{"id":13726,"date":"2019-10-29T18:22:52","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T01:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/?p=13726"},"modified":"2022-10-21T18:26:32","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T01:26:32","slug":"variety-is-the-spice-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/local-chocolate\/variety-is-the-spice-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Variety is the spice of life"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"wheel
Some of the chocolate bar options at Casa de Chocolates<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Casa de Chocolates<\/strong><\/a> is a chocolatier in Berkeley, CA, with their kitchen\/shop in the busy Elmwood commercial district. Their specialty is chocolates made with ingredients, techniques, and visuals drawn from Latin American cultures. They make bonbons, bars, and molded chocolates, plus Latin American desserts, all on-site in their charming shop.<\/p>\n

We visited recently with a focus on their bars. They have 2 sizes of bars, and all of the flavor options are available in both sizes. Full-size bars are 3 oz., mini-bars are 1 oz. You can buy them online<\/a>, but if you go to the shop in Berkeley, you can get different deals. For example, when we visited, they had 3-packs of full-sized bars for beer pairings, and 3 mini-bars for $8, a discount on the single $3 price.<\/p>\n

Treat yourself & try something different<\/h2>\n

While full-size bars are nice, small bars make it easy to try a range of flavors. It\u2019s not such a big commitment to try them all. Then you know which ones you want to splurge on for the full size. Although at $7 for the full-size bars, it\u2019s an affordable splurge. But if you are hesitant to pay that much for an unknown flavor, the small bars can\u2019t be beat.<\/p>\n

We bought a range of mini-bars and one 3-pack of full-sized bars, and liked them all. They use good chocolate and make well-tempered bars with a nice snap. Inclusions are plentiful, generally sprinkled all over one side of the bar, while the other side is molded into rows of squares making it easy to break off just the desired amount of chocolate at a time.<\/p>\n

While inclusions like nuts, seeds, and fruits cover the bar, flavors, especially the spicy ones, are not overwhelming. Bars are generally well balanced. A simple bar like the 61%\u00a0Brazilian Sea Salt has an initial hit of salt, but has a good balance between salt and chocolate all the way through.<\/p>\n

\"Fuerte
Fuerte means strong, but they mean it in a good way<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lots of spicy options<\/h2>\n

A spicy bar like the 72% Fuerte does start with a spicy punch and ends hot, but not too much, and it\u2019s balanced by the good chocolate,\u00a0crunchy roasted quinoa, almond pieces, and pumpkin seeds, plus there\u2019s a\u00a0salty overtone that\u2019s a nice surprise that also tempers the heat.<\/p>\n

The Fuerte was the hottest bar we tried. There were other spicy bars, such as the 61% Chili Mango and Mole, which were flavorful but with a mild heat. The\u00a0first taste in the Chili Mango was chocolate, followed by a little heat. The\u00a0mango flavor arrived last, probably because it required chewing to release. The bar\u00a0ended strongly chocolate and lingered. It was\u00a0more sweet than spicy, and the\u00a0mango had a tang that tempered the heat.<\/p>\n

The Mole contained\u00a08 different types of chili, so I approached it thinking it would be hot, but instead it was more complex, just like a mole sauce, but with a pronounced sweet cinnamon-y overtone. It ended a little hot, but again, not extreme. It\u2019s a good bar.<\/p>\n

The 61% Candied Ginger bar had a different kind of heat. Small cubes\u00a0of candied ginger were well distributed over bar, so we got a good balance between the 61% chocolate and spicy ginger. Candied ginger can be so hot, it can bring tears, but having small bits mixed with enough moldy daily chocolate makes it enjoyable, not painful.<\/p>\n

Cafe de la Olla is a traditional sweet and spicy coffee, and Casa de Chocolates\u2019 take on my favorite brunch drink had an immediate coffee taste, with the spices toward the end. I could taste the cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon distinctly. I might say it even improved on my drink with the crunchy texture of broken coffee beans sprinkled over the bar. And although the first ingredient is cane sugar and it\u2019s a 41% milk chocolate, it\u2019s not too sweet.<\/p>\n

If you prefer a stronger coffee flavored chocolate, try the 61% Peruvian Espresso. It smells so good, you can taste it before you sample it. It has a\u00a0<\/span>nice mouth feel, melting well, with a pronounced coffee taste, which is enhanced by the generous sprinkling of crunchy crushed coffee\u00a0beans.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Valencia
The candied orange peel on the Valencia bar is pretty and also pretty easy to break<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Milder, gentler choices<\/h2>\n

They also have \u201ceasier\u201d flavored bars: The 72%\u00a0Valencia Orange has long pieces of candied orange peel that break with bar\u2019s molded squares, so you always have some candied orange when sampling. It\u2019s a\u00a0very orange chocolate bar, and even thought it\u2019s one of their darker bars, it\u2019s not bitter.<\/p>\n

The 61% Almond & Brazilian Sea Salt has a nice contrast of salt and sweet, but we found it a little saltier than the straight-up Brazilian Sea Salt bar. It wasn\u2019t enough though to disqualify it as a good simple chocolate and nut bar.<\/p>\n

I approached the 61% Flor cautiously because it\u2019s flavored with hibiscus and rose, and I am not into floral flavors generally, but this was a mostly chocolate\u00a0bar. The florals were all<\/span> light high notes. The bar had a little tang to it, but no actual rose or hibiscus taste. I think that is because the floral notes come from dried crushed petals sprinkled on the bar, not floral essences mixed in the chocolate.<\/p>\n

Easy to be brave<\/h2>\n

The Flor and the last bar we tried, the 91% Amargo, were good examples of how the mini-bars lowered my inhibitions about trying flavors I\u2019m not sure about: in these instances, florals and high cacao percentages. The smaller commitment made me more willing to check them out, and with the Flor, I was pleasantly surprised. The Amargo was not quite as pleasing. Amargo means bitter, and while the bar had a good smell, it was bitter (truth in labeling) and mouth drying. I think if you like high percentage bars, this would be a good one because it\u2019s a well-made bar; it\u2019s just not for me.<\/p>\n

The Casa de Chocolates bar selection has a nice range to it, with something for everybody looking to try Latin American-inspired chocolate. And the mini-bars make it easy to take a chance on some of the more unusual flavors. And if that isn\u2019t enough, check out their bonbons, which have a whole \u2019nother range of Latin American-inspired flavors, such as Tapatio, Tequila, Tamarind, Mezcal, Passion Fruit, Guava, and more.<\/p>\n

Casa de Chocolates<\/a>,<\/strong> 2629 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. Check their website<\/a> for hours or to buy their chocolates online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A whole lotta Latin American-inspired chocolate to try<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,15],"tags":[636,8,555,367,443,239,552,515,1101,364,833,837,386,331],"class_list":["post-13726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-bay-chocolate","category-local-chocolate","tag-almond","tag-berkeley","tag-candied-orange-peel","tag-casa-de-chocolates","tag-chili","tag-coffee","tag-espresso","tag-ginger","tag-hibiscus","tag-mango","tag-peru","tag-pumpkin-seed","tag-rose","tag-sea-salt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13726"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35712,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13726\/revisions\/35712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}