Dandelion Chocolate Gift Limited-Edition Harvest Series: Zorzal Estate, Dominican Republic

Sale price Price $45 Regular price

Limited-Edition Harvest Series: Zorzal Estate, DR

About our special limited-edition tasting sets:
In each of our tasting sets, we explore a specific aspect of craft chocolate making, from genetics to fermentation to roasting. Every set offers an opportunity to sample bars that are extraordinarily limited or rarely paired, and which we believe tell an interesting flavor story that wouldn't be apparent alone.

About the Zorzal Estate three-bar harvest series:
This set presents a unique chance to experience the wide range of flavors a single bean can express under differing climatic conditions. Each bar was crafted from one of only three annual harvests (2016, 2017, 2018) fully produced — grown, harvested, fermented, and dried — on site at Zorzal Estate, Dominican Republic, before co-founder Dr. Charles Kerchner moved processing operations to a flatter, less humid location in nearby Los Arroyos at the end of 2018.

Our R&D Operations Manager Ron Sweetser treated the three batches of Zorzal beans identically in our factory, using the same roast profile, melange, and sugar-addition timing in order to highlight the fascinating flavor differences caused solely by annually varying conditions on the farm.

Included in this set:

Three 70% bars from three Zorzal Estate harvests: 2016, 2017, and 2018
Informative tasting guide

Ingredients & Allergens: All of our single-origin chocolate is made with just cocoa beans and sugar; no added cocoa butter, lecithin, or vanilla. Our chocolate is free of soy, dairy, eggs, and gluten, and it is made in a factory that does not process nuts.
Weight: 6 oz (168 g)
Learn more: Learn more about our cocoa beans and sugar – the region, the farms, and the producers.

Three Harvests, Three Bars, Same Origin

2016

2016 was the first year of harvesting, fermenting, and drying cacao on Reserva Zorzal, and the best weather of the three years for post-harvest production. Chuck and his team built fermenting boxes and drying tunnels of local wood to create ideal cocoa-drying conditions in the rainforest humidity.

Tasting Notes:
crème brûlée, fudge, and wild-berry jam on toast

2017

This harvest was delayed by drought, pushing about 40 percent of production to late spring. Then Hurricane Irma hit in September, damaging some cocoa lots. In their second year using the post-harvest infrastructure, Chuck and his team fine-tuned fermenting and drying processes to obtain optimal cocoa quality.

Tasting Notes:
Guernsey milk, orange-blossom honey, and classic dark chocolate

2018

Rain, rain, rain. In the final year of full production at Reserva Zorzal, the Rio Bobo River was often impassable, making harvest, transport, and drying a major challenge. The Zorzal team applied innovative methods (like installing drying-bed heaters and solar-powered drying-tunnel fans) to preserve the beans’ quality.

Tasting Notes:
flourless chocolate cake, Darjeeling tea, and cashew butter

A Note from Chuck

Co-founder & CEO of Zorzal Cacao

"I hope you are as excited as I am to try this limited-edition three-bar set. It will certainly bring back fond memories that I cherish of this time diving into the terroir of Reserva Zorzal.

This one-of-a-kind three-Zorzal-bar set represents the first three years (2016,’17, and ’18) when we harvested, fermented, and dried our own beans. It was not only the first three years of full production, but also the only years we grew, fermented, and dried cacao at Reserva Zorzal. Our vision was to embrace terroir to its fullest extent."

- Dr. Charles "Chuck" Kerchner
Co-Founder and CEO of Zorzal Cacao / Reserva Zorzal

Karen's Flavor Picks

CURATED 5-BAR SETS

"I remember looking over the 1,019-acre bird sanctuary from the open windows and listening to tropical songbirds while shoveling cacao from one box to the next. Natural, simple, basic, and pure is the best way to describe it. It was therapeutic." -Dr. Kerchner

Karen's Flavor Picks

CURATED 5-BAR SETS

A Note from Ron

"These three bars are made from the same cocoa beans, from the same trees, grown on the same land, and processed by the same producer. The only difference is the year they were harvested. We hope that by eliminating the variables at the factory by processing these three harvests of cocoa identically, we can demonstrate in some small way how critical a role specialty cocoa producers play in the flavor of the finished chocolate, and also why where chocolate makers source their cocoa is so important."

- Ron Sweetser
R&D Operations Manager

About Zorzal Estate, Dominican Republic

Reserva Zorzal is a 1,019-acre organic cacao farm and bird sanctuary located in a moist, broadleaf-rainforest region of the northern Dominican Republic. Charles (Chuck) Kerchner co-founded Reserva Zorzal and Zorzal Cacao (a.k.a. Cacao del Bosque S.R.L) in 2012 hoping to prove that a for-profit business could be a viable, economically sustainable driver of environmental conservation.

Chuck and his co-founders (Jamie Phillips, Jesus Moreno, Jaimie Moreno, Angelica Moreno, and Sesar Rodriguez) bought a relatively undeveloped 412-hectare (1000-acre) piece of land in the mountains of the Duarte Province. They divided it into Reserva Zorzal (the bird sanctuary) and Zorzal Estate (the farm) to protect a critical habitat and simultaneously grow high-quality cacao. While Zorzal Cacao processes and sells estate-grown cacao under the name “Zorzal Estate,” the company also buys freshly harvested beans from neighboring farms, ferments them, and sells them under the name “Zorzal Comunitario.”

Unlike many origins where we source beans, the Dominican Republic has a thriving national cocoa industry, and Chuck supports and retains staff through continual education. When travel is possible, Dandelion runs annual customer trips to visit Zorzal and the Zorzal team.

Limited-Edition Harvest Series: Zorzal Estate, DR

Three Harvests, Three Bars, Same Origin

A Note from Chuck

Co-founder & CEO of Zorzal Cacao

Karen's Flavor Picks

"I remember looking over the 1,019-acre bird sanctuary from the open windows and listening to tropical songbirds while shoveling cacao from one box to the next. Natural, simple, basic, and pure is the best way to describe it. It was therapeutic." -Dr. Kerchner

Karen's Flavor Picks

A Note from Ron

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