Hi Vietnam and Marou...Faiseurs de Chocolat.

My first contact with Marou  May 29, 2012
Hi Vietnam and Marou,
Looking forward to receive from a good friend (Lee McCoy) thise Marou chocolate. He is sending me chocolate from this unknown (for me) brand. I really hope this is good, and maybe in the near future we could try to sell your chocolate in my shop in Belgium. Wish you all the succes you deserve and friendship in the world of fine chocolate. Thanks, Geert Vercruysse.

Marou, Faiseurs de Chocolat is the first bean-to-bar chocolate maker in Vietnam, created by two Frenchmen living in Vietnam. All there chocolate is handmade in Saigon using purely Vietnamese ingredients of highest quality.

Cacao was first introduced in Vietnam by the French in the late 19th century

My first sending from Marou, June 21, 2012

Samuel and Vincent, new bean-to-bar producers, Marou Faiseurs de Chocolat, in Saigon, Vietnam. Two Frenchmen, Samuel Maruta and Vincent Mourou-Rochebois, who moved to Vietnam and began producing their own bean-to-bar chocolate locally made right there from the source.

Here is a link to their blog about briefly describing cacao history in Vietnam.

The selection of Marou's bars nicely protected to heat or cold, sended with Korean Airlines.

They arrived all in very good conditions just like the couverture to make pastry and chocolates.



Dồng Nai 72%

A rare and delicate chocolate, made in small batched, from agro-forestry farms around Cat Tien National Park's Primeval Forest.

This is great chocolate. There is a lot going on with the flavors. The aroma's and the flavors matched up very well too. Big fruits right off the bat, and then a surprising honey flavor, it's big with sugars but not unbalanced since this bar is very bitter. Some wood flavors and berries in the middle and some roasted cacao with char flavors. It finishes with coffee and cream notes and of course the cereal grains. It has some tartness to it, but it's really not acidic at all. 

Tiền Giang 70%

This full bodied chocolate owes its  spice and fruit notes to the organic Trinitario beans grown by farmers on the Cho Gao co-op in the Mekong Delta.

It's aroma was strong and citrus-y. It had big fruits, but also big aged wood aromas that mingled with the berries and fruitiness and left a medicinal aroma as an effect of that. Some char aromas from the roasting, and some slightly inky qualities. And just barely there, I had to really inhale this aroma for a while, but there are some coffee grinds and cinnamon aromas coming off this bar. Super light though.

Bển Tre 78%

Bển Tre province of Vietnam. Situated on the Mekong Delta just below Tiền Giang in southern Vietnam. Rich crop producing area known for coconuts as well as durians, and mangoes. Hot and tropical, a natural fit for cacao production.

Taste: A mild hint of cinnamon right up front coupled with a bit of mustiness. Bold, very bitter, lot's of big fruit, charred cacao, inky with deep wood flavors, a little acidic, toasted biscuit flavors, very subtle floral flavors towards the finish. Lingering toast flavors on the finish.

Bà Rịa 76%

Cacao of Bà Rịa-Vang Tau province just a little bit north-east of Ho Chi Minh City. Beans sourced directly from family farms.

The fruitiest bar of the bunch, but to be honest, the fruits on the Bển Tre 78% were better. They were only competing with bitterness. The fruits compete with too much sour on this bar so it's hard to focus on them. The wood flavors and char add a nice depth and something great in the bar than just the strong bitterness.
The texture was much nicer than the Bển Tre though. Much smoother. Same melt-time, same creaminess that opens up in the center, but not hard like the others.

Really interesting chocolate, all 4 bars. Each very different than one and other and the regions the beans are coming from are not very far apart from one and other
Marou has proved to be a great new company with a very unique perspective by actually living in the jungles where their beans are sourced from.

http://www.chocolatereviews.co.uk/marou-tien-giang-80/

Thanks to Candice Alström of http://www.20n20s.com/marou/ for some pictures and the review

and to Lee McCoy for sending me the first Marou bars. http://www.chocolatereviews.co.uk/marou-tien-giang-80/

http://www.marouchocolate.com/

The couverture (and my feets, sorry! ) for pastry and chocolates.