Just How Good is “Beyond Good” (Madecasse) Chocolate?

This post is dedicated to a dear friend who was returning to Asia when we first wrote this post in 2017. She loves lemurs from Madagascar.

Beyond Good’s (formerly Madecasse) Madagascar Pure Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa bar is not just beyond good, it’s amazing. It’s made with heirloom cocoa, which is “one of Earth’s original varieties of cocoa,” is a direct trade bar, and is bean-to-bar. The bar is gluten free, vegan, kosher and uses no GMOs, as according to the packaging. The company is based out of Brooklyn, NYC, the United States.

What drew Time Cupsoul to Madecasse? Probably the amazing lemur logo that holds a cocoa bean, and the soft pink color that surrounds the packaging. The bar (branding) looked bright, friendly and happy.

Opening the aluminum wrapper, the chocolate bar was revealed. The Beyond Good molding (shape of the chocolate) is a sequence of squares with lines. Nothing like the fancy molding of La Naya, but still a beautifully presented bar.

After snapping a small portion off of the bar, it soon lingered on the tongue and began to slowly unfold in elegant, excitable flavors. Initially, the first overall impression that came through was: fruity.

First, red berry – cherry and citrus – orange flavors danced and twirled on the taste buds. Then, tropical fruit – banana notes lingered for what can be compared to a long drum solo, just before finishing with nutty – peanut skins and a slight spicy – almost nutmeg, short cymbal finale.

Taking a tasting journey with this Beyond Good Chocolate bar was akin to listening to a jumpy, loud, colorful jazz score.

This “percussionist” sequence of flavors was replicated bite after bite, and though the berry/fruity/citrus flavors later dominated, the order of the tasting notes remained largely intact.

1. Red berry: cherry
2. Tropical Fruit: bananas 
3. Nutty: peanut skins 
4. Spicy: Nutmeg 

Madagascar is envisioned as a beautiful, bright and tropical place. Both the fruity, bright flavor notes of the cocoa and the jovial branding of this bar evoke that vacation jungle vibe. This flavor experience proved a novel journey for Time Cupsoul.

It will be interesting to try other Beyond Good chocolate, including 63% Sea Salt & Cocoa Nibs and 63% Mint Crunch. To conclude in brief, trying this Beyond Good/Madecasse bar was definitely a time cupsoul. Which bars have you tried?

Please note that most chocolate bars consumed and reviewed are randomly chosen and purchased with personal funds.

THANKS TO: “CRANBERRIES” ICON BY ARTEM KOVYAZIN, “BANANAS” ICON BY Iconic, “WALNUT” ICON BY TOMAS KNOPP, +”NUTMEG” ICON BY Julia Amadeo, ALL FROM THE NOUN PROJECT.