I have heard chocolate snobs rave about single origin chocolate for months now, but believed it was just a fad until I came across one myself. Yesterday, I tried the Santander Single Origin Columbian Chocolate bars and couldn’t get enough. The chocolate’s flavor is intense, and almost fruity, and leaves such a perfect taste in your mouth you can’t help but want more. I am usually satisfied by one or two bites of dark chocolate (which is part of its charm), but I devoured the Santander 65% dark chocolate and the 70% dark chocolate with coffee bits like they were a brownie and a piece of cake. The Santander bar from Columbia is the first and only single origin chocolate I have ever had, and I am anxious to try more.
Single origin chocolates are made from cacao beans sourced from a single region of the world, allowing you to experience the taste and aroma that results from the unique growing conditions of the area. This can be a great thing, as seen with Columbian beans, or something to avoid, like with many beans from the tumultuous Ivory Coast. In a chocolate tasting class I took with John Scharffenberger he pointed out that many of the beans from the Ivory Coast have a metallic taste as a result of being roasted on tin roofs out of sight of the rebels. Whether this is true or not, it raises a question in my mind about how consistent a single origin chocolate could be. Changes in weather, politics or even farmers could affect the taste of chocolate from the area. Most great chocolates currently get their complexity from a blend of fine beans, which also helps maintain consistency since it is not as easily affected by the change in flavor of one type of bean. Now that I can see how good a single origin chocolate can taste, I only hope that future batches of Santander chocolate taste as good as my first.
Santander Single Origin Columbian Chocolate
Available on Chocosphere.com
Try making brownies with the 70% with coffee nibs. You won’t be disappointed.
Uh oh your hooked now Kelli. : ) Sounds delicious!! Try the limited El Carmen from Scharffenberger. I am looking forward to baking something truly different and dark this Friday.
For single origin chocolate, I highly recommend the Plantations Arriba varietal chocolate. It is organically grown. My favorite is the 90% cocoa mass bar. I get it at Zingermans.com
HI kelly…i havent visited your site in awhile but once again, lots of great stuff on here!! i will be sure to check in more often. i bought the 70% dark chocolate santander w/ espresso today based upon your suggestion. you knowyou have a problem when you spend more on chocolate than you do on your regular groceries =T. i just bit into the michel cluizel chocolat noir au grue de cacao (dk choc w/ cocoa nibs) and it’s amazing. my newest fav thiing is the nibs..and i hope to use it in baking soon. anyway, ill email you to catch up…i wanna hear how pastry land is
Dear Kelli:
Thanks for the support in our project. Im invite to visit our new web page at http://www.chocolatesantander.com. Best regards,
Juan Macia
Project Director
Hello Kelli,
Thanks for the background on the delicious chocolate you described in your article. However,a peice of advice would be to correct your spelling. The chocolates originate from Colombia not Columbia. Thank you.. Ciao
Hansel Corsa