I’m biased a little bit. I had never heard of or sampled this chocolate before the NWCF in October ’25. While at the festival, I sampled their line of bean to bar chocolate and had such a good chat with one of the guys in the booth. I’m biased because after hearing my comments on each of the samples, he immediately talked to me about starting a chocolate blog. And he kept talking to me about it. And here we are–it’s his fault. In truth, I had thought about it before that conversation, but not seriously. Anyway, let me introduce you to ChocoMe Atelier. Gábor Mészáros, its founder and owner, studied economics and worked in the food industry as a trade marketing manager. He transitioned to making chocolate and founded ChocoMe in 2010 in Budapest, Hungary. ChocoMe branched out to create their single origin bean to bar chocolate line, which is called the ChocoMe Atelier, in 2024. A major contributing force was world-renowned chocolate expert, Chloé Doutre-Roussel, who worked closely with the company to reach this next level. And it paid off. According to an internet search, ChocoMe Atelier has won 106 international awards in competitions such as the International Chocolate Awards and the Great Taste Awards.
Now let me introduce you to ChocoMe Atelier’s 70% Kokoa Kamili chocolate bar. They use trinitario and nacional cacao beans from the Kilombero Valley, Morogoro Region in Tanzania. The beans for this bar are sourced through a social enterprise fermentary who operates by purchasing ‘wet’ cocoa beans directly from smallholder farmers, and then it ferments and dries the beans following a specific protocol. And here are the results.
Sight: the molding is sharp and a thing of beauty–just look at that bar; the packaging is beautiful too (even though it’s a little difficult to tell from my photograph); dark brown color and shiny finish
Sound: good snap with break
Smell: moderate intensity; sweet and fruity
Mouth Feel: smooth even melt
Taste: initially there’s a bright fruitiness that’s well balanced with a deep fudgy flavor, then comes a hint of nut husk bitterness, and it finishes with the balanced fruity, fudgy flavor
Astringency: none with a small sample but a hint with repeated sampling
Summary: This is exceptional and what I look for in a chocolate bar. It has a delicious dark chocolate flavor that’s brightened by the fruitiness, and deepened by the bitterness. I’ve ordered more bars. And I don’t plan to share.