Amano Jembrana 70%

By JeanFrancois

Today I am tasting a 70% chocolate bar from Amano.  It’s a limited edition bar made with beans exclusively from the Jembrana region of Bali ( southwest coast ).  I was fortunate enough to be offered this chocolate bar for review. 

Let’s start by looking at the ingredients: Cocoa Beans, Cane Sugar, Cocoa Butter and Whole Vanilla Beans.  Simple, just the basics, a mark of good quality chocolate.  The Amano Jembrana 70% bar does not even contain Lecithin, an ingredient often found even in high end chocolate bars ( it’s supposed to make the chocolate smoother for easier molding ).  On the underside of the bar there are some noticeable swirl marks.  I am not advanced in my reviewing skill so I will not make any judgements, but other reviewers always make a note of mentioning it.  Maybe swirling is more apparent when lecithin is not used?

The bar is a bit smaller than other more popular bars.  Usually bars come in 100g formats.  This bar weights in at 2oz.  ( 56g ).  It is divided in 15 small pieces with the Amano name on it.  

This bar has a very deep chocolate aroma, even more so after breaking it.  Very enjoyable.  The snap was crisp just like it’s supposed to be.  It did not have a mirror finish as some of the other bars i’ve had.  But it was still very good and did not have any signs of blooming.  It was shipped to me in winter so there should have not been any heat problems.

Now for the taste, right after popping a piece into the mouth I felt a burst of flavors.  A sharp acidity that quickly disappeared and be replaced by smooth chocolate taste with a strong vanilla presence.  I was instantly reminded on the Lindt Equador 70% bar, which is currently one of my favorites.  I hope I’m not offending anyone by this comparison, everyone has their own tastes.

I really enjoyed the Amano Jembrana 70% bar and would love to get my hands on more.  I’ll have to look at my usual places around town.