Los Colorados 75% – Dark Chocolate

Los Colorados by Chocolat Bonnat, wild cacao from Ecuador

Los Colorados by Chocolat Bonnat is a single-origin dark chocolate made from wild-grown cacao from Ecuador, harvested by the Tsáchila in the lowlands. Bright and fruity in taste, with a floral trace that lies over a clean, dark base.

Los Colorados is a bar from Chocolat Bonnat in the French town of Voiron, ground from beans with a 75 percent cacao content. They grow in Ecuador without a plantation among wild trees; sugar is the only other ingredient in the 100-gram bar besides cacao and cocoa butter.

Bright, floral, and surprisingly accessible

The entry is brighter than the high cacao content would suggest, and after just a few seconds, a fine floral note emerges alongside the fruit.

Beneath it lies a clean, calm base without any roasting harshness, and the melt is long-lasting because the mass is finely ground. The snap sounds bright and dry; a piece breaks off cleanly and does not crumble.

Those who usually prefer milder bars will get along well here because the bitterness remains soft and the fruit retains the lead. Let each piece melt without distraction, then the floral side moves to the front.

A light, unsweetened tea pairs well, as does a handful of fresh berries, whose acidity makes the fruit notes stand out even more clearly.

The Tsáchila and their wild cacao

The Tsáchila are an indigenous people in the Ecuadorian lowlands who color their hair and faces with the red juice of the achiote fruit.

This is exactly where the name of the bar comes from: Los Colorados, the "adorned ones," is what the Spanish colonists called this people centuries ago. The name remains on paper to this day, and Chocolat Bonnat processes their harvest as a single origin, without blending it with other sources.

Wild cacao grows scattered in the forest among other species, and anyone wanting to harvest it goes from tree to tree. This costs time and limits the quantity, but it brings together fruits from very different trees.

After the harvest, the fruits are opened at the edge of the forest, the fruit pulp with the beans is placed in shallow boxes, and only then does the long journey to France begin. Chocolat Bonnat roasts the beans in Voiron in small drums and keeps the temperature low so that the bright tones do not burn.

Why untamed beans taste different

In a plantation, the fruits come from a few selected varieties, whereas in the forest they come from dozens of neighbors that have cross-bred themselves over centuries.

This genetic breadth ends up unchanged in the mill and results in a flavor profile with more facets: bright fruit alongside floral notes, plus an earthy tone that no cultivated variety possesses. Fermentation among the Tsáchila lasts only a few days in shallow boxes, and the shorter it is, the brighter the result remains.

Keep the bar cool and in its closed paper, because it is precisely the fine floral notes that evaporate first when exposed to heat and air.

A piece in the morning shows different sides than one late in the evening, because one's own sense of taste reacts more sluggishly after eating. Those who really want to taste the origin should therefore start with a small piece on a sober tongue and wait until it has dissolved on its own.

Rare dark chocolate from the same house

Similarly rare are the Madre de Dios and the Cacao Cusco, both from the Peruvian Amazon. Those who wish to compare can find the other origins in the Chocolat Bonnat collection.