterness, and the more you can appreciate the other nuances. So this is an experience to try, especially for those who like their chocolate intense and striking, over several squares.
Despite its high percentage, this chocolate is more subtle than full-bodied. Woody and round in the first moments, it delivers at the very end some fruity and acidulous notes - it seems to me the characteristic of Pacari chocolates. It’s a very present, well marked taste, which arrives slowly on the tongue and spreads quietly in the whole mouth.
This chocolate won gold at the International Chocolate Awards and I understand why. It is balanced, powerful and subtle, and everyone can appreciate it at its full value. A safe, solid chocolate, an ideal representative for Pacari.