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Maglio Origine

Maglio is an amazing company from Italy. Maglie, Italy in the Pugia region. (The Heel of the Boot.)

I received this collection last Valentine's day from my husband and another one a few months later from my friend Emily Shartin who works at Formaggio Kitchen. I used to work there as well once upon a time where I was first exposed to some amazing chocolate.

Maglio, for me, has been a long time favorite chocolate producer. I openly admit and will admit through out my blog, that I am enamored with Italian chocolate producers. The way they care for the beans they produce and the way they process the cacao that leave no sharp pangs for too much acidity that hit you in the glands in your neck when eating their chocolate. I find most Italian producers to be world class. There is a bit of a bias towards the nation in an overall manner, but I am still fair about my reviews for tasting.

All of these samples are single origin chocolate tasting mini bars. Single origin doesn't necessarily mean the the same bean varietal, but mostly it means the region where the beans come from. All are bittersweet chocolates with the exception of the Papuasia which is a milk chocolate. 

[Click Images to enlarge.]

  
Each sampler comes with 6 samples of minibars. Although the sample starts with their Crue de Cacao, It's a 65% cocoa percentage while the second in line is the Papuasia is 36%. I started with the Papuasia when I reviewed this collection.

Papuasia 36% Pure Origin Milk Chocolate. Bean varietals:  Criollo and Forastero from Java.

Appearance: Pale brown color. Yellowish, almost golden in comparison to what is considered a normal milk chocolate. The pale coloring makes it appear delicate. This is the first time I have seen a chocolate this pale barring white chocolate from the equation. 

Score: 97

Aroma: Spicy, rich, buttery caramel, big tobacco, cream, big vanilla, and hints of hazelnuts.

Score: 90

Snap: There was a moderate pop to this minibar. I expected this to be soft an give a subdued thud, but it gave off a good enough snap and broke evenly. Milk chocolates tend to be softer and usually won't produce clean breaks or snapping sounds. This one did.

Score: 89

Taste: Like the nose, buttery taste, vanilla,  caramel notes, soft and delicate cocoa notes. It mostly tastes like butter, milk, and finishes up with light a cocoa taste. Very delicate cocoa that is almost overwhelmed by the milky, vanilla content, but strong enough to hold on and linger on the palate. The aftertaste is a bit like a milky caramel.

Score: 94

Texture: Soft, creamy, smooth, and melts fairly quickly on the palate, but not too quickly.

Score: 98

This is unique chocolate. Such low percentages of cocoa, yet strong enough to stand up to the milk content. I am admittedly not much of a fan of milk chocolate, but this is so unique tasting, I could have little bits of this daily. It's almost confusing eating this. You know it's chocolate but it smells, tastes, and has a lingering aftertaste of buttery caramel. This is a very unique and delicate taste of milk chocolate.

Final Score: 93.6

score
A-

Crue de Cacao 65%. Bean Varietals: Unknown. Blend of single origin beans from Guayaquil, Caracas, and Ghana. Semisweet.

Appearance: Shiny, deep, dark brown color. Cocoa nibs appearing on the back of the minibar.

Score: 98

Snap: Clean snap, decent snap sound.

Score: 94

Aroma: Deep powdery cocoa notes, big fresh tobacco notes lightly fruity, hints of berries, spicy characters. This chocolate too was almost overwhelmed by the big tobacco aroma. It gets more points than the Papuasia because the milk wasn't adding to the tobacco nose. This was fresh tobacco despite how big the aroma was.

Score: 90

Taste: A little spicy almost peppery right in the beginning, then it evens out to almost nothing, until the chocolate begins to melt. Then light fruit-forward berry notes, slight herb taste before the nibs. Nibs have a slight woody and toasted taste and are a touch bitter. Nibs also have a slight strawberry hint. Hints of blueberries from retro-olfaction. (The art of exhaling back in your mouth during tasting.)

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth but lightly chalky, gritty, crunchy nibs. Slow melting in the mouth.

Score: 93

Crue, Cru, or Grand Cru usually means the best of. This offering from Maglio is a good example of that principle with the blending of high end single origin beans from three different chocolate producing nations. This is a very smooth chocolate despite the crunchy nibs mixed in. It has a lot going on by way of nose and taste. Many different elements going on from the big tobacco aroma, to berries and pepper tastes. This is for serious chocolate lovers to sit back with and spend a little time analyzing.
 
Final Score: 94.2

score
A-

Santo Domingo 70% Bean Varietals: Dominican Republic Criollo and Forastero. Bittersweet.

Appearance: Deep, black-brown color. Shiny and smooth.

Score: 95

Snap: Nice clean break.

Score: 97

Aroma: Roasted Cocoa, tobacco leaves, tar, rubber, caramel .

Score: 92

Taste: This changes in big ways on the palate. In succession sweet, to bitter, then Earthy, with a barely there roasted taste. Sweet, complex, and deep berry flavors, then more bitterness. The bitterness is reminiscent of grapefruit bitterness. A light trace of black pepper and cinnamon give a spicy taste. Roasted coffee notes about two minutes after with retro-olfaction.

Score: 94

Texture: Very slow melting. Exceptionally smooth.

Score: 98

This is a a complex, yet straight forward chocolate. The nose is very simple, but the flavors evolve right in your mouth making each stage distinguishable. The pepper and cinnamon taste is so delicate you need to really search to find it. There is more of a warming sensation that indicates the black pepper and then you taste the pepper but it's very subtle. 

