Description
7 tasting tablets, 15 grams each, of the officially designated Heirloom Chocolate Series
HCP (Heirloom Cacao Preservation) in partnership with the USDA is the first & only to map the world of hi-flavor cacao. In caring for these special trees, HCP faces down the specter of a world in which chocolate stands for nothing but the color of brown.
D7 Heirloom Chocolate Tasting-Tiles
Heirloom I: Alto Bení (68% cacáo-content)
| Estate / Property: | Upper Rio Beni Valley, Bolivia |
| Harvester: | Volker Lehmann |
| Genotype / Pedigree: | Amazon x ICS |
| Barsmith: | Zokoko (Australia) |
| Capsule Summary / History: | Like the winner of Superbowl I, proudly bears the distinction of the 1st-ever officially-designated heirloom chocolate |
| Flavor Profile: | spice (brown sugar) against continuous basal cocoa counter -> brown fruits (raisin / dates / fig) -> green fruits (kiwi / starfruit) -> Tawny Port in the aft-length with hazelnut |
| Date of Heirloom Induction: | February 2014 |
Heirloom II: Wild Bení (72% cacáo-content)
| Estate / Property: | Tranquilidad; Lower Rio Bení, Bolivia |
| Harvester: | The River People / local forest dwellers |
| Genotype / Pedigree: | Beniano |
| Barsmith: | Zokoko (Australia) |
| Capsule Summary / History: | Archetypal; one of the great cacáos of all-time… documented by arguably the first Western chocolate-critic — Fr. Francis Xavier Eder in the 1700s |
| Flavor Profile: | small seeds = big flavor — chocolate nuts ‘n honey -> aged black fruit complex (black mission fig, blackberry, Empress plums, pomegranate, currant, black cherry) -> mildly condensed tannins (coffee / chicory) -> Bolivian fuchsia -> stringent lime washes up to liken a young Scotch |
| Date of Heirloom Induction: | February 2014 |
Heirloom III: Orecao (70% cacáo-content)
| Estate / Property: | Hacienda Limon; Cotopaxi; Moraspungo; Los Rios; Ecuador |
| Harvester: | Samuel von Rutte |
| Genotype / Pedigree: | EET |
| Barsmith: | Millcreek Cacao Roasters (Utah, USA) |
| Capsule Summary / History: | Vestiges of Ecuador’s fabled Nacional cacáo germplasm |
| Flavor Profile: | medium gauge blackberry & moraberry-laced cocoa with aromatic floral perfumes crushed underfoot -> nut barrel (pecan, brazil nuts, even cashews)-> barley malt -> candy corn -> caramel -> cookie dough / Oreo® sandwich |
| Date of Heirloom Induction: | February 2014 |
Heirloom IV: Maunawili (72% cacáo-content)
| Estate / Property: | Agricultural Research Center; Kailua; O’ahu; Hawai’i |
| Harvester: | Daniel O’Doherty |
| Genotype / Pedigree: | Diverse Blend |
| Barsmith: | Mānoa (Hawai’i USA) |
| Capsule Summary / History: | Modern heirloom from the new kid on the chocolate block — Hawai’i |
| Flavor Profile: | a fruit basket: black & blue chocolate fruits (both the berries named after those colors + plum) along with volcanic coral substrate -> dragon fruit, pineapple & delicate floral touches powder-puff the edges -> inviting stringent swipe leads to caramelized bignay (a subacid black berry) cuffed in the creaminess of abiu -> a splash-drop of bituminous lava |
| Date of Heirloom Induction: | February 2014 |
Heirloom V: Mindo (77% cacáo-content)
| Estate / Property: | Co-Op Nueva Esperanza; Puerto Quito; Pichincha; Ecuador |
| Harvester: | Barbara Wilson & Jose Meza |
| Genotype / Pedigree: | EET |
| Barsmith: | Mindo (Ecuador; Michigan, USA) |
| Capsule Summary / History: | similar in some respects to Heirloom III — both share common genetics & country — but this from farther north or ‘Arriba’ exhibits differential terroir |
| Flavor Profile: | fudge / brownie -> blackberry / pomegranate -> caramelized honeycomb -> peanut skins -> minor gentian root -> spice (tobacco & eucalyptus) -> classic Arriba stringency for the final swipe |
| Date of Heirloom Induction: | February 2014 |
Heirloom VI: Terciopelo (74% cacáo-content)
| Estate / Property: | Coto Brus; Costa Rica |
| Harvester: | Jim Carouba, et.al. |
| Genotype / Pedigree: | Amazon (UAF; Catongo; Matina) |
| Barsmith: | Fruition (NY, USA) |
| Capsule Summary / History: | grown at relatively high altitude (better suited for coffee than cacáo); signals a return of Costa Rica’s once glorious chocolate culture |
| Flavor Profile: | quince-inflected chocolate hash -> paradise nut kernels (aka monkey pot — a combo of almond/walnut flavor) shaded in blackwood (Gliricidia madre) -> black mission fig until just bitter black olive -> deep leather back |
| Date of Heirloom Induction: | January 2015 |
Heirloom VII: Maya Mountain (70% cacáo-content)
| Estate / Property: | Toledo District; Moho River Valley; Belize |
| Harvester: | Emily Stone, Jeff Pzena, et.al. |
| Genotype / Pedigree: | Amazon (with some Criollo relics) |
| Barsmith: | Brasstown (N Carolina, USA) |
| Capsule Summary / History: | Revered cacáo-growing region in Mesoamerica lauded by Fray Bartolomé de Fuensalida in 1618 for its sublime taste without any additives (no sugar / no vanilla, etc.) |
| Flavor Profile: | dramatic balanced array in a soul sauce — flash marshmallow root to raisin seeds & stems produces chocolate-wine -> sapote-fig stew accented with all-spice -> undergirding tobacco leaf -> vanilla-nance pudding to galvanize Milk Chocolate opposite cherry wood -> trim coconut |
| Date of Heirloom Induction: | January 2015 |
