Rawbar
by Tava/Journée
Impact
The Frank Hayes of Chocolates... who died of a fatal heart attack in 1923 astride his horse named Sweet Kiss (of death, no doubt) before it carried him over the finish line, the only jockey to win a race... posthumously!
Appearance 3.6 / 5
Bit of a chocolate chimp just from the looks on the outside. Unwrapped, it’s no Tarzan either.
Bit of a chocolate chimp just from the looks on the outside. Unwrapped, it’s no Tarzan either.
| Color: | dunga dirt (morose medium brown) |
| Surface: | scruffed ‘n shallow mold w/ pinholes backed in a lazy swale of a slab |
| Temper: | not a spit shine, a sweat shine |
| Snap: | craters; crumbling break |
Aroma 6.9 / 10
very naring... wooded creosote, diesel & vinyl -> massive olive leaf + bay laurel -> Stilton blue -> perspires to bacon (ahhh, unroasted????)
Mouthfeel 11.7 / 15
| Texture: | some powder, slightly parched, & finely coarse; grates against the tongue some |
| Melt: | lightning pace; ticks along w/ light astringent grip too (clears out cleanly though) |
Flavor 42.5 / 50
a straight continuum from the Aroma, all those precursors swing into a bush of medium-grade cocoa -> bacon bits go savory for some kind of Olmec-style survivor-island molé -> plummets into chalk outlining a rubber dimension -> raw cocoa compound -> creosoate from earlier wood -> peanut begging for hazelnuts -> ice-cream bean (inga-cipo) siphons off diesel locomotive werks... strides out fern & falls over the finish line on olive leaf
Quality 16.3 / 20
An "ironiclast" that defies the norm that "raw cacáo" makes for (ironically) the deadest chocolate around.
Familiar, even comforting territory from a far-flung island that’ll work magic for those afraid of the Dark. (The more experienced/jaded hardcore in need of deep-brain stimulation from a real Tasmanian devil -- the 20 pound carnivore of bad attitude & not the Looney Tune variety Taz -- might think this is too measly, dangerously on the verge of opening up a yawning chasm.)
A near solitary dimension: simple uncomplicated cocoa. So plain... extremely little variation, geometry, or depth; just pure unleavened surface spread of baseline cocoa that raises a question about potentially suspicious labeling. Some element goes awry & amiss for the flavor tastes incompatible with un-roasted chocolate that was not encountered with this company's whole bean sample.
One or both of 2 factors operate: a) mechanically (& badly) forced-dried / fried, tantamount to a modified raw chocolate; or b) dried under a broiling sun on the side of a road with plenty of traffic-breathing gas fumes out their exhaust pipes. Either that or the ferment piles in Vanuatu get so hot that sticking a hand in there will burn it off.
Otherwise, the technique is serviceable, particularly for a company that has yet to build its foundry to forge what may be on path to the best raw bar on Earth.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter
Familiar, even comforting territory from a far-flung island that’ll work magic for those afraid of the Dark. (The more experienced/jaded hardcore in need of deep-brain stimulation from a real Tasmanian devil -- the 20 pound carnivore of bad attitude & not the Looney Tune variety Taz -- might think this is too measly, dangerously on the verge of opening up a yawning chasm.)
A near solitary dimension: simple uncomplicated cocoa. So plain... extremely little variation, geometry, or depth; just pure unleavened surface spread of baseline cocoa that raises a question about potentially suspicious labeling. Some element goes awry & amiss for the flavor tastes incompatible with un-roasted chocolate that was not encountered with this company's whole bean sample.
One or both of 2 factors operate: a) mechanically (& badly) forced-dried / fried, tantamount to a modified raw chocolate; or b) dried under a broiling sun on the side of a road with plenty of traffic-breathing gas fumes out their exhaust pipes. Either that or the ferment piles in Vanuatu get so hot that sticking a hand in there will burn it off.
Otherwise, the technique is serviceable, particularly for a company that has yet to build its foundry to forge what may be on path to the best raw bar on Earth.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter