Ecuador 65
by Salgado
Impact
Nothing pretentious either in the varietal (none of the marketing hype surrounding ‘Arriba’) or the flavor for that matter. Just solid baseline cocoa that goes well with, or will substitute for, our daily bread. Decent enough, inexpensive, & trusty 100 gram-sized bar that'll help recent grads who need to scrimp paying off college loans & debt while staying away from the parents by moving in with Grandma - the new & improved skip-a-generation dynamic.
Appearance 4.6 / 5
| Color: | very warm umber w/ orange cast on the back only |
| Surface: | solid mold / clean print |
| Temper: | soft sheen |
| Snap: | muffled compared to Salgado’s other Ecuador bars though about right for 65%; coarsely granulated edge flecked w/ pronounced orange shadings |
Aroma 8.4 / 10
aims straight for center-point cocoa in the crosshairs: chocolate-chip fudge brownies taken w/ cream ‘n sugar, walnuts on the side -> aerates Ecuador grains (maize, cassava, rice) the hallmark of insufficient drying / crusting + rare pear-like component
Mouthfeel 11.9 / 15
| Texture: | low conche; pulverized soft powder |
| Melt: | sheds & collapses |
Flavor 38.3 / 50
a couple yips out the starting gate then straight downhill spilling chocolate -> cocoa -> brownies -> torrified walnut quelled by sugar & quarantined into a huge sweet-spot w/o total submission -> sugar crystallizes fig pips -> flushes out cocoa syrup; burnt brownie grains below the throat attended by tar ‘n rubber
Quality 17.1 / 20
Simple & easy does it. Although Color indicates otherwise, flavor so steadfast suggests this could be partially Dutched. Once more Sagado goes for the whole roast – long & strong – which gives it a darker cast than its semisweet percentage would indicate; but at one-third sugar, plenty of overhead & tolerance to balance that torrefaction, so it’s technically & truly perceived as ‘bittersweet’. A bar suited for everyday breaking ‘n biting, or to use in oven baking.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter, soya lecithin; CBS (Cocoa-Butter-Sugar ratio) ~3:6:5
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter, soya lecithin; CBS (Cocoa-Butter-Sugar ratio) ~3:6:5