Tobago
by Raùsch
Impact
A respected insider on the ground in Tobago reports that the claims Raùsch makes on this wrapper concerning its own Tobago Plantation (click image at right to enlarge) are completely false; i.e., Raùsch has no cacáo estates in either Tobago or nearby Trinidad.
Instead, the label reportedly buys cocoa from a central co-op which, in his considerable judgment, cares little about quality.
Ex-Coppeneur barsmith & Der Schokoladentester author Georg Bernardini wrote an exposé on all this which ran in some German newspapers.
Apparently such news travels slowly to the non-Deutsch smoggers who drivel on endlessly about how their GF just returned from a much-needed get-away trip, bought some bars at the airport duty-free-shop, with lovely packaging so evocative of a tropical voyage…. ba ba ba kind-of-prattle.
Too effin incurious & lazy even when it comes to their mouse conducting due-diligence over the trackpad, except to open their pie-holes wide & shove another piece to jam down the gullet, then smog about it in a defecating waste of cyberspace.
As this site continues to point out, info on most packaging should be read as propaganda.
Instead, the label reportedly buys cocoa from a central co-op which, in his considerable judgment, cares little about quality.
Ex-Coppeneur barsmith & Der Schokoladentester author Georg Bernardini wrote an exposé on all this which ran in some German newspapers.
Apparently such news travels slowly to the non-Deutsch smoggers who drivel on endlessly about how their GF just returned from a much-needed get-away trip, bought some bars at the airport duty-free-shop, with lovely packaging so evocative of a tropical voyage…. ba ba ba kind-of-prattle.
Too effin incurious & lazy even when it comes to their mouse conducting due-diligence over the trackpad, except to open their pie-holes wide & shove another piece to jam down the gullet, then smog about it in a defecating waste of cyberspace.
As this site continues to point out, info on most packaging should be read as propaganda.
Appearance 4.5 / 5
| Color: | black magenta |
| Surface: | another looker from Raùsch |
| Temper: | self-absorbed |
| Snap: | hollow cracker |
Aroma 5.7 / 10
a dead-ender save for cherrywood
petrol oil + rubber
soiled cocoa
petrol oil + rubber
soiled cocoa
Mouthfeel 13.3 / 15
| Texture: | voluptuous |
| Melt: | the only true part of the experience |
Flavor 35.1 / 50
false-start: alkalized cocoa -> butter -> twigs -> leather
Quality 12.4 / 20
Color gives it away: alkalized. The carbonates themselves can practically be tasted that they should be posted in the list of ingredients. Naturally Raùsch fails to advertise that. In any event, neutered / emasculated of any -- connoisseur-alert -- terroir. This chocolate could be from… anywhere / everywhere.
Tobago, situated right across from Trinidad (home to one of the primary cacáo gene banks in the world), hosts immense cacáo diversity. Yet this bar sinks about as far away as a Tobago cocoa can from, say, Duane Dove's authentic Tobago Cocoa Estate.
Utterly dulled by the pull of mass production & marketing. The kind of stuff that novices swoon over & extol as "smooth", "clean" & "delicious". In other words, perfect as toppings for ice-cream sundaes & baking chocolate chip cookies.
A 75% monument to impotence. Raùsch & this Tobago need to grow a new set of pods because they alkalized the balls off of this one.
Those reports, if true, coupled with the flavor here, indict Raùsch for engaging in cynical PR to dupe unsuspecting media & consumers.
A sham & a shame.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter; CBS (Cocoa mass / Butter / Sugar ratio): 8:9:5
Reviewed June 18, 2014
Tobago, situated right across from Trinidad (home to one of the primary cacáo gene banks in the world), hosts immense cacáo diversity. Yet this bar sinks about as far away as a Tobago cocoa can from, say, Duane Dove's authentic Tobago Cocoa Estate.
Utterly dulled by the pull of mass production & marketing. The kind of stuff that novices swoon over & extol as "smooth", "clean" & "delicious". In other words, perfect as toppings for ice-cream sundaes & baking chocolate chip cookies.
A 75% monument to impotence. Raùsch & this Tobago need to grow a new set of pods because they alkalized the balls off of this one.
Those reports, if true, coupled with the flavor here, indict Raùsch for engaging in cynical PR to dupe unsuspecting media & consumers.
A sham & a shame.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter; CBS (Cocoa mass / Butter / Sugar ratio): 8:9:5
Reviewed June 18, 2014