Patric Chocolate ~ Rio Caribe Superior 70%

Patric Chocolates

Another straight forward chocolate from the Paria Peninsula in Venezuela. See the map below and locate Rio Caribe on the top right hand side. That is the Paria Peninsula and the region this chocolate comes from.

From the website:

This single-estate chocolate, made with delectable cacao from Venezuela's Paria Peninsula, has robust and deeply satisfying chocolate flavor with notes of fresh cream, roasted almonds, coffee, walnuts, floral notes and subtle hints of dried apricot. This bar is the equal of and yet completely different than our Madagascar line of bars.

This chocolate was sent to me as part of a collection of Patric Chocolates from Alan McClure. This is his first single origin bar outside of Madagascar. He first released it in late 2009. He has 4 other bars all from Madagascar of various strengths. He is working on another single origin bar soon to be released, but he is very tight lipped about any clues on where it might be coming from.

Won't you give us any sort of a hint Alan?

Upon opening this chocolate, it immediately reminded me of smelling a Gueuze or sour, wild ales. Sometimes the aroma characteristics described may not sound like they are very appealing. With Sour ales it's not uncommon to have an aroma of band aids, medicinal aromas, or barnyard smells. Funky is the key word for these kinds of beers and I think funky is a good key word for the aroma of this chocolate.

This is all bean on the aroma. There are nothing but cocoa beans and sugar in the ingredients. No cocoa butter, or vanilla added. This is some pretty raw chocolate.

I felt like I should explain the aroma ahead of time because it might not seem palatable for some readers. And with some of these funkier aromas, it might not make sense why this chocolate scored as high as it did. It's because of how natural it is and how distinctive these aromas were. Not to mention, it technically hits all the right marks for reviewing. It's a thinking chocolate and not what I would call a beginners chocolate.

Rio Caribe Superior 70%

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varital: Hybrid, Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans and sugar.

Sample Size: 50g or 1.75 oz

Lot #: 101830

Appearance: Smooth, shiny, glossy, simple monogrammed molding. Deep, rich, dark brown color.

Score: 97

Snap: Good firm, crisp snap, though a touch lighter in sound than I would have though. Clean break lines.

Score: 94

Aroma: Huge roasted cocoa, bitter, strongly medicinal, minty, rubber, tar, burnt coffee, slightly minty, some complex fruits and apricots underneath the robust roasted characters.

Score: 92

Taste: Sugar in the very first taste, then it opens up into medicinal flavors, burnt coffee, tar, rubber, roasted cocoa, cinnamon, oak.

Score: 94

Texture: Soft, smooth, creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 95

This is very complex chocolate. It's very robust and bitter, but has strong individual flavors. It's like each individual flavor is an attention getter vying for your time and attention amongst the other flavors. There are fruits, but they are hard to identify with all the other strong flavors coming through. There were apricots on the nose, but hard to pinpoint on the taste.

This is a great chocolate for those who like things complicated and bitter. It's very natural and untamed like those funky wild ales I was talking about earlier.

I am not even sure if I really like this chocolate, I think I just like how raw and aggressive it is.  This is not a beginners chocolate.

Final Score: 94.4

score
A-

Comments

[Devaki]

Dear Candice - I am in your world a chocolate nerd.

I am delighted to visit your blog because it will teach me about the intricacies of this delight that I enjoy with zero knowledge and 100% senses.

My favorite truffle happens to be dark chocolate Grand Marnier by Godiva & I love all the chocolates of La Maison du Chocolate. Do you have an opinion?

Feel free to blow some steam :)No offense shall be taken. Promise!

Please pop in and say hello in my corner sometime.

Ciao, Devaki @ weavethousandflavors

[Kathy Bischoping]

Seven of us just tried this complex bar for Sociologists Eat Chocolate (www.marxweberchocolate.blogspot.com). It was not our most beloved chocolate, but those of us who liked it were in awe of its varied flavours. Here's the quote from our review:

"•Proponents said: Poking fingers, sadness, The Grapes of Wrath movie, looking for mushrooms, pocket knives. 2nd try -- hard cheese, hard-crusted bread, the sky of Hamburg's harbour, 18% unemployment. Dispassionate discernment. The righteousness of a teenage girl reading Ayn Rand.; The foil is like Cambodian gold. It's a punch in the mouth, scraped knees, men tarring a roof, the early Industrial Revolution, smog.; and Complex, smoky, rich earth taste. Detractors said: Something rotten. Almost like a European cheese.; Creepy smoky deli meat. Like I vaccuumed a smoker's house and then got the vacuum dust in my face.; and Stinky feet."