Chapon – Madagascar Dark Chocolate with Birch Sugar

Xylitol is barely sweet on the tongue, which leaves the Sambirano fruit — red berries, then citrus — with nowhere to hide. It is the clearest expression of Madagascan cocoa in this shelf.

Patrice Chapon roasts his beans and makes his bars in Chelles, east of Paris. He worked as an ice-cream maker for the British royal household before opening his own chocolate house. The beans come from the Bejofo Estate in the Sambirano valley, northern Madagascar, where the trees grow beside vanilla, pepper and ylang-ylang.

We taste it at room temperature, slowly, and avoid drinking anything sweet alongside. A large quantity of xylitol can be laxative, so we keep to a few squares.