I think I have mentioned before, there is this fad in the fancy chocolatier world to make what I call "simplicity bars." That is, chocolate bars that are just cocoa, cocoa butter, and sugar (and sometimes just cocoa and sugar) without any additional additives, preservatives or flavors. A lot of times the bars are also "single source," meaning that the cocoa beans all come from a single location, sometimes a single plantation or even plant, in a particular place. Although they do taste good (I am only sampling fine chocolate), most have not been my favorites because there is this distinctive background bitterness that I now associate with simplicity bars and which made me realize why those additional ingredients are added to non-simplicity bars.
Anyway,
Chocolat Bonnat's Vale do Juliana is one of the better tasting simplicity bars. But it still has that distinctive simplicity bar taste even if the bitterness is a little more understated. So I like this one, but it's not one of the very best. (Again, remember this is only in comparison to other fancy chocolates. I would take any of these over a non-fancy bar any time).
