Cacao Real del Xoconuzco 75% – Dark Chocolate

Cacao Real del Xoconuzco by Chocolat Bonnat, nutty and calm

Cacao Real del Xoconuzco by Chocolat Bonnat is a dark single-origin bar from the Mexican Soconusco, a coastal plain in Chiapas. Caramel, mandarin, and elderflower lie over a nutty base, and the finish lasts unusually long without ever becoming harsh.

Cacao Real del Xoconuzco is a 100-gram bar from Chocolat Bonnat's Grands Crus d'Exception line, the rarest origins from the house. The cocoa is a Criollo, the thin-skinned ancient variety with a light bean, and with a 75 percent cocoa content, it stands almost alone in that regard.

Caramel, mandarin, and a nutty core

For such a dark bar, the first impression is surprisingly soft.

Under the nutty base note, bright citrus notes open up, along with elderflower, a bit of wildflower honey, and a hint of candied ginger at the edges. The snap is clean and dry, the melt is creamy, and together they keep the flavor in suspense for a long time.

There is little to be felt of the harsh bitterness that many expect at this percentage, because the ancient variety naturally contains few tannins. Let a piece melt without chewing, then mandarin and blossom emerge most clearly.

Next to a ripe fig or a dried plum, the dark sweetness of the fruit picks up the tone and carries it further.

Soconusco, where the cocoa of the rulers grew

Soconusco is the name of the narrow plain between the Pacific and the mountains of Chiapas, humid, hot, and cocoa land for thousands of years.

The older name is Xoconochco, and on Chocolat Bonnat's paper, that became Xoconuzco. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, the Aztecs conquered the area and collected cocoa from there as tribute, ground and stirred with chili and corn into a bitter drink.

The Criollo trees of this coast are considered the oldest cultivated ones of all; they yield little, are susceptible, and were replaced almost everywhere over the centuries by more robust varieties. It is only for a good hundred and fifty years that the variety has been specifically cultivated on this coast again, in small stocks and with long, quiet fermentation after the harvest.

Silver at the International Chocolate Awards

In 2019, the jury of the International Chocolate Awards awarded the bar silver.

Judging takes place there in blind tastings, and appearance, snap, melt, and aroma are checked separately. For a single-origin bar, it counts particularly whether the bean remains recognizable throughout the processing.

That is exactly what the production in Voiron is designed for: Chocolat Bonnat roasts every origin separately, grinds it for a long time, and adds nothing that could blur its own tone.

A bar for a slow afternoon

It requires a little time, because its profile shifts in the first few minutes.

A single piece therefore goes further than with a bar that shows everything immediately, and a second tastes already different from the first. Those who share it in pairs often have two different descriptions on the table, which is the rule with this origin.

With a strong coffee, the nutty core emerges; with a glass of red wine, rather the dark fruit; and completely without accompaniment, the blossom remains the longest. Keep the opened bar cool and in its paper so that the fine tones do not disappear into the pantry.

Also from Mexico comes the award-winning Selva Maya, and with a brighter and rounder structure, the Morenita. Further origins are available in the Chocolat Bonnat collection.