Impact
On average the human heart beats 100,000 times per day or 3 billion in a lifetime. It pumps blood thru a series of vessels ranging in size from the aorta (thick as a garden hose) to capillaries (so small a dozen could fit inside a hair). Every day the body's blood travels circa 12,000 miles -- a round trip that comes close to equaling the Earth's circumference at the equator, around 24,800 miles. The same as the "Cocoa Belt" which is where cacáo only grows.
Cacáo, then, could be the spirit-medium of symmetry & synchronicity between the body's anatomy & the planet's geography.
Sometimes it all flows together like that.
And this bar, which marries a veil of juicy-sweet blackberry over a bed of simple chocolate, is a heartbreaker / breath-taker... in less than the time it takes to melt both of them away while suffering one of life's glorious meltdowns to stop the world on a dime from spinning about its axis.
-- from sacred texts of The Cacáo Sutra
Cacáo, then, could be the spirit-medium of symmetry & synchronicity between the body's anatomy & the planet's geography.
Sometimes it all flows together like that.
And this bar, which marries a veil of juicy-sweet blackberry over a bed of simple chocolate, is a heartbreaker / breath-taker... in less than the time it takes to melt both of them away while suffering one of life's glorious meltdowns to stop the world on a dime from spinning about its axis.
Appearance 4.4 / 5
| Color: | dark with a drop of indigo |
| Surface: | clean print |
| Temper: | subluster |
| Snap: | high as a manjira (an Indian cymbal) |
Aroma 7.6 / 10
medicinally Ayurvedic: camphor, neem & benzoin -> sesame on bamboo & coir... opens to pomegranate with rubber backing
Mouthfeel 12.8 / 15
| Texture: | only minute grain for such hi-sugar (~38%) |
| Melt: | bounce & flounce |
Flavor 45.2 / 50
pomegranate rises up to the level of blackberry, virtually a sikha (RE: extra long ponytail) running the length from head to toe... fundamental chocolate follows along beneath -> tannin brings a tea undercoating -> cocoa butter melts thru to clarify, like ghee, a pleasing bamboo + rubber (both initialized in the Aromatics) -> a sari of cocoa gauze wraps around the finish
Quality 17.9 / 20
The first chocolate from India to appear on the premium scene. Hidden, as Zotter remarks, among all the spices & IT specialists in the burgeoning economy of Kerala, India's state with the highest edu rate, including an agricultural university that breeds "premium Forastero" (a clonal series called CCRP).
And evidently true if this chocolate is any bar-o-meter.
Simple yet indelible.
Sweet as expected for a 62%, though far from overly so. Nothing feels extraneous actually. Just classic Earthen cocoa-qualities, the hallmarks of Amelonado, softened here by a generous helping of sugar which subdues the tannic force gleaned in the mid-palate -- that lurking phenol cupped in tea leaves.
The sum produces not so much a dynamic duo (too reposed for that) as a diminutive one -- sweet blackberry & modest cocoa. Together they forge an inseparable bond; a dualism quite unique in the annals of chocolate. For most bars evolve during their progression toward an array of flavors or, conversely, breakdown in flattening out. This establishes & maintains a constant pitch between the 2 primary flavor tags, & the pairing make a solid bar of it.
Consequently, one would be hard-pressed to fault Zotter for the 38% worth of sugar since he finds at least one optimal stasis point that defines as well as beautifies the top-note/ bottom-complement on a continuum, & their combined thru-put sustains them. Any increase in cacáo-content might have rent this bar apart, turning that fruit into a highly acidic pulp.
Judicious & measured... Zotter, tailor to the bars.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, salt
Reviewed October 6, 2011
And evidently true if this chocolate is any bar-o-meter.
Simple yet indelible.
Sweet as expected for a 62%, though far from overly so. Nothing feels extraneous actually. Just classic Earthen cocoa-qualities, the hallmarks of Amelonado, softened here by a generous helping of sugar which subdues the tannic force gleaned in the mid-palate -- that lurking phenol cupped in tea leaves.
The sum produces not so much a dynamic duo (too reposed for that) as a diminutive one -- sweet blackberry & modest cocoa. Together they forge an inseparable bond; a dualism quite unique in the annals of chocolate. For most bars evolve during their progression toward an array of flavors or, conversely, breakdown in flattening out. This establishes & maintains a constant pitch between the 2 primary flavor tags, & the pairing make a solid bar of it.
Consequently, one would be hard-pressed to fault Zotter for the 38% worth of sugar since he finds at least one optimal stasis point that defines as well as beautifies the top-note/ bottom-complement on a continuum, & their combined thru-put sustains them. Any increase in cacáo-content might have rent this bar apart, turning that fruit into a highly acidic pulp.
Judicious & measured... Zotter, tailor to the bars.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, salt
Reviewed October 6, 2011