Impact
Up to now Pacari has tended to its Ecuadorian homeland in search of Nacional cacáo remnants -- once considered exclusive to that country.
For this bar it crosses the border & parachutes into neighboring Peru. On the surface this appears a regional move to expand its territory... but only so far.
Unbeknownst to most, Piura in northwest Peru hosts a stand of cacáo trees that belong to the Nacional family. Proof positive that natural geography trumps political boundaries.
Piura Quemazón: Pacari going home... by leaving it.
For this bar it crosses the border & parachutes into neighboring Peru. On the surface this appears a regional move to expand its territory... but only so far.
Unbeknownst to most, Piura in northwest Peru hosts a stand of cacáo trees that belong to the Nacional family. Proof positive that natural geography trumps political boundaries.
Piura Quemazón: Pacari going home... by leaving it.
Appearance 4.2 / 5
| Color: | an unusually beautiful ruby-pearl |
| Surface: | scruffy |
| Temper: | dim & dull |
| Snap: | a bit cuffed |
Aroma 7.9 / 10
densely forested -- climbing vines, twines, bark & whatever litters the floor from fungi & bacterium to leaves (including a raspberry leaf), mulch & spores + a little execrable wasteland... this shit is for real... as well as cloud-forests of cocoa... all encapsulated in a grain silo!
Mouthfeel 12.8 / 15
| Texture: | very physical; heavy bodied; gummy like its Flavor (below) |
| Melt: | perpetual motion machine... on & on... & on to elongate the taste sensation |
Flavor 46.3 / 50
a direct transfer of the Aromatics & then some... quite wooded... punctuated by moments of pure sweetness -> generates bubble gum & cotton candy wondrously balanced with that mildly bitter underside from the tree barks found in the Aroma -> toasted pecans - > saps of vanilla caramel -> minor puckering at the back that hints at pineapple & kumquat, then a lime-like sugar-sweetened cacáo pulp -> evacuates white laurel
Quality 17.9 / 20
During Spring 2012, geneticists at the USDA/ARS lab in Beltstville, MD analyzed a broad array of cacáo samples from the border region of southern Ecuador / northern Peru.
Results for Piura-area White seeds indicate that their DNA fits the Nacional category. Analysts believe these preceded the dark-colored Ecuadorian type which, if true, would have evolved later from the Whites.
Whether the same classification holds for Piura's non-White seeds remains to be tested.
Though blushing, this bar of Pacari appears pale enough to fit the White Nacional category.
A bar that tastes straight from the source. Pacari takes principles acquired in handling "raw chocolate" -- minimal low-impact processing -- & applies them to good effect here. Scant core chocolate flavor; just plenty of range, depth, & symmetry. Plus a rare simultaneity AND evolution of flavors that add up to an exceptionally tasteful journey.
Certainly more so than the Piura Blanco by Bonnat or the Perfect Illusion Piura from Lillie Belle. And where Original Bean's Piura fails to live up to its own liner notes, this delivers on those in a manner that gleans if not quite matches the pure gold standard for the origin: Rogue's raspberry sunburst of Piura.
Pacari Piura Quemazón: a wildly dynamic chocolate with a jumble / jungle of flavors. Indeed, a prime exemplar that if wine reflects the garden vineyard with place names like Bordeaux, Burgundy & Napa, then chocolate represents the Amazon.
Welcome to it.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar
Reviewed November 28, 2012
Results for Piura-area White seeds indicate that their DNA fits the Nacional category. Analysts believe these preceded the dark-colored Ecuadorian type which, if true, would have evolved later from the Whites.
Whether the same classification holds for Piura's non-White seeds remains to be tested.
Though blushing, this bar of Pacari appears pale enough to fit the White Nacional category.
A bar that tastes straight from the source. Pacari takes principles acquired in handling "raw chocolate" -- minimal low-impact processing -- & applies them to good effect here. Scant core chocolate flavor; just plenty of range, depth, & symmetry. Plus a rare simultaneity AND evolution of flavors that add up to an exceptionally tasteful journey.
Certainly more so than the Piura Blanco by Bonnat or the Perfect Illusion Piura from Lillie Belle. And where Original Bean's Piura fails to live up to its own liner notes, this delivers on those in a manner that gleans if not quite matches the pure gold standard for the origin: Rogue's raspberry sunburst of Piura.
Pacari Piura Quemazón: a wildly dynamic chocolate with a jumble / jungle of flavors. Indeed, a prime exemplar that if wine reflects the garden vineyard with place names like Bordeaux, Burgundy & Napa, then chocolate represents the Amazon.
Welcome to it.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar
Reviewed November 28, 2012