Impact
Swallow this: from ex-NASA technicans, programmed perhaps during the last desperate hours of the Phoenix Lander before it lost contact with Earth & went on a weekend bender thinking that Mars was a chocolate instead of a planet.
A beta blow-job #1 in the Tcho shop... replete with digitally-precise pneumatic sucking.
A beta blow-job #1 in the Tcho shop... replete with digitally-precise pneumatic sucking.
Appearance 4.8 / 5
Tcho upping their game
Tcho upping their game
| Color: | medium-brown / pink tint |
| Surface: | well-scored, molded, & clean save for minor dust flecks & chips |
| Temper: | nearly glassine |
| Snap: | too little treble speaks trouble (+ early stage bloom along the breaks) |
Aroma 7.4 / 10
a pipe exhaust: smoke entrails (odd for a Mad) float above some fudge on the bottom -> in between mostly BMX action (vinyl, rubber, & latex); nothing of its advertised namesake nor any juicy citrics found in the aromatics of its base material (Tcho's Citric Nibs) -> aerates latent jackfruit & banana leaf
Mouthfeel 12.6 / 15
| Texture: | (soy) smooth |
| Melt: | metronomic like digital pneumatics (noticable lecithin); clears w/o much astringency |
Flavor 34.3 / 50
eye-popping pineapple /ginger -> menthol mint & eucalyptus -> juniper berry... all in quick succession as cacáo tannins desperately catch its breath to keep up... -> guts go slackline as butter, jackfruit, & soy lecithin suck in the mix, further mucked by vanilla -> small back-bitter spawns cocoa fudge... echoing deep & sometimes dirty in the after-draw
Quality 13.7 / 20
Neither the best nor cleanest batch, as foretold by Tcho's inadequately winnowed Citric Nibs. (Both strangley invert their Aromatics / Flavor; the aroma in the Nibs incredibly citric while tastes anything but; & just the reverse here).
This, a top-heavy bar with too little support in the structure, & what appears – mainly framed by vanilla – muddles the picture, despoiling much brilliance in the citrus.
Madagascar’s default setting is acidic to begin with & this bar just over does it. An easy-going roast (hence only light Maillard Reactions generating negligible caramel/chocolate depth, missing earth ‘n chert elements) hooked up to a medium conche (simultaneously preserving & releasing the acidity intact). The approach taken shows an imbalance to force this origin to conform with Tcho's "flavor-wheel" thru over-weaning tweaks & filters to prove a marketing point, without fully knowing the ropes, & failing to get a real bead on the bean’s DNA expression.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacao butter, soy lecithin, vanilla
Reviewed Spring 2009
This, a top-heavy bar with too little support in the structure, & what appears – mainly framed by vanilla – muddles the picture, despoiling much brilliance in the citrus.
Madagascar’s default setting is acidic to begin with & this bar just over does it. An easy-going roast (hence only light Maillard Reactions generating negligible caramel/chocolate depth, missing earth ‘n chert elements) hooked up to a medium conche (simultaneously preserving & releasing the acidity intact). The approach taken shows an imbalance to force this origin to conform with Tcho's "flavor-wheel" thru over-weaning tweaks & filters to prove a marketing point, without fully knowing the ropes, & failing to get a real bead on the bean’s DNA expression.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacao butter, soy lecithin, vanilla
Reviewed Spring 2009