A couple days off for the holiday means a little down time. Eat chocolate and talk about it, or vacuum the dog hair off the sofa, again? Option 1, please. Let me introduce you to Azu Chocolate. I had never heard of Azu Chocolate before the NWCF. After doing some research, I’ve decided this place sounds pretty cool. Azu is a bakery and cafe in Caracas, Venezuela, in the state of Aragua. It was started by pastry chef, Maria Evans, who focuses on highlighting Venezuelan flavors in her bakes. Maria graduated from Le Cordon Bleu Madrid in 2015. She started Azu, the pastry shop, in 2017. Along the way, she developed an interest in chocolate making, which led her to create a line of chocolate bars. The cacao for these bars comes from the village of Chuao and 2 local Venezuelan estates. Interestingly, one of these estates, Hacienda La Sabaneta, was abandoned for over 60 years, leaving it overgrown and isolated in the jungle. In 2020, Daniela González, a fifth-generation descendant of the original estate’s family, successfully reclaimed it. Since then, she has built a reputation for producing pure, organic Venezuelan Criollo cacao.
Now let me introduce you to Azu’s Origen Hacienda La Sabaneta 70% chocolate bar. The cacao is fermented in wooden boxes made from farm-sourced wood, then dried gradually in the sun. The bar has 2 ingredients: cacao from Hacienda La Sabaneta and cane sugar.
Sight: detailed and sharp molding without blemishes (one day my photography skills will improve enough to highlight it); moderately dark brown; nice packaging
Sound: good snap with break
Smell: strong; sweet with a bit of cinnamon or cardamon
Mouth Feel: melts readily
Taste: the flavor starts with a light floral honey and a little spice, with a mild nuttiness at the end
Astringency: mild
Summary: From the smell to the taste, this is an unexpectedly and wonderfully complicated chocolate. I need to get my hands on more of this.