Amedei Chuao and 9

While snooty chocolate  connoisseurs insist that we all convert to eating only single-origin bars, I really disagree. I think as more people became interested in good chocolate, a backlash among chocolate snobs resulted in fads like single-origin bars, organic chocolate, fair-trade chocolate and a disdain for milk and white chocolate. At the point where the fads dictate taste, people will mindlessly consume terrible-tasting single-origin bars just because somebody told them that they're "better" than blends.

The blending of cacao beans is a wonderful thing. In fact, I tend not to enjoy single-origin bars as much as a good blend. Blending is done to balance flavor profiles of different beans. Different beans lend different characteristics to the flavor of a finished bar. A particular bean variety may have fantastic fruity flavors but fall short on the finish. Some beans are quite acidic and wouldn't be pleasant on their own, but provide balance to other beans that may be short on acidity. Generally, I tend to find single-origin bars interesting to taste, but not quite pleasurable to eat. Having said that, there are some fantastic single-origin bars. One of these is the  the Amedei Chuao-- I think Chuao beans are so interesting. I'm always amazed when I eat this bar how balanced the flavor profile can be given that it consists of only one type of bean. It starts off with bitter coffee flavors that are perfectly balanced by acidity. Toward the middle I get dark cherry flavors and blueberries, and at the very end I taste earthy enoki mushrooms. 

While Chuao beans are considered by many to be the best beans in the world, the Amedei Chuao bar is not my favorite. My absolute favorite bar ever is the Amedei 9 bar. The 9 bar is the bar that got me obsessed with chocolate. It's the bar that inspired me to spend the money I work so hard for on other $15 chocolate bars in hopes of finding another gem, drive an hour away from my home to a famous chocolate shop where parking costs $20, and bore my friends by talking way too much about chocolate.  The scent is complex -- dark, rich, with the subtle "cat pee" aroma of sauvignon blanc but not as bright or acidic. It's a blend of beans from 9 different plantations. I'm not familiar with any of the plantations, but there is definitely the enoki mushroom flavor of Chuao beans that I enjoy in there somewhere along with blueberries, and chili pepper. Beyond these flavor notes, my tasting notes for this bar are rather vague and metaphorical, and I won't bore you all with poetic raptures that cannot be empirically verified. I've tried to sit down and taste the Amedei 9 bar and take systematic notes, but I've never been successful. I enjoy the experience of eating the Amedei 9 too much to intellectualize it.