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In this post, we will review chocolate by an Austrian company called Zotter. Zotter specializes in producing fine varieties of chocolate derived from cacao beans sourced from different countries. They are even doing a giveaway of a an all-expenses paid trip to their chocolate factory in Austria if you order at least $100 of their products, or mail in a letter with your info.

Today, over 70% of the world’s cocoa comes from Africa, specifically the Ivory Coast and Congo. However, the cacao tree originated from the present day Colombia and Venezuela and there are many different varieties of cacao trees with unique flavors.

There are three main varieties of cocoa: Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario. Most of today’s chocolate (close to 80%) is produced with Forastero. It has a characteristic sour and bitter aftertaste.

As for Criollo, most of fine chocolate is made of it. Unfortunately, Criollo cacao trees have low yields and are susceptible to diseases. For this reason, it is not easy to find Criollo in chocolate bars. Trinitario, on the other hand, is a hybrid of Forastero and Criollo. The idea is to combine disease resistance of Forastero with a great taste of Criollo.

This is where Zotter stands out among other chocolatiers. Zotter sources rare varieties of cocoa (Criollo, Trinitario, Cacao Nacional and more) from countries such as Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Magadascar and many others.

If you decide to give Zotter chocolate a try, use our link below and a coupon code BFILMS10 to get 10% off from your order.

These are perfect as gift for someone who is new to trying chocolate that is unique and far from generic. Zotter USA sends chocolate out of Florida. They have a no-melt guarantee and add ice packs to the package. We got our chocolate in August when it was super hot. It was still intact.

Labooko Chocolate by Zotter | Our Review

Zotter’s chocolate is 100% fair trade and organic with vegan options. We bought 7 different bars of chocolate from them, which we review here. However, they have many more on their website. Zotter works with small farms around the world and gets their cocoa beans from off-the-beaten path places. The chocolate varieties we review here are very hard, if possible at all, to get in supermarkets.

We decided to taste them in descending order by cocoa content with 100% going first. All of these chocolates are dark with no milk added.

1. Maya 100% Cacao Zotter Chocolate

The Maya 100% Cacao Zotter chocolate is made from cocoa sourced from Belize and Guatemala. This is where the Maya, the pioneers of chocolate culture, still live and grow cacao trees. Josef Zotter, the founder of Zotter Chocolate, went to Belize with his family. They made a short documentary, if you’d like to learn a bit of history of cacao culture.

Guatemala is also where Mayan descendants continue their cacao legacy by growing and preserving cacao trees some of which are 200 years of age. Many of these trees are of the legendary Criollo origin.

What’s interesting is that the people in Belize don’t necessarily eat cocoa with sugar. Instead, they mix freshly ground cocoa paste with just water. It is probably very bitter, but that’s how they prefer it. What’s more, traditionally, ancient Mayans used to make spicy cocoa drink from crushed cocoa, cornmeal and chili peppers. Some people there still continue this tradition to this day.

As for the Maya 100% chocolate, it is very bitter. If you have never tasted 100% chocolate before, it could be a shock. Yes, that’s how pure cocoa with no additives tastes like. This chocolate bar is bitter with an extremely strong sour aftertaste. We also 100% agree with Zotter’s taste notes: lots of tannin taste similar to black tea.

It was a unique experience trying this chocolate. It was definitely worth it, but Maya 100% chocolate is not the type of chocolate we would eat everyday.

2. 100% Madagascar Zotter Chocolate

This Madagascar 100% chocolate was a complete surprise to us, especially after the Mayan chocolate. Zotter sources it’s single-origin cacao beans for this chocolate from the Madagascar Sambirano valley. It is famous for its unique cream and berries flavor.

At first taste, it seemed similar to the Mayan chocolate. But, the taste of cream and natural sweetness covers up this chocolate’s bitterness. With 100% chocolates, of course, there is no sugar added. However, cocoa naturally contains sugar. And, what’s interesting is that Madagascar 100% chocolate had way more carbs (9g) per serving vs. Mayan 100% chocolate (only 4g). That is more than double!

Madagascar 100% chocolate had much more complex flavors and aftertaste going on. There were some notes of berries and fruits. It was the best 100% chocolate we have tried. If we ever decide to try 100% chocolate from Zotter again, it will definitely be the Madagascar one.

3. Bolivia 90% Labooko Chocolate by Zotter

This chocolate is made from a single origin cacao beans with 90% cocoa and 10% cane sugar. Zotter sources cacao beans from the Bolivian cooperative El Ceibo, which produces cocoa in very small quantities. The artwork on this bar is amazing.

The Bolivia 90% chocolate is not that sweet. And true, as Zotter describes, we could feel the hints of coffee. This chocolate reminded us of the Trader Joe’s 85% chocolate from Columbia, which we love for its cheap price and lack of bitterness. Very similar in many respects. But, this one has more complex flavors. Bolivia 90% is very creamy with sugar doing a great job of balancing out bitterness of the cocoa.

Zotter included taste notes for this chocolate. There, they mention lots of cream, a hint of licorice and lingonberries. We don’t know who and how they come up with these descriptions! Lingonberry, which is common in Europe, is in the same family as cranberry. It is very sour, so maybe that’s why.

In our minds, we were still coming back to Madagascar 100% chocolate. The taste was still lingering in our palate as it had a very unique and complex aroma. Something we will remember for a long time.

