Type: Extra bittersweet, 100%
Bean Varietal: Unknown
Ingredients: 100% Madagascar cocoa beans from Valrhona.
Sample Size: 50g 1.76oz
Appearance: Deep dark brown color, matted looking bar, spotted surface, simple non-monogrammed molding.
Score: 89
Snap: Very firm snap with excellent crisp snap sound and clean break lines.
Score: 94
Aroma: Pure roasted cocoa, fruit forward, very green, bananas, coffee, sweet and a little astringent on the nose. Fairly simple and straight forward on the nose. Not a lot of complications with this aroma. What is there presents itself and that is all.
Score: 95
Taste: Extremely bitter, wood, tar, acidic, berries are present but completely buried but bitterness, there is big green taste on the finish even some bananas but the bitterness once again completely overtakes the palate.
Score: 91
Texture: Smooth, creamy, medium melt time.
Score: 92
This was extremely bitter and almost sour tasting due to the extreme acidity. It hits all the right technical marks, but 100% bitter cocoa is just not for me. Especially with the characteristics of Madagascar beans being typically tart and acidic anyway even with sugar and cocoa butter smoothing it out. It's hard to rationalize that too because I like extraordinarily hoppy beers like big American Double IPA's and even Triple IPA's, I have a palate for extremely bitter offerings. But this is a different kind of bitter that I just do not enjoy. I gave the taste higher marks for the individual notes you can taste, but it's not as high for all the notes that were obliterated by it's intense bitterness. The berry notes were just dying to present themselves but just could not stand up to how deeply bitter this chocolate is.
But this is a statement chocolate. This isn't just for those who enjoy the insanely bitter side of chocolate, this is for the integrity of chocolate, that this is what it is without fluff and no additives. Like a model without make up, a cake without frosting, or bread without butter and jam.
If you are someone who loves black, robust coffee with no sugar or cream or a straight up espresso, this might be something you would enjoy. It's something you would want to have to gain a better understand of raw chocolate, and then expand on with different percentages and blends using the same kind of beans. As a base if you will.
Final Score: 92.2
B+
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