Type: Flavored, Bittersweet, 75%
Bean Varietal: Trinitario, Hybrid
Ingredients: Cocoa, sugar, crystallized orange peel, cocoa butter.
Sample Size: 50g or 1.76oz
Appearance: Two tablets, one broken, plain non-monogrammed tablets, ashy, bumpy surface from the orange peels, and cracked lines all over the suface, very rustic and simple.
Score: 87
Snap: Mild snap, very thin and a tad chalky.
Score: 83
Aroma: Big char, roasted cacao, toast, huge coffee aroma, pen ink, rubber, buried orange aromas and the faintest hints of blueberries.
Score: 91
Taste: Sweet sugars right up front, char, pen ink, deep fruits, mild orange peels. A nice flavor balance at the end of the tasting through retro-olfaction.
Score: 94
Texture: Dry, chalky, slow to open up, hard but without a decent snap.
Score: 83
The score on the appearance is a mixed bag because as I have mentioned in previous Claudio Corallo reviews, I have come to appreciate the simple, rustic, molding of their bars. No pretentious moldings, just simple tablets, packaged and ready to eat. However, I am getting tired of always having broken up tablets from them. And this bar, despite it's simplicity, was totally ashy.
The aroma is what it is. This is Claudio Corallo chocolate through and through. Huge aroma of coffee, char, toast, roasted cacao, but a very slight hint of the orange. It's there but totally buried underneath Corallo's hallmark aromas. It should have more of an orange aroma, and that's why it has the score that it does, but it's also not a bad score based on being in love with this gigantic aroma.
A little sweet at first, then it takes it's time to open up. It's chalky and dry which hides a lot of the true flavors. Pen ink, char, deep complex fruits, and very mild orange peels. I expected more from the orange peels. I expected bigger flavor and more orange oils and a bit of a bitterness from the peels. A bit more sugar from the crystallization. They were very dull.
For me this isn't entirely a bad thing. I am not one to rave about orange peels and chocolate. Even if I am not the worlds biggest fan, I still expected a bit more from the orange. Instead it got completely overtaken by the extreme boldness of Corallo's cocoa.
The lingering aftertaste and retro-olfaction flavors are nice however. More of a combination of the sweet orange and toast flavors give for more of a comforting linger taste. It's a shame this wasn't the case throughout the bar and only reserved for the end flavors.
Overall this wasn't that great. But it's not bad either. I just think it could have been so much more.
Final Score: 87.6
B
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