4. Peru Criollo Blend 82% Zotter Chocolate

Criollo is one of the best varieties of cocoa, hands down. It is very aromatic and is not as bitter as Forastero. But, it is very rare due to various factors (low yields, diseases). Many farmers shun Criollo for this reason.

But, people in Peru continue preserving this rare cacao tree variety. What’s more, Criollo beans can be of color that ranges from ivory white to pale purple with white being very rare. Some of cocoa in Peru 82% chocolate came from this legendary white Criollo cacao beans.

We tried many products from Peru, including olives, chia seeds, quinoa, olive oil and even olive honey. So, we were looking forward to tasting this chocolate. Wow, it did not disappoint even a bit. Despite the 82% cacao content, this chocolate has a very mild aroma thanks to the Criollo. A very complex collection of flavors with strong notes of raisins and cream. It is as if it was a raisin chocolate. You know those chocolate bars sold in supermarkets? But, nowhere even near in quality compared to Peru 82% chocolate by Zotter.

When it comes to chocolatiers, it is their job to decide how much sugar to add to a chocolate bar to bring out the most flavors and balance out sourness and bitterness of cocoa. We think that Zotter did an outstanding job of calibrating sugar content to 82% here. It superbly brought out various complex flavors of Criollo, such as those of raisins and cream, without getting chocolate lost in a sugary sweetness.

It is definitely a jewel and was a highlight of our tasting chocolates from Zotter!

5. 80% Colombia Dark Chocolate by Zotter

This dark single-origin chocolate comes from the small Cooagronevada cooperative in Colombia. The cooperative is located by the breathtaking slopes of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Columbia. This region is famous for its production of cocoa and coffee.

The cooperative is led by women and grows Trinitario and Criollo cacao varieties. Zotter sweetened this 80% Colombia chocolate with 10% raw cane sugar and 10% muscovado sugar. Muscovado sugar is also a type of cane sugar, but it is unrefined and contains natural molasses with higher mineral content. As a result, it brings a more complex, earthy flavor with hints of toffee.

This chocolate had a unique taste with hints of dulce de leche, caramel and barley malt. We noticed flavors similar to a dark maple syrup. At the end, there was also a strong coffee-like finish to it too.

Sometimes, it is very difficult to describe these flavors. It is, of course, best to experience them yourself. But, we would say that this chocolate definitely stood out and gave its own unique taste punch.

6. Guatemala 75% Dark Chocolate by Zotter

This chocolate from Guatemala has a high content of Criollo cocoa. Zotter sources cacao beans for Guatemala 75% chocolate from indigenous farmers of FEDECOVERA cooperative. The cacao comes from rare varieties of trees where ancient Mayas used to live.

Josef Zotter uses a special fine mist roasting method to produce many of his Labooko chocolates as this one. During the roasting process, they inject water, which turns into a fine mist and lowers the overall temperature. This results in more gentle roast and brings out more aromas and flavors out of cacao beans.

Guatemala 75% chocolate has a very strong aftertaste. Here, again, Zotter did an excellent job of balancing this strong aftertaste with the right amount of sugar. Criollo cocoa shined in this chocolate too as it did in Peru 82%. But, with the cocoa content going down, the sugar and its sweetness was becoming more and more noticeable for us though.

Also, the flavor of this chocolate reminded us of something we used to make at home. It is the rice mochi we prepared that had a filling made from tahini, maple syrup and blueberries. Unbelievable, but the aftertaste was just like it. Wow!

7. Ecuador 60% Zotter Chocolate

Finally, we arrived at our last bar of chocolate. We felt pretty caffeinated at this point!

Ecuador 60% chocolate is made from the Cacao Nacional variety. These cacao trees grow in the province of Manabi in Ecuador. Similar to Criollo, Nacional cocoa produces some of the finest chocolate in the world.

The Nacional is a very rare cacao variety that can be found in Ecuador and northern Peru. In the 18th and 19th centuries, European chocolatiers were fighting to get this rare cocoa due to its unique fruity and floral aroma.

At some point, Nacional was thought to be extinct after the outbreak of diseases in the early 20th century. But, Nacional was rediscovered again. Unfortunately, pure Nacional cultivars are uncommon with most of them being some sort of hybrids. Also, strangely, Nacional is classified as Forastero. But, it is so different in flavor and shape from the typical Forastero variety bean.

This chocolate is definitely for the aftertaste. At first, it feels like sweetness from sugar is overwhelming everything. But, then the mellow, pleasant fruity aftertaste kicks in. We think this Ecuador 60% chocolate is something that most people will find appealing. It has the right balance of sweetness with some bitterness of cocoa. But, the bitterness here is barely pronounced, which was somewhat similar to Criollo chocolates.

Takeaways from Zotter Chocolate

When we started tasting Zotter chocolates, we were wondering how different they would be. It turns out they are all very different and very unique in their flavors and aftertastes. Overall, Zotter did an outstanding job with balancing out the cocoa with the right amount of sugar almost in all chocolate bars we tried.

Related Content: Why Chocolate Is Getting So Expensive

Our all-time favorite is Peru 82% for its complex flavor of raisins and mellow aroma of Criollo cocoa. As for the 100% chocolates, Madagascar was something we will remember and would want to revisit again. There also exists a 100% Peru chocolate, which is something we are eager to try, too. All other chocolate bars were excellent and 100% worth trying.

The world of chocolate does not have to be boring and repetitive. There are many unique flavors to discover. We are very grateful to Josef Zotter and his team for bringing so many rare cacao varieties for us to try and appreciate.