Hotel Chocolat The Purist 70% Chuao

Posted by in Chocolate Reviews on December 6 2010 | Leave A Comment

Hotel Chocolat The Purist 70% Chuao

If you’re not seriously into chocolate, you may not have heard of Chuao, where the beans in this Hotel Chocolat bar come from It’s actually a small village in Venezuela, but those in the know say the surrounding plantations produce some of the finest cocoa beans in the world and it’s a bit of a big thing at the moment.

In the past couple of years, more and more fine chocolate producers have been making bars made from Chuao beans, which is great, if a little perplexing given that it’s such a small place. I’ve heard that many chocolates marketed as Chuao may be made from beans from a much wider area, but as the name isn’t protected, it’s difficult to know for sure.

The blurb on the inside of the bar mentions the “Chuao region”, so although it’s not stated, I would assume these are from a wider area than the village itself.

Hotel Chocolat The Purist 70% Chuao

The format of this bar is exactly the same as the rest of The Purist range – a beautifully curvy slab with the Hotel Chocolat logo. There’s no chunks, but the bar is thin enough that it’s easy enough to break small pieces off.

My own bar had a few bits on the surface, spoiling the glossy look somewhat. That didn’t affect the flavour though. And a very nice flavour it is too.

Hotel Chocolat The Purist 70% Chuao

Like most Chuao chocolates, it’s smooth and mellow and not bitter at all. There’s a hint of fruitiness, that reminds me of a Madagascan chocolate, but it’s not quite as zingy or fruity. This is more laid back and subtle.

I do like this bar, but it’s by no means my favourite. I recently tried a Chuao bar from Canadian chocolate make Soma, and that was lighter and more delicate than this. But the great thing about Hotel Chocolat’s The Purist range is that you can pick up two or three bars of similar cocoa percentage and compare them side by side. There’s even two bars in the range where the only difference is the conch time, which I’m really looking forward to trying.

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Comments On This Post

  1. This chocolate looks divine!! But yeah, never heard about it. Still, I’m a chocolate fiend. 🙂

  2. Is this a relative of the Coppeneur 70% Chuao bar?

  3. Dom (Chocablog Staff)

    Silvia: At the very least, it means the cocoa beans come from the same region, so they’re likely to have similar flavours.

    However, Coppeneur do also make some chocolate for Hotel Chocolat, so it could turn out that they’re exactly the same.

  4. Michael (Chocablog Staff)

    I’m working my way through the Soma Chuao bar right now (for fun rather than for Chocablog…) and am rather enjoying the fruitiness of it. I’m glad to hear that you’ve discovered the wonder of Soma for yourself Dom – they really are my favourite Canadian chocolate folks.

  5. Dom (Chocablog Staff)

    I have some more Soma Chuao coming back in a suitcase from Canada very soon, so I’ll be reviewing it properly myself. 🙂

  6. Michael (Chocablog Staff)

    And I just got a bunch of other Soma bars so we will have to coordinate our reviews. The one I’m looking forward to most is their Three Amigos bar – Chuao from coastal Venezuela, Alto Beni from Bolivia and Elvesia from the Dominican Republic all in one bar. Yum.

  7. I never heard of it before..wanna try one..

  8. Hi! I found you from Meet Me on Monday. I’m Rebecca from FreakyFrugalite.com. Nice to meet you. We’re the same kind of party animal. lolI’m foonwlilg your blog on Google Connect. Would you consider foonwlilg me?Have a wonderful week, and Happy New Year!Rebecca recently posted..

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