Category: USA Craft Chocolate

Musings; Zotter’s Labooko Dark Chocolate, 90% Bolivia

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This post was written in 2018 and updated in 2020.

Good morning from Washington, DC.

Yesterday was a nice 60 degree weather day. Time Cupsoul walked around the National Mall, exploring new coffee and chocolate shops in this great city.

Time cupsouls — experiencing them — are about inspiration and serenity at the same time. It’s about finding the quiet moment and receiving some answers, some clarity.

This week, a friend was relaying that most ingenious ideas are first sparked alone. This means that ideas are less formed in group brainstorming sessions and what’s ideal for breakthrough is to spend time alone and then bring the novelty to a group for feedback. So, this is Time Cupsoul bringing the very soul of “time cupsoul” to you, readers. How can Time Cupsoul’s site be better? What would you like to see more of? What can change? Please send a message or leave a comment on this article.

On to the chocolate…!

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

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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.

white and black long coated animal
Photo by Flickr on Pexels.com

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.

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How to Add Cocoa Nibs to Your Daily Recipes [8 Ideas]

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cocoa nibs
“Chocolate” by Charles Haynes is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

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What are cocoa nibs and how can you add them to your daily recipes?

Cocoa nibs are chocolate. Perhaps even the healthiest form of chocolate because they are 100% cocoa. Why? Cocoa nibs are small pieces of cocoa beans with their shells removed. The shell removal happens in a step in the chocolate-making process called “winnowing.”

Did you know that chocolate is a “superfood”? It has one of the highest sources of magnesium of all foods, provides calcium, and has higher antioxidants per gram than goji berries, red wine or pomegranates! Check out this article for more health facts about cacao.

When you enjoy cocoa nibs without added sugar, you’re basically enjoying chocolate in its purest form. You can also enjoy cocoa nibs on top of craft chocolate bars. Check out our list of chocolate bars topped with cocoa nibs and eight ideas for how to use cocoa nibs in your recipes.

cocoa nibs
“Chocolate” by Charles Haynes is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

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Doting on Antidote’s Dark Chocolate Ginger Bar

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How long has it been since we’ve written a review/musing? COVID-19 has us all cooped up inside, washing our hands, and wearing a mask when we take occasional (safe-as-possible) walks. And on top of the virus, what is happening in the USA right now is so heavy. There’s just no other way to say it. We frequently turn to chocolate to comfort and nourish our souls during these strange and difficult times.

Before COVID-19 and physical distancing, we were at The Chocolate House in DC and picked up a chocolate stash (fate would have it + you can still order from them online). It was very difficult to choose between the Antidote bars; each one looked better than the last and many bars matched with ancient gods and goddesses. How unique was this?! Chocolate and ancient folklore. Something we’ve been researching during COVID!

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Goodnow Farms Asochivite Chocolate with Maple Sugar – Sure to Delight

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The Goodnow Farms Chocolate Single Origin, Small Batch, 70% Cacao Asochivite Premium Dark Chocolate from Guatemala with Maple Sugar, was a gift from a beloved family member this holiday season. We’re so thankful.

Maple sugar?! We’d never had chocolate with maple sugar. What kind of decadence awaited our taste buds?! This was simply too exciting.

The chocolate packaging featured two layers — a beautiful, textured paper with the branding label on the exterior, and on the interior, a golden wrapper hugging the cocoa.

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Harping on Harper Macaw, DC Chocolate Maker

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Harper Macaw The Coffee Bar Packaging

International Chocolate Day, another beautiful chocolate holiday in the yearly calendar. Which chocolate bar did you enjoy this day? We hope it brought you a time cupsoul, a moment of inspiration and serenity.

Time Cupsoul celebrated with a bar from Harper Macaw. This ins’t a new feat. We’ve already been harping on Harper Macaw, first breaking the news of their holiday bar, Winter’s Cheer, last season, and also, naming them as a truly must-visit/must-taste DC chocolate maker in this guide. Yet, we simply must harp some more. And if we had a real harp, well yes, we would henceforth strum its beautiful strings and sing a romantic ballad to this DC brand. 

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River-Sea Chocolates: Local Vendor Provides Delicious Cocoa Escape

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This month, The Chocolate House in Dupont Circle, DC, had a chocolate tasting for River-Sea Chocolates, a bean-to-bar chocolate company based out of Sterling, VA. Time Cupsoul was excited to discover another local chocolate-maker, especially after the realization that Undone Chocolates has quietly slipped from the local chocolate radar screen. Who knows about that? One loss, but another big gain for the DMV region with River-Sea Chocolates.

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Endangered Species Chocolate: Enchantment for the Senses

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Time Cupsoul has tasted the delicious Endangered Species Chocolate bars, before. Mostly, we pick up these bars at Whole Foods Market, but with this article, it is with great honor to announce: Time Cupsoul was gifted the Endangered Species Chocolate: 60% Cocoa, Smooth Dark Chocolate with Salted Peanuts bar before it’s full launch by the brand (Endangered Species Chocolate), and you’re in on the secrets!

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