20°N & 20°S

Madécasse ~ Rich 70%

 

 

 

Madécasse ~ Rich 70%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario, Hybrid

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural vanilla.

Sample Size: 2.64 oz or 75g

 

Appearance: Simple square patterned, monogrammed tablet, ashy, medium chocolate brown color, smooth surface. Some minor matted marks on the surface.**

Score: 90

Snap: Good strong snap. Nice audible snap sound, clean break lines.

Score: 94

Aroma: Dried wood, soft roasted cacao and huge dried figs.

Score: 95

Taste: Deeply rich cocoa, a bit acidic, bitter, big cedar wood, mild leather notes, cereal grains, and deep in the back of the flavor of this chocolate are cherry notes.

Score: 87

Texture: Medium-hard, dry, long melt time.

Score: 84

 

**I did not deduct from the appearance of the bar based on it's ashy appearance. It's in great shape for holding on to it as long as I have. I am being completely honest about my Madécasse reviews as I have had their bars since the fall. They are not past their prime by any means, they're not close to being expired yet, but it has gone through the winter with me. I didn't expect a shiny bar after all this time. And it shouldn't be taken out on them that I waited this long.

Very simple descriptions on the nose of this chocolate. It was 3 simple things. Dried wood, roasted cacao, and dried figs. The fig aroma was awesome. It was big, but not too big and it didn't push down the other aromas. Well, the other aromas that I could detect anyway. I even pulled out a tin of dried  Turkish figs for comparison, and they were identical sans the wood and cacao on the bar. Simple yet fantastic.

 

It's all bitterness and acidity up front. Mild acidity, but deeply bitter and it interferes with some of the nuances of the flavors. In the middle, it opens up with big cedar wood flavors and cereal grains, some slight leathery notes. But the bitterness and wood flavors trump a lot of the deep and complex fruit notes. There is a cherry presence, but it's buried underneath everything else.

Although I love big wood flavors in chocolate, especially cedar wood, it's a bit much on this chocolate. It's all you really get out of it. The wood flavors coupled with the bitterness of this chocolate makes it taste a bit unbalanced. I could tell that there could be more going on with this chocolate and more flavors wanted to come out and play but the bully's were on the play ground as bitterness and wood.

The texture didn't do it any favors either. It was hard, very slow melt time and dry. It wasn't horrible texture by any means, but if this were softer and creamier, it could have been a lot better despite its dominating flavors.

 

Final Score: 90

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20°N & 20°S Presents: The Top 10 Best Chocolate Makers

 

 

This is a collection of the best Bean-to-Bar that I have tasted so far (2010 -2011) with a few honorable mentions at the end. This isn't an exact reflection of what is available on the market, this is based on what I have personally reviewed and tasted so far.

After going through a lot of chocolate, and I mean A LOT of chocolate, and Lord above help me now, I still have WAY more to try, I have decided to present my findings thus far on whom I think are some of the best chocolate makers in the world. It's only me judging. It's based solely on my tastes and preferences and should be considered 100% subjective. This list will change every year, naturally, as more and more chocolate is introduced into my life. If you are a chocolate maker and are not on this list, either try harder for my affections, or send me products because I may not have had it yet!

You will notice if you go back and scroll through older reviews, that my review style is noticeably changing. This is the point exactly of my journey through chocolate. To learn about and grow with it. And to understand my own palate better. I have no intention of changing the old reviews, but rather move forward get better with time. I only bring this up because as I scroll through older reviews, I am totally laughing at myself. Some are vague, and some are overly descriptive. I am learning people, I am learning!