Santa Cruz, Venezuela 100% - Single plantation
A 100% cacao bar can be uncompromising. Ara’s Santa Cruz shows us just how elegant one can be.
The cacao comes from Finca Santa Cruz in Aragua, Venezuela, where Ara works directly with the plantation to purchase exceptional heirloom Criollo beans. That direct relationship supports fair pricing for the producers while giving Ara access to cacao whose distinctive character can be followed all the way from farm to finished chocolate.
We know 100% chocolate isn’t for everyone, but we can’t help loving this one. When we place a piece on the tongue and let it melt slowly, the first surprise is how mild it feels. Ara has coaxed away the bitter edge we might expect from an unsweetened chocolate, leaving the cacao itself to unfold. Nutty notes appear first, followed by an array of unexpected fruit flavors that seem to shift as the chocolate melts.
There’s no sugar here to soften or disguise anything—just an unusually expressive Criollo cacao and the skill of the maker.
