Behold dark chocolate perfection…the kind of bar that wholly satisfies your deepest craving for rich, fine chocolate and delights your senses, reaching beyond your taste buds to the soul level. It’s one of those love-at-first-bite bars. I tried it and knew this had to be part of the Barometer Chocolate collection. With pure, velvety tasting notes of luscious chocolate, caramel, mocha and berries, this is more than a chocolate bar; it’s a fabulous dessert!
- Silver Winner 2021 Academy of Chocolate Awards
Tingo Maria is a city on the Huallaga River in central Peru, situated between the Andean highlands and the Amazonian jungle. It is the gateway to the biodiverse Tingo Maria National Park known for Sleeping Beauty, a mountain shaped like a reclining woman.
Inspired chocolate makers and owners of Letterpress, David and Corey Menkes were once close friends in high school. They fell in love and got married in 2010. On a trip to St. Lucia shortly after their wedding they tasted the sweet pulp from cacao pods, saw cacao fermenting for the first time, and got bitten by the chocolate-making bug.
By 2013, the couple was running a bean-to-bar chocolate blog called Little Brown Squares where they exclusively reviewed craft bars. In 2014, David took a cacao bootcamp class hosted by Madre Chocolate in Oahu, Hawaii. There, David learned not only how to grow and cultivate cacao trees, but also how to ferment and dry cacao, taking the chocolate-making process all the way through to the finished bar.
Upon returning home to LA, he began purchasing small quantities of cacao beans to start making his own chocolate in the kitchen. After some practice, his chocolate was so delicious that his coworkers at DreamWorks Animation started placing orders. By 2016, David and Corey's tiny apartment was overrun with chocolate making equipment and they needed to find a larger home for it. A shared kitchen conveniently located just down the road fit the bill, and after renting space there, they eventually purchased it in 2017. In 2018 they expanded beyond the kitchen, taking over the entire location and renovating the retail area. They hosted a grand opening in 2018 and started offering factory tours in 2019 to an overwhelming response. Keep your eyes on this amazing company. They are young and brilliant chocolate makers.
Letterpress is among the 13 favorite USA craft chocolate producers recognized in Melissa Clark's February 2020 New York Times article for the extra attention their team devotes to sourcing beans, forging positive relationships with growers and treating the planet with extra loving care.
- Ingredients: Organic Cocoa Beans, Organic Unrefined Cane Sugar, Cocoa Butter
- Net Weight: 60 g. / 2.1 oz.
- Country of Origin: USA
- Kosher Information: Pareve