Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Potomac Chocolate: Upala 70% Cocoa Nib Bar

After finally writing up my review of my beloved Potomac Chocolate 82% Cocoa Upala Bar, I was feeling like a pretty subpar chocolate blogger. I’ve consumed at least a dozen of those bars since they became available for sale at Biagio earlier this year. I have this bar on my packing list for business trips – in fact, one bar is sitting in my Idaho Falls hotel room right now. Yet it took me until yesterday to write about it? Inexcusable.

Then I remembered the Potomac Chocolate 70% Cocoa Upala Nib Bar. Yet another unreviewed bar from a most outstanding bean-to-bar chocolate maker just a few miles from where I live.

Unreviewed no more, for today, I bring you an analysis of the Potomac Chocolate 70% Cocoa Upala Nib Bar.

Before I start, it’s worth noting that I’m generally not drawn to bars with cocoa nibs in them, as the nibs are often boulder-sized, leaving bitter, dry chunks of nibs after the chocolate melts away. But in the name of research, I checked out this bar.

Fortunately, the nibs were quite nicely ground, and the bar is generally uniform in composition. No big chunks of nibs or nib-less bits of chocolate. Just everything together.

The chocolate itself, like the Potomac Chocolate 70% Cocoa Upala bar, carries a strong coffee flavor with a cherry undertone, and the nibby bar doesn’t appear to be any more bitter than the plain 70% Upala bar. The bar is just a bit dry, which may be due to the inclusion of the nibs, but the texture of the bar is generally smooth without any grit. While I haven’t included this bar in my go-to stock of Potomac Chocolate bars – the plain 70% and 82% have that market firmly cornered – I enjoyed this bar and would recommended it to anybody looking for a bar with nibs.

Of course, if I were a better chocolate blogger, I’d have given that recommendation some three months ago.

Do you like bars with cocoa nibs in them?

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review!

    Is this a somewhat older bar? I ask because it has a ton of nibs. In more recent batches, I've reduced the amount of nibs to make it a better balance between chocolate and nib.

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  2. @Ben It's probably from early January - definitely before February. Maybe I need to do a re-review :).

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  3. This looks as good as yesterday's 82%. And it also looks as good or better than my most recent nibby bars, Garrison Confections Blueberry Nibs, and Scharffen Berger Nibby.

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  4. Love love love love bars with nibs in them. I adore the seriosu bitter roasted punch of the blighters :)

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  5. I've never had bars with nibs in them...in fact when I saw the picture my first thought was "oh god there's something wrong with that chocolate!" I am intrigued; I think I may have to find one and try it out!

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  6. Hmm...this has got me thinking. I made a big batch of cold-brewed coffee with chicory yesterday. Now I'm wondering how cocoa nibs would fair in the mix. Maybe I'll include some in a smaller batch next time...for research.

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