ranked in the top 100 chocolates in the world.
single-origin colombian dark chocolate with lion’s mane mushroom. berry-driven, with a port-wine finish.
above-the-fold callouta 60% single-origin colombian dark chocolate carrying 12% hericiumthe woody functional mushroom better known in english as lion’s mane. it reads like a novelty and tastes like anything but: berries, cherry and cranberry up front, a port-wine depth on the finish, the mushroom folded in so cleanly it lends body rather than announcing itself. one of the more genuinely interesting bars prague chocolate makes.
origin & craftsmanshipthe chocolate base is pure alunaancient criollo crossed with trinitario, grown on a single family farm in colombia, bought direct and sweetened with low-glycaemic coconut sugar. the hericium is what makes this bar unusual: prague chocolate developed it following a challenge set by two czech technical universities, as part of a supported research project, which is a rarer provenance line than most inclusion bars can claim. the mushroom is milled into the chocolate at 12%, with no palm oil, no gluten and nothing synthetic, so what you get is a functional bar built by fine-chocolate makers rather than a supplement wearing a chocolate coat.
flavor profilethis is where the bar earns its keep. the maker’s own notes hold up on tasting: red and dark berries firstcherry, cranberry, blackberrythen a deep, almost wine-like finish that recalls port. the hericium sits underneath as a soft, woody, savoury note that rounds the fruit rather than fighting it. at 60% it stays approachable, fruit-forward and balanced, not the earthy hit you might brace for from a mushroom bar.
tasting & pairing guidelet it melt slowly so the berry notes and the port finish have room to arrive. it pairs, fittingly, with an actual glass of port or a medium-bodied red that echoes the dark-fruit register, and it’s a natural after a black coffee if you want to keep the functional theme running through the cup. for something contrasting, an aged, salty hard cheese snaps the fruit into focus. this is a bar for the curiousthe lion’s mane crowd and the fine-chocolate crowd meet here.
summarythe aluna 60% with hericium is prague chocolate at their most inventive: single-origin colombian cacao, coconut-sweetened, carrying a functional lion’s mane mushroom developed through a university research project, and tasting of berries and port rather than anything medicinal. functional, fruit-forward, and genuinely differentfor the drinker who wants their chocolate to do a little more.
