It’s always exciting to discover a new chocolatier and this one, Luisa Abram, is particularly poignant given its ties to the Brazilian Amazon. Although Luisa’s name is on the packaging, it’s a small family affair. They use micro-batch wild cocoa from the Amazon rainforest and it is turned into chocolate in São Paulo.
Each bar is made from beans harvested by local communities and each river gives the cocoa bean, and therefore chocolate, its unique profile. It’s rare that I like all the chocolates I taste in a range, but I did here (with the possible exception of the dark coconut milkwhich is perfectly fine but the coconut milk chocolate hasn’t spoken to me in a meaningful way yet).
My favorite was the Rio Cassipore from the Cassiporé river, an 81% cocoa and a very fine chocolate; very dark but maintaining a really welcoming profile is the only way i can describe it. You should definitely try it (all bars are £6.95/80g).
My second favorite is the 42% Rio Purus milk (Purus River area, hope you understood). It won gold at the Academy of Chocolate Awards two years ago with good reason, really classy milk. What a treat it would be for someone who loves milk chocolate. The Rio Tocantins 52% is more cocoa bite than creamy – amazing what a different bean and 10% extra can give you, but perfect if you don’t like your milks too, well, milky (which is usually me, but the Rio Purus just won me over).
Finally, if you like dark chocolate with inclusions, try the 70% sprinkled with cupuaçua fruit from the rain forest and related to the cocoa tree – candied cloves taste like a cross between pineapple, lychee and melon.
Follow Annalisa on Twitter @AnnalisaB
