Candy Review: Amano Ocumare Milk, Jembrana Milk, and Montanya Dark Chocolate

Thursday, July 9, 2009 - by Monica

I am convinced that the Universe is conspiring to prevent me from enjoying Amano chocolate. Allow me to illustrate for you my history with Amano and, well, the Universe.

Instance #1: About a million years ago (or seven months, give or take), I was offered the opportunity to sample and review Amano’s Jembrana dark chocolate bar. I eagerly accepted but, whilst awaiting my chocolate shipment, eventually forgot about it. Sometime after the holidays, I was reminded of the pending review and, having never received the samples, had no choice but to forfeit the article.

Occurrence #2: Out of the blue I received an email from Amano’s (lovely) PR people informing me that they had recently sent me their trio of new creations and I should keep an eye out for them. And, you know, if I wanted to write a review of ‘em, that’d be cool. Woo-hoo! A second chance! And free chocolate! Rarely does one get either of those, let alone both. About two weeks later, still sans samples, I realized that I had moved since the first time Amano tried to send me something (unsuccessfully, as you’ll recall). Well, free chocolate for the new tenants of my old apartment, at least.

Encounter #3: An actual encounter! After reporting back to Amano with my new address, they quickly sent another package and, it turns out, the third time IS the charm, because this one physically made it to my apartment. In Los Angeles. In May. That’s right, melt-o-rama. But I couldn’t bring myself to relay this back to the company. (I mean, at some point they were gonna start thinking I was just stealing all their chocolate, right?) So I popped these suckers into the fridge after their long journey and figured I’d check back with them later.

When later finally came, I was introduced to three almost (well…) good-as-new bars: the Jembrana 30% milk chocolate, Ocumare 30% milk chocolate, and limited edition Montanya 70% dark chocolate.

Jembrana Milk Chocolate

Made from the cacao beans of the Jembrana region of Bali, Indonesia, the flavor profile of this bar boasts hints of licorice, spice, and honey. It felt somewhat cool in my mouth and had a distinct sweetness from the honey without being cloying. Even as a decided dark chocolate fan, I enjoyed this bar and thought it not at all too sweet.

Ocumare Milk Chocolate

Hailing from Venezuela’s Ocumare Valley, this chocolate has natural plum and cherry notes. I found it less sweet than the Jembrana bar and very smooth and creamy. Impressively creamy. This is an especially great milk chocolate for dark chocolate fans.

Montanya Dark Chocolate

This 70% cacao bar from the mountains of Venezuela reports hints of apricot, nuts, marshmallow, and spice. I love marshmallow and was excited by that promise but, unfortunately, didn’t detect the flavor. The chocolate was cool and sweet up front (I did actually taste that apricot), and then got slightly more bitter.

Due to the tragic melting, all three bars were exceedingly soft (no snap whatsoever) and greasy (I used multiple napkins for finger-wiping); however, based on the texture reports from Amano’s other previously reviewed bar, I think chocolate fans will enjoy these. Especially milk chocolate fans looking to edge closer to the dark side of candy or, conversely, dark lovers looking to slum (she said, kidding) in the ranks of milk.

(And just for the record, had I not thoroughly enjoyed these chocolates in the state they were in, I would have asked the company for a fresh sample, so as not to unfairly judge and malign their product. Yes, I would do that for you, readers. And yes, I do think this chocolate is that good.)

• Amano Chocolate Website

Buy Amano Chocolate Online:

• at Chocolate.com