Pump Street Bakery Madagascar Criollo 74%

The cocoa used in this chocolate comes from Bertil Akesson's estate in Madagascar. He has told me how is farm is a mixed bag of Criollo and Trinitario and they only have a very small amount of Criollo available and how much of a labour-intensive process it is to separate the various strains of cocoa - Bertil is a fantastic guy, and so is Chris who has made this fantastic, special edition, chocolate.

As you would expect from a Criollo it's restrained but it is the paradox of Madagascar that you seem to get heaps more red fruit than you do from Venezuelan Criollo. But even more strangely this has a great deal of orange with it which builds up the fruity acidity. Alongside that, dancing at the bottom of the flavour range we also have some 'coconut' notes - which all combine to make this a veritable sumptuous cocktail of a chocolate.

How does Chris and his team keep producing such wonderful chocolate?

Additional Information