DESCRIPTION:

Costa Esmeraldas is a single estate cacao farm owned by the Salazar family on the NW coast of Ecuador. The steep 100-hectare site is planted with Nacional-Venezolano Amarillo cacao. The pods are transported daily during harvest, beans meticulously fermented and sun-dried at their brand new post-harvest facility close to the farm.

Oranges, limes, lemons, plantain, bananas, guayaba, and papaya are grown interspersed with the cacao to reduce erosion on the steep terrain. Last time we met, Fredy Enrique Salazar passionately explained, “We also grow fruit because it feeds everyone on the farm”. Their land is beautiful—lush namesake emerald green hills layered in every direction.

Tasting notes: lemon, bread, cherries, balsamic vinegar, brownies, green bananas

Ingredients: cacao nibs, organic cane sugar, cacao butter

Allergen Information: May contain traces of nuts, tree nuts, peanuts, dairy, flour, and soy.

Maker
SOMA Chocolatemaker
Country
Canada
Cacao Origin
Ecuador

Soma Mr. Salazar Costa Esmeraldas 70%

Weight: 65 g

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Reasons to Love:

Tasting notes: lemon, bread, cherries, balsamic vinegar, brownies, green bananas

Ingredients: cacao nibs, organic cane sugar, cacao butter

Allergen Information: May contain traces of nuts, tree nuts, peanuts, dairy, flour, and soy.

Maker
SOMA Chocolatemaker
Country
Canada
Cacao Origin
Ecuador

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Country

Maker

SOMA Chocolatemaker

Soma was founded by David Castellan and Cynthia Leung in 2003. A rarity in the industry, Soma are adept at both chocolate making, and also a fantastic chocolatier. At the time, ‘bean to bar’ chocolate wasn’t necessarily even a term! Anybody who knew how to make chocolate were those who worked for big chocolate companies. Soma was one of the first to tackle the micro batch chocolate bar production. Besides their wonderful line of chocolate bars, Soma also uses their chocolate to make ganache for truffles, and other chocolate treats. Soma's high quality chocolate bars have been awarded multiple times over the years. First starting off in a 400 square foot tiny corner of an old whiskey distillery, Soma now has two chocolate factories in Toronto, Canada.

Cacao Region

Cacao Estate

Cacao Strain

Collections:

Collection title: All Chocolate Bars

Collection description:

Collection title: Cacao Origin: Ecuador

Collection description:

Collection title: Canada Chocolate Makers

Collection description:

Collection title: Costa Esmeraldas

Collection description: Located in the coastal Ecuadorian province of Esmeraldas, this family-run estate has experienced a complete turnaround in recent years. After nearly a decade of their farm just scraping by through selling produce into the commodity market, in 2015 the Salazar family took on the project of completely revamping the 100-hectare farm. This included adding a complete post-harvest processing facility on-site, which is now managed by Freddy Salazar, the youngest sibling in the family. Management of the cacao orchards create over 40 full-time jobs within the local community in rural Esmeraldas, while the fine flavor neo-nacional beans they grow are now used by over a dozen chocolate companies around the world. Makers favor it for its strong base notes of cocoa, roasted nuts, and light fruitiness, with almost no astringency or bitterness.

Collection title: Dark Chocolate

Collection description:

Collection title: Esmeraldas, Ecuador

Collection description: Esmeraldas is the northernmost province of Ecuador, bordering both the Pacific Ocean and western Colombia. The province is notable for its strong Afro-Ecuadorian culture & seafood-based cuisine, as well as the beautiful beaches. Much of Esmeraldas’ population relies upon agriculture to make a living, with the most important crops being banana, tobacco, coffee, and cacao.

Collection title: Homepage Collection

Collection description:

Collection title: Nacional

Collection description: Nacional is one of those ten evolutionarily unique types identified in 2008, using samples collected throughout the Americas over the previous century. Samples proven to be of the nacional cluster were taken from Ecuador and northern Peru, where it’s considered one of the traditional cacao cultivars; it was domesticated by indigenous Ecuadorians over 5000 years ago, reaching far beyond its small native growing region. Many years ago, however, the cultivar neared extinction as more productive clones replaced the region’s native trees. Nacional is known to be fruity & floral, with some astringency and almost no bitterness.

Collection title: New Arrivals

Collection description:

Collection title: Nut Free Chocolate

Collection description:

Collection title: Plain Chocolate

Collection description:

Collection title: Shop Bar & Cocoa

Collection description:

Collection title: SOMA Chocolatemaker

Collection description: Soma was founded by David Castellan and Cynthia Leung in 2003. A rarity in the industry, Soma are adept at both chocolate making, and also a fantastic chocolatier. At the time, ‘bean to bar’ chocolate wasn’t necessarily even a term! Anybody who knew how to make chocolate were those who worked for big chocolate companies. Soma was one of the first to tackle the micro batch chocolate bar production. Besides their wonderful line of chocolate bars, Soma also uses their chocolate to make ganache for truffles, and other chocolate treats. Soma's high quality chocolate bars have been awarded multiple times over the years. First starting off in a 400 square foot tiny corner of an old whiskey distillery, Soma now has two chocolate factories in Toronto, Canada.

Collection title: Soy Free Chocolate

Collection description: These chocolates do not list soy products as a main ingredient. Some of the chocolates say: "may contain traces of soy" where perhaps a very small amount may have come in contact with the food due to shared equipment or facility usage. Each product has icons that indicate whether a product is completely soy free or may contain traces.

Collection title: Vegan Chocolate

Collection description:

Collection title: Women In Chocolate

Collection description: This collection highlights craft chocolate bars from women chocolate makers or women owned chocolate companies.

Tags:

cacaonum-70

dairy2

Dark

estate-Costa Esmeraldas

farm1

farm2

Gluten Free

marginlow

mcountry-Canada

mstate-Ontario

organic1

peanuts2

Plain

region-Esmeraldas

source-Ecuador

Soy Free

soy2

strain-Nacional

treenuts2

variety-Nacional

Vegan

vegan2

wheat2

wown

An Excellent Bar That Showcases the Range of Flavors Possible in Craft Chocolate

I find this bar to be an exceptional example of the surprising range of flavors possible in pure dark chocolate. The flavor profile (lemon, bread, cherries, balsamic vinegar, brownies, and green bananas) may seem a bit unexpected for a non-flavored bar, yet the tasting notes and similar/adjacent ones come through loud, dynamic, and clear. This is a very fun, excellently executed, flavor bomb of a bar.

One of my favorite Ecuador bars

Fantastic! A satisfying variety of flavors with great development throughout the tasting: cocoa powder, bread, bright tanginess (lemon, lime, dried cherries), red wine, fades to a rich vanilla creaminess and a lingering cocoa flavor. There's a lot going on flavor wise, definitely recommended.