Madécasse 70%

Posted by in Chocolate Reviews on January 12 2011 | Leave A Comment

Even with less than two days in San Francisco, I still had to peer into a couple of chocolate shops in the area. (Ghirardelli Square doesn’t count: it’s a great place to spend the afternoon but not a major chocolate spot.) Closer to the Shore, I wandered toward a sign saying in bright yellow letters “Chocolate Shop,” adorned on the top and sides with giant three-dimensional truffles. Inside the San Franciscan-design building were piles and shelves of candies and chocolates with a carousel horse and a giant chandelier in the middle.

I gravitated toward the natural tones of the Madécasse Chocolate section, deciding something from here could be the one thing I brought from the store. Although I paid a hefty ten dollars for one 75 gram bar, they go for the more reasonable six dollars online.

Madécasse is an interesting company: all their chocolate is single origin Madagascar that is also made in the country (the back of the wrapper proclaims that the top is “tied by hand in Madagascar”). Madécasse claims that they create “4x more income than fair trade cocoa alone.” I picked out the 70% bar to try.

The face is divided into the right sized bites, and though the texture is not the smoothest in the world (rough would, however, be too extreme a term), it is nice in the handmade way. It has a light flavor with the sweet fruit and berry Madagascan notes among a few bitter twinges. It reminded me of perhaps a chocolate cinnamon cake.

I like this concept of chocolate purely from Madagascar. The chocolate inherently has good flavor and is well-made, also having a conscience for ethics.

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Comments On This Post

  1. I think there’s something wrong with me, I got some tasting squares of Madecasse (65, 80 & 70%) in SF as well. But it’s just horrible. Confusing bitter flavors dominate with some plastic/kerosene notes. The 70% was by far the best of them (a lot of honey/fig notes for me), but it’s not really something I’d like to revisit. I’m wondering if the bars are different from the little 5 gram squares.

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