Let me introduce you to Finca Manantiales Monticristi. I couldn’t find much information about this chocolate maker, but I believe it is a family-run cacao farm, located in Monticristi, Ecuador. Montecristi is a town in the coastal region of the Manabí province in Ecuador, and it’s the capital of Montecristi Canton. Montecristi was formed during the first years of the Spanish conquest, around 1536. The area is renowned for exceptional cacao growing conditions. The Finca Manantiales farm has been a cacao producing family-run farm for at least two generations. The family started making chocolate in 2023 and use exclusively the Nacional-Fino de Aroma (cacao Arriba) cacao grown on their farm. Finca Manantiales Monticristi has won 2 awards, both from the International Chocolate Awards in 2025.
Now let me introduce you to Finca Manantiales’ 74% chocolate bar. It’s made from only 3 ingredients: single origin cacao from their farm, cane sugar, and cacao butter.
Sight: clean molding, mostly shiny finish; dark brown color; I apologize for my photography skills–I’m seeking profession help
Sound: good snap with break
Smell: mild/moderate intensity; pleasant and chocolatey
Mouth Feel: mildly chalky texture with thin melt
Taste: an intensely chocolate flavor with earthy and nutty notes, but then picks up a note of honey
Astringency: mild
Summary: It’s a bar that at first I thought would fall into my “nice chocolate” list. You know the list–good quality, doesn’t taste bad, but… With multiple samplings over the last few days, I’ve recognized it for what it is–complex and more than just nice. Deep chocolate flavor, along with an earthy nuttiness that finishes with a very pleasant creamy honey flavor? Come on. That’s a good bar of chocolate.