70%
by Manifesto Cacao
Impact
THIS REVIEW PERTAINS TO AN EARLY RELEASE. IN KEEPING WITH the C-spot's® 2 KEWL 4 SKOOL POLICY, IT IS UNRATED. BUT BECAUSE COLOMBIA IS AN UNDERSERVED ORIGIN WHOSE CACÁO GROVES ARE IN FLUX, IT DESERVES COVERAGE.
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At a relative's wedding recently in Colombia, the groom came over & explained that he grew up with cacáo trees in his backyard. Now living in the USA, & witnessing the rise of the craft chocolate movement, his friends & family back in Colombia shake their heads in disbelief over tales of chocolate commanding $10 a bar.
They react with "those crazy gringos fetishizing cocoa".
To many there cacáo & cocoa are associated with peasants & fodder. Few really want to be involved with it except for sentimental reasons, such as the trees grandpa planted. The youth rank it with free downloads & cheap stuff, their future beckoning them to the cities & their economy's service sector. To hell with picking pods.
Who can blame them. The biggest victim, however, may be the relict trees themselves which are either abandoned by their caretakers or assaulted by the onslaught of vapid clones.
Apparently Manifesto Cacao operating in Colombia likes the challenge of headwinds & cutting against the grain.
In a valiant enterprise, it strives to reverse entrenched attitudes & domestic trends by, paradoxically, aiming for the export market. Might work… Colombians after all slowed to the whole Starbucks® upheaval & stuck with Juan Valdez before coming around.
The company -- namely, Estanich Grant Pinilla & Johanna Diaz Poveda -- serves as a counterweight to a) the Colombian Government in conjunction with b) the Fedecacao agency (the national association of cacáo growers) whose joint ‘Plan Decenal’ (10-Year Plan) goals to increase cacáo production from 40,000 tons to 250,000 tons by the year 2020 ride largely though not exclusively on the backs of imported strains (ICS, TSH, CCN + more).
By contrast Manifesto & its kind represent Colombia's future in reclaiming venerable but vulnerable indigenous cacáos.
The hunt is on before they're all gone. Together Estanich & Johanna dig deep along a rather lonesome trail. They've a ways to go. Let's hope Manifesto succeeds.
Colombian Hybrids Bearing Some Indigenous Genes... (l to r) FEAR5; FTA2; FESA11 (photos courtesy of Manifesto Cacao)
At a relative's wedding recently in Colombia, the groom came over & explained that he grew up with cacáo trees in his backyard. Now living in the USA, & witnessing the rise of the craft chocolate movement, his friends & family back in Colombia shake their heads in disbelief over tales of chocolate commanding $10 a bar.
They react with "those crazy gringos fetishizing cocoa".
To many there cacáo & cocoa are associated with peasants & fodder. Few really want to be involved with it except for sentimental reasons, such as the trees grandpa planted. The youth rank it with free downloads & cheap stuff, their future beckoning them to the cities & their economy's service sector. To hell with picking pods.
Who can blame them. The biggest victim, however, may be the relict trees themselves which are either abandoned by their caretakers or assaulted by the onslaught of vapid clones.
Apparently Manifesto Cacao operating in Colombia likes the challenge of headwinds & cutting against the grain.
In a valiant enterprise, it strives to reverse entrenched attitudes & domestic trends by, paradoxically, aiming for the export market. Might work… Colombians after all slowed to the whole Starbucks® upheaval & stuck with Juan Valdez before coming around.
The company -- namely, Estanich Grant Pinilla & Johanna Diaz Poveda -- serves as a counterweight to a) the Colombian Government in conjunction with b) the Fedecacao agency (the national association of cacáo growers) whose joint ‘Plan Decenal’ (10-Year Plan) goals to increase cacáo production from 40,000 tons to 250,000 tons by the year 2020 ride largely though not exclusively on the backs of imported strains (ICS, TSH, CCN + more).
By contrast Manifesto & its kind represent Colombia's future in reclaiming venerable but vulnerable indigenous cacáos.
The hunt is on before they're all gone. Together Estanich & Johanna dig deep along a rather lonesome trail. They've a ways to go. Let's hope Manifesto succeeds.
Appearance -- / 5
| Color: | shallow brown with cream-roseate |
| Surface: | stricken; major voids on the back |
| Temper: | sufficient |
| Snap: | sturdy; striations + more voids along edge wall |
Aroma -- / 10
retired
starches (cassava, rice), light woods (bamboo), & white-tea leaves
dried pulp approximates lucuma -> turns toward malted vanilla
starches (cassava, rice), light woods (bamboo), & white-tea leaves
dried pulp approximates lucuma -> turns toward malted vanilla
Mouthfeel -- / 15
| Texture: | powder chunks |
| Melt: | unhurried despite the surrounding collapse |
Flavor -- / 50
off-white right off -- chalk & talcum -> malanga aka xanthosoma or cocoyam (think nutty Earthen starch) -> settles into some sweetness gleaned in the Aromatics -- lucuma / maple / birch -> very mild cocoa -> Pourouma cecropiaefolia with its mite wintergreen accent -> sorghum, then tree sap (before the above listed sweeteners can be reduced) generates a primal caramel -> limestone -> astringency
Quality -- / 20
Starter bar from a startup. Embryonic; the seams showing. For instance, in that Texture despite one of the seeds (FEAR5) comprising some 60% fat content.
Challenges continue with the FTA2 strain that produces limited pulp creating a dry lot (diserned early on in the Aroma). Manifesto then performs its best on cottage-gear to fashion it & the others varietals (FESA11 joins the mix with FEAR5 + FTA2) into a passable bar.
With time & experience the world should be sampling the greater bounty of Colombia's considerable cacáos.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, lecithin
Reviewed July 7, 2014
Challenges continue with the FTA2 strain that produces limited pulp creating a dry lot (diserned early on in the Aroma). Manifesto then performs its best on cottage-gear to fashion it & the others varietals (FESA11 joins the mix with FEAR5 + FTA2) into a passable bar.
With time & experience the world should be sampling the greater bounty of Colombia's considerable cacáos.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, lecithin
Reviewed July 7, 2014