Impact
This the big sib to Marou's opiate Tiền Giang 70%. The review for that bar generated emails to the C-spot® about how preposterous to liken a chocolate to a narcotic.
Really?
Subsequent to that review, science came to the aid with an explanation.
An article in Current Biology details the research conducted at the University of Michigan which found that a natural chemical in the brain called enkephalin is stimulated & then surges when test subjects were fed chocolate.
According to bio-psychologist Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, the effects of enkephalin, an endorphin, mimic heroin!
File that under 'told ya so'.
At 10% greater strength, this bar registers an even heavier response, so effective to become "forgettable"... as in the 1960s (if you can remember the '60s, you weren't there).
For proof, just ask Jim, Jimi, & Janis.
Really?
Subsequent to that review, science came to the aid with an explanation.
An article in Current Biology details the research conducted at the University of Michigan which found that a natural chemical in the brain called enkephalin is stimulated & then surges when test subjects were fed chocolate.
According to bio-psychologist Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, the effects of enkephalin, an endorphin, mimic heroin!
File that under 'told ya so'.
At 10% greater strength, this bar registers an even heavier response, so effective to become "forgettable"... as in the 1960s (if you can remember the '60s, you weren't there).
For proof, just ask Jim, Jimi, & Janis.
Appearance 4 / 5
| Color: | dark violet brown |
| Surface: | vigorous swirling on back airside; rough & lopsided pour |
| Temper: | smudge pot haze |
| Snap: | pure crack |
Aroma 9.5 / 10
enough fragrant resin & exotic wood to build a spice cabinet (for both gustatory & apothecary purposes)
Mouthfeel 13.3 / 15
| Texture: | sorcery smooth |
| Melt: | time-lapsed mind-melt |
Flavor 44.1 / 50
fuming frankincense vaporizes core chocolate -> dark bark of oud from agar wood verging on bitter but never ever angered to become so; instead myrrh & sandalwood take over the censer -> florals follow (hibiscus + rose mallow ambrette) -> then another wave of spice... the intensely perfumed white champaca hits in a full body slam knock-out -> toasted chicory nut -> minute chemical terpenes create a slight pucker to limn perception back toward consciousness -> softer sandalwood caps it off
Quality 17.4 / 20
Even stickier / more resinous, if possible, than Tiên Giang 70% for a slightly medicinal / ceremonial chocolate rather than strictly an alimentary one.
Very sequential too; one impression right after the other.... again & again... on & on.
Obviously less sugar but proportionally a drop more cocoa butter to hem the flavor flags. A judicious choice lest this cause an irreversible coma of the senses.
Certain cocoa-gurus swoon at the merest scent of flowers in chocolate even as the rest of the bar struts up a tannic prick. This is that but a whole lot more (without the jagged edges) & far better cohesion. Shy of perfect harmony to be sure, the bar can nonetheless stake a major claim. Simply put, there's no chocolate on Earth quite like it. None. Nowhere.
Whereas severe hybridization narrows the genetic base of cacáo types & standardized fertilizers narrow the gaps between terroirs, so that depending on circumstance soured Peru might fool of a citric Madagascar to obscure distinctions from some feral Brazilian echoed in the islands off West Africa then further blurred by hodge-pods in Hawai'i that inflect Ecuador's Arriba Nacional to easily confuse nearby Esmeraldas & Guasare & Porcelana - admittedly that's a mouthful & It's all so damn dizzy -- there's only one Tiên Giang.... the deep gong of all of chocolate.
And with wallpaper-quality wrapper to suit (embossed no less like an evening dress) to give Mast Bros. a run for their money. Check that, it embarrasses them, makes their stuff tattered rags by comparison.
Neither S-B's Ben Tre nor Grand-Place's couverture & the candy giants single-origin blends, but it's Marou that owns Vietnam.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter
Reviewed November 7, 2012
Very sequential too; one impression right after the other.... again & again... on & on.
Obviously less sugar but proportionally a drop more cocoa butter to hem the flavor flags. A judicious choice lest this cause an irreversible coma of the senses.
Certain cocoa-gurus swoon at the merest scent of flowers in chocolate even as the rest of the bar struts up a tannic prick. This is that but a whole lot more (without the jagged edges) & far better cohesion. Shy of perfect harmony to be sure, the bar can nonetheless stake a major claim. Simply put, there's no chocolate on Earth quite like it. None. Nowhere.
Whereas severe hybridization narrows the genetic base of cacáo types & standardized fertilizers narrow the gaps between terroirs, so that depending on circumstance soured Peru might fool of a citric Madagascar to obscure distinctions from some feral Brazilian echoed in the islands off West Africa then further blurred by hodge-pods in Hawai'i that inflect Ecuador's Arriba Nacional to easily confuse nearby Esmeraldas & Guasare & Porcelana - admittedly that's a mouthful & It's all so damn dizzy -- there's only one Tiên Giang.... the deep gong of all of chocolate.
And with wallpaper-quality wrapper to suit (embossed no less like an evening dress) to give Mast Bros. a run for their money. Check that, it embarrasses them, makes their stuff tattered rags by comparison.
Neither S-B's Ben Tre nor Grand-Place's couverture & the candy giants single-origin blends, but it's Marou that owns Vietnam.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter
Reviewed November 7, 2012