The Cacao Muse blog has been quiet, but that’s only because The Muse has been busy… and her alter ego the Cacao Muse herself has also been taken up judging more chocolate awards, meeting makers (not her makers, the chocolate makers!), and doing more tabletop photo shoots. I’ve now got enough chocolate photography to fill an entire wing of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles (anyone know people there??).
This summer, I’m releasing into the wild a slew of new reviews, so be sure to subscribe, share, and drool plentifully over the bars coming your way.
Today, we visit Ecuador, the birthplace of chocolate. In April, I met a new chocolate maker from Ecuador who is turning his father’s special corner of the world into a world-class cacao and coffee estate.
Chocolate maker: Finca Manantiales
When Rafael Barcia’s father passed away, he left the family a large tract of land he called his “special corner of the world.” His ancestors came from the Manabí region, and it was his way of reconnecting to Nature. His dream had always been to cultivate the land, but that dream would be left up to his son to fulfill. Rafael, now living in the U.S., made a vow to keep the land in the family, and to bring out its full potential, in honor of his beloved dad. So when a neighbor decided to sell some of their land, he took the opportunity and expanded the farm to 100 hectares.
“My dream is to have a self-sustaining farm,” Rafael tells me. “To have every piece of land planted with crops, and trees planted [as] habitat for animals and birds, to protect nature and be a role model for others to follow.”
Rafael named the estate Finca Manantiales in honor of the small town where the land is located. Initially, he thought about planting different types of trees, to experiment a little and see what would do well on their land. But after trying corn, he pivoted to cacao—really, a natural choice given Ecuador is the cradle of cacao—and he planted the prized Nacional variety. He and his daughter then began taking their chocolate to festivals. Chocophiles and critics alike started noticing, and the awards soon followed (see below). They are still traveling from festival to festival to Ecuador back for more festivals, and have a tasting room and a chocolate lab in the works. So stay tuned, this is just the beginning for this wonderful corner of the world.
Location: Montecristi, Manabí, Ecuador
Awards: Finca Manantiales might still be young as a company, but the team has wasted no time plunging deep into the chocolate festival scene. They’ve taken their chocolate to New York, San Francisco, Albuquerque, Seattle, and Paris, France, to name a few places. They’ve also racked up a few awards along the way:
The 2025 International Chocolate Awards (3 awards)
60% Dark Milk Chocolate Bar: Silver and Gold in the International Chocolate Awards for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Bronze overall in the 2025 World Final.
The 2026 San Francisco Chocolate Salon Awards (7 awards)
Judges’ Awards: Silver in the Top Artisan Chocolatier category; Silver in the Best Traditional Chocolate, Best Dark Chocolates, and New Product categories; Bronze in the Best Chocolate Bar category
People’s Choice Awards: Gold in the Best Milk Chocolate category; Silver in the Best Dark Chocolates category
Photography: I took these photographs not long after I met Rafael at the International Chocolate Salon in San Francisco, in April 2026. If you’ve seen my other tabletops, you know how detailed and fancy they can get. But for a chocolate this gastronomically pure, no tabletop could possibly do it justice. And since I couldn’t just pick up and fly to Ecuador, I did the next best thing. I have a little piece of jungle in my living room…
Single Estate 74% Cacao
Cacao Muse review: As you can see in the ingredients below, this bar is one of the most pure chocolates you can have. Just three ingredients. No additives or inclusions to flavor it. That is how you can tell differences among different cacao regions. Fermentation of course plays a role, in fact one of the key roles, in bringing out the flavors hidden in each bean. This Single Estate is a little garden of paradise, blossoming with berry and floral notes, a hint of coffee, and bright and tangy overtones.
I had my husband try the chocolate. He’s from Colombia and grew up with all of the diversity of fruits and flora his country abounds with (translation, he’s been massively spoiled). He was immediately impressed. His eyes grew wide and he said he could taste fruits, flowers, and even a little cacao pulp in the bar. “This is one of the best chocolates I’ve ever tasted,” he said. He doesn’t offer compliments easily, so I think between him and me—and my 15-year-old who picked up on the coffee overtone—we’ve got something special here.
Tasting Notes: We begin with a strong, solid snap when you break off a piece of this bar. It starts melting immediately on the tongue, releasing a bouquet of berries and flowers, finishing with a light astringent touch, a hint of coffee, and lingering bright, tangy overtones.
Percentage: 74%
Origin: Ecuador
Ingredients: Cacao, cane sugar, cacao butter
Packaging: If chocolate has mouthfeel, packaging has handfeel. The handfeel of FM’s packages has that comforting, tactile feel of paper, because it’s made of the fibers of sugar cane trees. No lamination, no multi-layer plastics. You can’t get more sustainable than that. The inks are muted, with a simple palate—sorry, palette of chocolate, dark green, and a range of oranges and yellows for the illustration of the cacao pods. Beautifully designed, lovingly crafted.
Price: $12.00
Next week, we have… hmm. So many bars to choose from. Any specific chocolate type you’d like to see next? I’m taking requests! We have a whole summer ahead of us!
Please share this post with friends and loved ones and all the people in your life who appreciate a bar of fine chocolate.
[direct link here if the giphy thingie doesn’t work]
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