Utopick Nugu Nicaragua 70%
Utopick - NUGU - NICARAGUA - Origin Dark Chocolate - 70% - Batch 25/10/2025
Cacao origin/type:
Local cacao variety
Ingredients:
Cacao beans, cacao butter, cane sugar
Other facts:
Made in Spain (Utopick, Valencia)
"Paco Llopís and his wife Juana are the founders of Utopick. Paco was born into a family of famous pastry chefs in Valencia and worked in his family's kitchen from an early age. He discovered chocolate as a medium for extraordinary sculptures while studying photography, where he met his wife Juana. During their studies, they both traveled to Colombia, where they experienced cocoa "live" for the first time during the harvest. It was here that the two of them decided to get serious about making chocolate from then on and so they founded Utopick at the end of 2015.
The packaging was designed by the local design agency "Lavernia & Cienfuegos" in Valencia. Each chocolate is wrapped in an "origami boat", which recalls the spiritual adventure at the heart of Utopick and represents the route chosen by the Spanish explorers when they returned with cocoa beans in the 16th and 17th centuries. These sails can also be found in the triangles of the chocolate mold. The packaging has been designed so that it can be opened and closed without touching the chocolate." - xocoatl.de
Beautiful packaging, one of the most beautiful I know so far in fine chocolates. One of the most Japanese style packaging of something that has nothing to do with Japan or is even inspired by it, as far as I know. Stylishly folded, with nice antique gold fluting on the flap, inside of it the bar in also nice copper colored aluminum foil. Overall slightly minimalistic, on the front only the most important info, on the back also all white and only the most important info stated.
The bar itself is silky matt, the rectangle is divided into two squares, each consisting of 4 triangles. Each of the triangles then embossed with a slightly different pattern, reminiscent of old mosaic tiles or the patterns on them. It's extremely finely processed, breaks medium-hard and very smooth along the edges, almost perfection can be said so far.
Aroma:
Light notes, pecan nuts, subtle white tea and jasmine tea, floral notes, almonds and vanilla
Taste:
Quite complex, slow, but still quite creamy melting, gives plenty of time to process everything, on the one hand crispy nuts, roasted almonds, but also floral notes, white and jasmine tea, vanilla, rather little fruitiness, subtly in the last third comes some apricot and young plum
Finish:
The nuttiness remains, almost like a hazelnut spread on the finish, beautifully compact and concentrated notes, vanilla, apricot, floral tones, long
Conclusion:
So far, all Utopicks have thrilled me and this one is in no way inferior to them. Perhaps not as on the nose in terms of intensity as some Domori or Akesson's, but finding the perfect balance between elegance, character and depth.
