Kekao Monthly Craft Chocolate Club - June

Let's take a closer look at what chocolates you can expect to receive this month with the Kekao Box. 

June Chocolate Subscription

Akesson's Chocolate

Akesson's Organic Chocolate is the first "Tree-to-Bar" chocolate maker. The Akesson family started with a single plantation in Madagascar. Today, Bertil Akesson has expanded the company's cacao network with plantations in Madagascar, Brazil, and Indonesia. If you tried craft chocolate or world-famous chocolatier chocolate, it is likely that it came from one of Akesson's cacao plantations. Akesson's Organic Chocolate bars have won a multitude of awards and is regarded as one of the best craft chocolate bars on the market. 

Akesson Madagascar 75% Criollo

Harvested in limited batches, these criollo beans are grown in a region famous for its cacao production. A 75% bar with classic Madagascan tart-fruitiness. The Criollo cacao is grown on the Ambolikapiky Plantation. It is one of many plantations on Akesson's Bejofo Estate, covering nearly 5,000 acres of land in Madagascar's Sambirano Valley.

Tasting notes: Rich & Tart Red Fruits

Akesson's Madagascar Criollo 75%

Mirzam Chocolate Makers

Mirzam Chocolate Makers is an Emirati chocolate maker founded in Dubai. Mirzam designed their chocolate production process to be transparent; you can experience every aspect of chocolate making at their chocolate factory, from roasting the cacao to hand wrapping each bar.

Their inspiration comes from the maritime spice route that took merchants around the world to buy delicious spices. They have selected cacao plantations located along this historic trail (Vietnam, Indonesia, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, India, and Cuba) to create their single origin chocolate bars. 

Mirzam Papua New Guinea Dark Chocolate 72%

Their deepest darkest tasting chocolate bar, with strong smokey flavor notes picked up during the drying process, when fermented beans are spread over raised trays with hot smoking coals underneath. The smoke generated to dry the beans infuses the cocoa butter, and can be tasted in the finished bar.

Tasting notes: Smokey & Deep

MIRZAM PAPUA NEW GUINEA DARK CHOCOLATE 72%

Raaka Chocolate

Raaka is devoted to making uncommonly delicious chocolate that captures the brighter, bolder, and fruitier side of cacao. They make every bar from scratch with unroasted cacao beans, sourced from growers they trust and admire. The unique flavour of their unroasted chocolate is part place, part process. They craft their bars in celebration of each cacao origin's unique character. Their chocolate-making process values the community of growers, producers, and makers whose livelihoods depend on cacao and chocolate. All of their chocolate is made from scratch, bean-to-bar, in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Raaka Pink Sea Salt 71%

A fruity, complex salted dark chocolate to end all salted dark chocolates. Made with single-origin cacao from Zorzal Cacao, a farm and fermentary within a bird sanctuary in the Dominican Republic, and sprinkled with Peruvian pink salt sourced from Salt of The Earth Co. We think New York Magazine said it best: this bar has a “deep, dark, mysterious flavor with hints of cherry; and a finish as long as a David Foster Wallace footnote.”

Tasting notes: Earthy & Cherry

Raaka Pink Sea Salt 71%

Manoa Chocolate

Manoa Chocolate is an artisanal chocolate maker located in Kailua, Hawaii. They are dedicated to creating high-quality chocolate working closely with cacao farmers in Hawaii and other parts of the world to ensure fair wages and environmentally-friendly farming practices. All of their beans are hand-selected and carefully roasted in small batches to preserve their unique flavors and aromas. Manoa Chocolate is committed to supporting local farmers and promoting sustainable agriculture.

Manoa Flavors of Hawaii: Mai'a x Banana 70%

This inclusion bar is a new creation by Manoa. This bar features vibrant artwork by local artist Shar Tuiasoa of Punky Aloha and delicate molding inspired by Polynesian tattoo patterns. Together with historical tidbits about each inclusion ingredient, the complete package of flavor, art, and culture create three bars that do more than taste good: this is chocolate with a sense of place. A fruit brought by Polynesian settlers on their long voyage to Hawaii, banana is known as one of the canoe plants - crops essential for island living. Mai'a (banana), was used as sustenance, offerings to ali'i (ruling chiefs), and as medicine.
Manoa Mai'a Banana & Nibs 70%
Tasting notes: Banana, Passion Fruit & Coconut

To get started with craft chocolate, start with our Kekao Box. We search the world for the finest chocolate bars and bring them right to your doorstep monthly. From rich dark Peruvian chocolate bars to new start-up chocolate bars on the come-up, you never know what you'll get inside the box! Each month we will curate 4 to 5 premium specialty-crafted chocolate bars. 

If you want to just try a couple of bars, check out our online chocolate store.

If you have any questions regarding this blog, our Kekao Box, or premium specialty-crafted chocolate bars, feel free to contact us! Keep up with us by subscribing to our newsletter or following us on Twitter, and Instagram.

Actual chocolate received in any given month may feature different chocolates than described in this blog post.

June 08, 2023
Tags: Kekao Box
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