Dark Midnight
by Fearless
Impact
Midnight.
The street lamps are vandalized (or did they never work from the start?). No light at the end of the block.
Hang a hard left at the first corner. Where? ... right into a dark alley.
This closes from behind & brutally bars any escape.
Even though you find it distasteful, try convincing your Pal (for palate, that is) that fear is only a state-of-mind.
It then turns another corner... in the evolution of a young chocolate company.
**************************************
The above fright refers to this bar's initial release. A couple years on, of experience & development under its belt, & Fearless has pleasantly improved.
All of which underscores a precept of the C-spot®: ratings, which this site compiles on a Daily basis & indexes in The Chocolate Census, are highly ephemeral to the point of almost meaningless.
Ditto awards.
They should be used simply as a navigational tool in how to approach a bar or a box, & never as fixed measure. Any who proclaim otherwise fools the public & maybe themselves in ignoring the folly, the fools bargain really, to an endless pursuit of the dog chasing its tail given that chocolate, derived from a botanical within the web of nature constantly evolves like all of life. It rivals Faustus for absurdity to think that that can possibly be captured.
No, ratings & awards all amount to simply a snapshot in time... of the moment / in the moment.
That said, the following review contains a composite of both the original & newer bars; the updated rating pertains to the latest release only.
The street lamps are vandalized (or did they never work from the start?). No light at the end of the block.
Hang a hard left at the first corner. Where? ... right into a dark alley.
This closes from behind & brutally bars any escape.
Even though you find it distasteful, try convincing your Pal (for palate, that is) that fear is only a state-of-mind.
It then turns another corner... in the evolution of a young chocolate company.
All of which underscores a precept of the C-spot®: ratings, which this site compiles on a Daily basis & indexes in The Chocolate Census, are highly ephemeral to the point of almost meaningless.
Ditto awards.
They should be used simply as a navigational tool in how to approach a bar or a box, & never as fixed measure. Any who proclaim otherwise fools the public & maybe themselves in ignoring the folly, the fools bargain really, to an endless pursuit of the dog chasing its tail given that chocolate, derived from a botanical within the web of nature constantly evolves like all of life. It rivals Faustus for absurdity to think that that can possibly be captured.
No, ratings & awards all amount to simply a snapshot in time... of the moment / in the moment.
That said, the following review contains a composite of both the original & newer bars; the updated rating pertains to the latest release only.
Appearance 3.8 / 5
| Color: | darkness on the edge of brown |
| Surface: | pinholes & thick swales on a mold sporting a bite-mark the size of a bear-claw taken out of the corner... the proverbial “angel’s-share” for charitable organizations |
| Temper: | twinkle twinkling li’l stars |
| Snap: | loud but hollowed-out with an echo |
Aroma 7.7 / 10
that cheese-funk which once melted down on old library leather in the earlier iteration of this bar gets replaced by coconut shells
& those minor & unobjectionable raw cocoa elements (the vines, the twigs, the grasses, the spores, the molds, & the fungi among the mangrove) now show more straight woods
& those minor & unobjectionable raw cocoa elements (the vines, the twigs, the grasses, the spores, the molds, & the fungi among the mangrove) now show more straight woods
Mouthfeel 11.9 / 15
| Texture: | noticeable grain |
| Melt: | semi-fast |
Flavor 37.2 / 50
no more of yesteryear's cold chocolate with a raw cocoa under-siding, the latter grows stronger as the length goes longer -> develops some helichrysum strangely familiar to Salgado’s Bahia -> faint fruits (grumichama a k a Brazilian cherry) bruised by a stinking camacho plant -> unbaked brownie flushes out the finish
all that gives way to a streamline chocolate-peanut combo -> licorice-molasses (the effect of unrefined sugar) -> stringent grip on the close
all that gives way to a streamline chocolate-peanut combo -> licorice-molasses (the effect of unrefined sugar) -> stringent grip on the close
Quality 14.8 / 20
A fearlessly semi-"raw" rendition of Amma’s 75% bar, the actual maker, without the added cocoa butter which emboldens the profile ever further.
Decent medium-chocolate flavor dilates at the very beginning only to rapidly disintegrate, as most raw bars do, because their basic chemistry simply fails to support it, no matter how hard & warm (if not hot) the conche valiantly churns away to correct the inevitable decay.
A curbed ferment & curtailed processing contribute to that stringent grip for the finish.
ING: cocoa, unrefined sugar; CBS (Cocoa mass / Butter / Sugar): ~4:3:2
Reviewed April 2011
Revised May 20, 2013
Decent medium-chocolate flavor dilates at the very beginning only to rapidly disintegrate, as most raw bars do, because their basic chemistry simply fails to support it, no matter how hard & warm (if not hot) the conche valiantly churns away to correct the inevitable decay.
A curbed ferment & curtailed processing contribute to that stringent grip for the finish.
ING: cocoa, unrefined sugar; CBS (Cocoa mass / Butter / Sugar): ~4:3:2
Reviewed April 2011
Revised May 20, 2013