Madecasse – Madagascar Chocolate

Madecasse (pronounced mah-DAY-cas/) is practicing a form of fair trade where they are making the whole bar in Africa from beans grown in Africa.  Rather than bean-to-bar, they call it “tree-to-bar.”  As the back of the package explains, this results in more of the economic value staying in Africa while the importer, I assume, can still make money.  The price is higher than average.  I don’t know if that’s because of the business model or because of the quality because I really enjoyed these bars – especially the 67%.

WHAT:  Madecasse, Madagascar Chocolate 67% Cacao. 85g bar. Ingredients: cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter.  Price range: $$$

WHEN: 5 July, 2009

OVERALL RATING: 86

AROMA:  Vanilla, licorice, banana, avocado.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS:  Apple, pear, lemon.

MIDDLE TASTE Raspberry, pomegranate, apples, pancakes with maple syrup, yogurt, whipped cream.  I tasted 2-3 pieces and strangely the clear berry notes only showed up once, but they were very real.

FINISH: Toffee, vanilla, apple peal, mint.

TEXTURE: Smooth.  Nothing notable.

WHAT:   Madecasse, Madagascar Chocolate 75% Cacao. 85g bar. Ingredients: cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter.  Price range: $$$

OVERALL RATING: 81.

AROMA: Evergreen, cedar, tobacco, ripe bananas, pineapple, roses.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS: Leather, wood chips, coffee, vanilla, pineapple.

MIDDLE TASTE: Vanilla, leather, coffee, peaches, earth, straw, grapes, prunes.

FINISH:  Celery, coconut, grape skins, lime.  Some astringency on finish.

TEXTURE:  Smooth. Nothing notable.

LAST BITE -   The big distinction for the 75% bar was the aroma – a highly assertive mixture of fruit, wood / earth and floral.  Somehow the 67% showed more obvious fruit in the initial and middle tastes.  There was an amazing warm vanilla note through the whole range off the 67% bar even though there is no vanilla on the ingredients list.   The only ingredients are cocoa beans, sugar and cocoa butter.