Color:	UPS brown w/ a drop of orange
Surface:	smudged & shallow valleys / molding
Temper:	appears oil-stained
Snap:	breaking rocks causes tintinnabulation in the ears for hours; streaks & striations along the break wall

darkly beautiful: paper oaks, plantain, tobacco, & golden cacáo butter stir about densely honeyed-caramel -> efflorescence opens up hibiscus + black cherry blossoms to commingle w/ honeysuckle before aerating tagete & nasturtium... even jasmine... broken by coffee/creosote at the bottom

Texture:	fractious
Melt:	slow-mo; huge swell

resinous & raisinous cocoa ->dries further in a corral of molasses, sassafras, cardamom, & brazil nuts -> slingshots to a dark McTwist wrapping caramel & licorice sidewinding end-over-end around the tongue -> bottoms out on fertilized humus & bitter coffee grounds -> burnt pistachio-clove; shutters on soiled apricot

Aromatics just cruel teasers next to scary robust flavor with maximum tannins despite voluminous butter cover – re: CBS (Cocoa-Butter-Sugar ratio) ~2:4:3. The technicals here nearly approach the terrifying: mishandled & abused either at the production-harvesting level (poor crop) &/or in the process-manufacturing (low craft).

Maybe Chavez regime is messing with Venezuela worse than suspected as this appears a ghost of Careneros past (Domori’s 70% & El Rey’s Gran Saman), then aggravated by Salgado’s death wish for burnt beans which goes against linear expectations given that its Carenero 80% shows both potency & promise which means this bar at 70% should come sweeter.

ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter, lecithin

Reviewed June 2009