Liberia
by Mānoa
Impact
First came Liberation Theology, the politically-driven church movement in Latin America whose leaders often became targets of criticism from the Vatican or, worse, assassination at the hands of their local "compadres".
Now from Liberia, a country that holds a special place in the hearts of USA descendants of freed African slaves, comes Liberation Chocolate.
Is chocolate the new old-time religion as it was during Pre-Columbian times?
Meet Sheikh Abu Turay of the very intelligent-sounding Unreasonable Institute (because in times like these the most "reasoned" of people -- mainly Type 'A's for Ass-kissers & their ilk maids -- have become the most shamelessly unaccountable). He tells in his bio of 14 years living in a Liberian refugee camp.
His resume also lists rehabilitating former child soldiers, now idling war-wary adults, & reintegrating them into society by refurbishing abandoned cacáo groves in a sustainable enterprise-ecosystem. He call his venture Liberation Chocolate.
Sheikh's stated goal: employ 1,500 veterans full-time, at livable wages, on 80+ reconditioned orchards in the next 5 years.
Ambitious. show more »
Now from Liberia, a country that holds a special place in the hearts of USA descendants of freed African slaves, comes Liberation Chocolate.
Is chocolate the new old-time religion as it was during Pre-Columbian times?
Meet Sheikh Abu Turay of the very intelligent-sounding Unreasonable Institute (because in times like these the most "reasoned" of people -- mainly Type 'A's for Ass-kissers & their ilk maids -- have become the most shamelessly unaccountable). He tells in his bio of 14 years living in a Liberian refugee camp.
His resume also lists rehabilitating former child soldiers, now idling war-wary adults, & reintegrating them into society by refurbishing abandoned cacáo groves in a sustainable enterprise-ecosystem. He call his venture Liberation Chocolate.
Sheikh's stated goal: employ 1,500 veterans full-time, at livable wages, on 80+ reconditioned orchards in the next 5 years.
Ambitious. show more »
Appearance 3.7 / 5
| Color: | pewter-cream cast to medium-dark brown |
| Surface: | a bit plagued... subsurface airbubbles, swirls, pinholes... |
| Temper: | ... + plaster wrapper melt on the mold |
| Snap: | weak |
Aroma 8.7 / 10
a distant wind from Ecuador... meadows but more herbal than floral, & landscaped rather than wild
stonewerks of petrified wood
blows up a cocoa plume
stonewerks of petrified wood
blows up a cocoa plume
Mouthfeel 12.6 / 15
| Texture: | full bodied |
| Melt: | on schedule |
Flavor 32.8 / 50
slides in an easy cocoa banana-cream -> turns over raw magnesium edges -> fighting for direction / definition (vague spice) against rising stringency (mistaken in the liner notes for 'jasmine'?) -> calimyrna fig -> dirt against fruit (the new blackberry?) -> grows sweeter in knocking the mud off just like Synsepalum dulcificum a k a miracle fruit -> cocoa skins (i.e., husks... the reputed "nuts"?)
Quality 12.4 / 20
Indeterminate.
2 startups: a barsmith in Mānoa going thru growing pains to gain a foothold; & Liberia, a country trying to get back on its feet -- politically, socially, economically, & just about every which way.
This bar needs to liberate itself from some substandard post-harvest practices.
People all around the horn acknowledge an uneven ferment from this origin. Add unevenly roasted & conched to the mix. And insufficiently winnowed possibly. Perhaps all due to variable seed sizes.
A generalized mess banking on promise & potential.
Whatever the present circumstance, let's hope Liberation Chocolate achieves the greater mission. Because relics of old cacáo tree stocks in Liberia could soon stand alone in West Africa as the only ones unadulterated by the new 'n improved "Mercedes" superseeds that are disfiguring the continent's once Classic Earth cocoa in places like Ghana & Côte d'Ivoire into a flavor-less litter on steroids.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter
Reviewed June 21, 2013
2 startups: a barsmith in Mānoa going thru growing pains to gain a foothold; & Liberia, a country trying to get back on its feet -- politically, socially, economically, & just about every which way.
This bar needs to liberate itself from some substandard post-harvest practices.
People all around the horn acknowledge an uneven ferment from this origin. Add unevenly roasted & conched to the mix. And insufficiently winnowed possibly. Perhaps all due to variable seed sizes.
A generalized mess banking on promise & potential.
Whatever the present circumstance, let's hope Liberation Chocolate achieves the greater mission. Because relics of old cacáo tree stocks in Liberia could soon stand alone in West Africa as the only ones unadulterated by the new 'n improved "Mercedes" superseeds that are disfiguring the continent's once Classic Earth cocoa in places like Ghana & Côte d'Ivoire into a flavor-less litter on steroids.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter
Reviewed June 21, 2013