Name: Explorer Club #205: ECUADOR
Brand: Milou Chocolate Co.
SKU: EX-ECUADOR
Price: 36.04 CAD
Availability: InStock

Explorer Club #205: ECUADOR

Ecuador’s varied geography includes La Costa (the coast) with its fertile land and extensive banana plantations; La Sierra (the highlands), where traditional crops like potatoes and quinoa are grown near the Andes’ snow-capped peaks; and La Amazonía, encompassing the Amazon jungle and regions inhabited by indigenous tribes maintaining traditional lifestyles. The volcanic soil in the coastal and Amazon areas is ideal for cocoa cultivation. Despite contributing only 4% of global cocoa production, Ecuador supplies 70% of the world’s fine-flavour cocoa. The Arriba Nacional variety, an endemic Criollo strain, is renowned for its floral and fruity notes and has been cultivated for over 3,500 years.

$36.04

$40.04

Explorer Club #205: ECUADOR

$36.04

$40.04

HEINDE & VERRE PEARL OF ECUADOR DARK 71%

Producer Country: The Netherlands
Cocoa: Direct Source, Single Estate
Weight: 70 g

This single estate bar comes from Hacienda Victoria, founded in 2009 by Carlos Eduardo García Fuentes. He has partnered with the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP) to restore production of certified National Arriba cacao, the ancient variety of Ecuador. He also works with the Rainforest Alliance to ensure the farm is certifiably sustainable and socially responsible. Not cutting corners pays off, as evidenced by this bar's full, rich, well-rounded profile. It offers plenty of roast and coffee-like notes but tannins are tempered by a cocoa liqueur-like sweetness that creates a kind of hot fudge sundae flavour. This offering fully embodies the essence of what chocolate should be.

PUMP STREET HACIENDA LIMON ECUADOR 85%

Producer Country: England
Cocoa: Direct Source, Single Estate
Weight: 70 g

This bar is crafted from designated status Nacional Arriba cocoa sourced from Hacienda Limon farm on the Guantupi River in Ecuador. Samuel von Rütte, his wife Anita and four other families manage this 110-hectare plantation using sustainable farming practices, avoiding insecticides and fungicides entirely and using herbicides only in specific, targeted applications. The chocolate blends unrelenting espresso-like tannin with flavours of toasted bread crust, graham cracker, and hints of jasmine and blackberry. It's a big character bar that lives up to its high percentage.

KASAMA COSTA ESMERALDAS ECUADOR 70%

Producer Country: Canada
Cocoa: Direct Source, Single Estate
Weight: 55 g

The beans for this bar come from a family owned and operated farm in northern Ecuador. They grow on lush hills overlooking the ocean in a beautiful, beach-laden part of the country appropriately named Costa Esmeraldas (the Emerald Coast). ‘Arriba Nacional’ cacao has been coveted for centuries (millennia even!) and is called 'the pride of Ecuador'. It's easy to understand why - this chocolate is smoooooooooth and marries blackberry and cherry fruit flavours with bourbon-y notes of vanilla, oak, dark butterscotch and roasty char. Despite the robust flavours the bar maintains a fresh, fruity approachability and silky-smooth tannins.