Final Score: 95.2

score
A

Ecuador 70%. Bean Varietal: Arriba Nacional, a forth species, related to the Forastero bean. Bittersweet.

Appearance: Smooth and shiny. Deep dark, brown color.

Score: 93

Snap: Clean snap, but low thud sound.

Score: 87

Aroma: More big tobacco aromas. Roasted cacao notes, a tiny bit of dried fruits, oats, but almost nothing else comes through.

Score: 89

Taste: Upfront bitter taste that lingers through the whole experience, creamy texture but not a buttery or creamy taste, subdued dried fruits with a minor amount of sweetness that doesn't stay or very long, and tobacco leaves. Finishes with a little tartness and lingering bitterness, but otherwise unremarkable. That or it's so delicate it barely registers on my palate accept for the bitterness and the acidity.

Score: 90

Texture: Very slow melt, finishes clean on the palate and not cloying due to a lot of residual bitterness. The bitterness lingers, but not the creamy texture. It almost has a drying effect on the palate.

Score 94

This wasn't all that great after the previous tastings. It's certainly unique that that has this ability to be so big and yet have no complex characters at all. It's bitterness though is nearly palate killing but the tartness doesn't jab you in the neck. It's very bitter, but unassumingly bitter. The tartness and bitterness wipe out any chance for the roasted qualities, or dried fruits to make a viable presence. The bitterness and tartness also block the lingering after taste from any cocoa butters from settling.

Final score: 90.6

score
B+

Cuba 70%. Bean Varietal: Criollo from Cuba. Bittersweet.

Appearance: Rich, dark brown chocolate. Not black-brown like some of the others in this collection.

Score: 96

Snap: Good clean snap. Little bit of a subdued snap, but more stable than the others.

Score: 94

Aroma: A slight roasted character, a little bit floral, and fruity, cherries and yes more tobacco, but significantly less than the others.

Score: 97

Taste: Spicy, sweet, opens into bitterness but mixed with big sweet characters, roasted coffee, very slight hints of licorice and cinnamon, bright cherries lingering on the back end of the palate followed by more roasted coffee notes and a slight nutty character.

Score: 98

Texture: Smooth, slow melt. This one needed time to melt in order to understand all the complexities of the chocolate.

Score: 96

This one has been my favorite so far. It's sweeter, and more complex. You have to wait for this one to completely open, and then wait a few minutes after it's gone to get the full effects. It makes you take your time with it. I like that. It also has a lot going on with big cherries, and roasted coffee and nuts. It even toys with you with the hints of cinnamon and licorice. Those are just the effects of the roasted and bitter characters playing with the sweet and tart notes.

Final Score: 96.2

score
A

Africa 75%. Bean Varietal: Unknown but their origin is from Tanzania. Bittersweet.

Appearance: Deep, dark, black-brown color. Not as shiny as the other offerings.

Score: 91

Snap: Good snap, clean break.

Score: 98

Aroma: Coffee, yet again more tobacco leaves, nutty, toffee, buttery, caramel. There are some slight berry notes hidden in the aroma, but the tobacco aroma is a bit over powering.

Score: 97

Taste: Deep, bitter cacao, smooth around the edges, low acidity meaning low tartness, subtle leather taste, tobacco leaves, French roast coffee, tar, ash, red wine grapes, and macadamia nut taste from retro-olfaction.

Score: 98

Texture: Very slow melt and very smooth, but hard and not enough cocoa butter to soften more of the edges. The longest melt time in the group. 

Score: 96

This is by far the most complex of the varieties in the sampler pack. You wouldn't even know you were 75% cacao unless you read it in the label. The absence of sugary sweetness is your only real indication that it's extraordinarily bitter chocolate. But it's so smooth around the edges, the bitterness does not overwhelm the palate. Lots of rich flavors that in this chocolate that take their time to reveal themselves. It's vary smooth, but not as creamy as I would like it to be. Just a bit too hard. The flavors found in it more than make up for the texture.

Final Score: 96

score
A

All in all this is a spectacular sampler of world class chocolates. I didn't like that all of the samples had big tobacco aroma. It just became too same-y after a while and made it difficult to pick up more subtle nuances, but it didn't impact the different flavors on each sample.

The Maglio Origine pack would be the perfect gift for a chocolate lover. Or the perfect sampler pack for tasting groups.

The Grading Scale

[Image via Concurring Opinions]

How this will all work for the next 30 reviews or so, I will be posting reviews from chocolates I have been taking notes on for over a year. Certain chocolates I have have bin numbers on them, but they were reviewed when received. Each review will explain where they came from and around the time they were reviewed.

There will also be a Grading Scale for each review. A standard A-F scale but with a little bit of a twist. There will be five categories that can earn a maximum of 100 points.

Appearance
Aroma
Snap
Texture
Taste

The average total of all five scores will be tallied up to give a final score. The totals will be reflected with a letter grade.

A+ 98-100
A 95-97
A- 93-94

B+ 90-92
B 87-89
B- 85-86

C+ 82-84
C 79-81
C- 77-78

D+ 74-76
D 72-73
D- 70-71

F 0-69

Standard high school grading system.

A note for the readers. Taste is a subjective thing. What I might like or notes I taste in chocolate maybe completely different from you. Everyone has a unique and individual palate. It's best to remember that when imbibing on glorious things such as chocolate. The point is, there are no right or wrong answer when it comes to individual tastes. There are big generalizations about specific regions, but each palate has a number of reasons or variances which may drastically change the way one person smells or tastes something compared to another.