Happy Chocolate Friday! At long last, the review I’ve been waiting to share with you… or shall I say alas! the caramel strands of summer are fast melting away, the last August sunset lingering on the horizon, and the bustle of new backpacks, pencils, and notebooks as the gates of school grounds open and the traffic surges back to its yearly patterns. The air is a little cooler, the sun slides a little off its summer arc, and the days are a little shorter.
It’s time. It’s magic mojito time. We bid farewell to the lazy summer days, in proper chocolate style.
Chocolate maker: Coco Jolie
I’ve judged several Coco Jolie bars over the years. Earlier this summer I published a review of their Aloha Bar, which I judged in 2021. The following year, came Mojito Magic… and I swooned. To this day it remains one of my absolute faves in the flavored bar category. I’ve been holding it back, saving it for the last entry of these summer reviews, because, as they say, you save the best for last.
Location: Originally in Englewood, New Jersey
Awards: Coco Jolie was an entrant in the 2022 Chocolate Bar Awards, an annual competition hosted by the International Chocolate Salon. The Mojito bar worked its magic and made the judges melt (did I mention I was entranced, because if not I need to say it again. And again).
A Silver Award in the Most Unique and Best Bar Design & Art categories
A Bronze Award in the Best Chocolate Bar and Best Ingredient Combinations categories
Honorable Mention in the Best Flavored Chocolate Bar category
Photography: I remember this tabletop as if it was yesterday. I ran around gathering all the ingredients, wringing my hands over expensive bottles of rum. Sure, I could have bought a cheaper brand, but the real quandary was having an entire bottle around I knew I’d never drink. So I brewed a cup of rooibos tea. Perfect color of rum. Everything else in the photo is real: the vanilla, the lime, the mint, the cacao beans, and yeah, that magical mojito bar. Sunlight was raw that day, too, no artificial lighting to be had here!
Mojito Magic
Cacao Muse review: At my tastings, I always warn people not to chew the chocolate they’re tasting. “Let it melt in your mouth,” I explain. “Let it suffuse throughout your palate, so you can sense every wave of flavor.” This bar takes that advice and smashes it against the wall. Want the good stuff? Then you need to break it. Crush that carefully crafted, painted exterior. It feels almost illegal, but it’s thrilling precisely because you know what’s coming. It’s almost orgasmic, the fusion of peppermint oil, lime, rum, and vanilla—in a dark chocolate shell no less. This is why, dear reader, I don’t feel the need to drink. Who needs alcohol with bars like these?
Tasting Notes: Past the familiar earthiness of dark chocolate, a hint of rum sneaks in halfway through, just when you were doubting you’d ever feel it, and it lasts long after the chocolate is gone. A zing of lime, a splice of vanilla, a breath of peppermint… and the soft inside melts you from within.
Percentage: 65%
Origin: Esmeraldas, Ecuador
Ingredients: Cocoa mass, panela sugar, cocoa butter, lime puree, organic cane sugar, dextrose, peppermint oil, agar, rum, vanilla, soy lecithin.
Price: [no longer sold, sniff sniff]
Feast your eyes one last time on this exquisite slab of artistry. It took me forever to muscle up the courage—and the will—to break this bar. Because break it, to taste it, to judge it, you must. It felt a little like smashing an original Monet. But this is why I do these reviews. It’s why I take the time and the effort, the energy and the expense, of producing these tabletops. It would be an egregious act of selfishness to keep this bar to myself, without ever paying homage to the creativity and effort of the chocolate maker, or without sharing the experience with you. The only thing I regret is not being able to share the physical bar with every one of you.
As we slide back into fall, I’d like to wish you a happy Autumn, a lovely harvest in your local area, and good craft chocolate stocks in your neighborhood shops!
If you enjoyed this slate of summer chocolate reviews and feel like dropping a few dollars into the tip jar (you know, rather than taking out a full subscription), here’s how! Tap the gif so it stops annoying you!
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