Impact
Named after the pop-up band organized by Brazilian multi-threat musician Carlinhos Brown & the drum ensemble Olodum. Together they teamed up with jazz all-stars Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Bernie Worrell, & Henry Threadgill to record but one album -- Ritual Beating System (clever double entendre).
Let's try for another: a few bars of this also provides a kick in the grill during a bleak week for Brazil: the Deutsch beat-down in the World Cup, followed by another at the feet of Netherlands, & then arch-rival Argentina playing the finals.
But as scripture reminds, this too shall pass. It hurts though because people today live in a world of now, trending the moment in the moment of what's hot or not.
No schadenfreude... to global citizens everywhere, Brazilian music, carnivals, beaches, futbol, & chocolate customarily bring lots of joy to the world.
Let's try for another: a few bars of this also provides a kick in the grill during a bleak week for Brazil: the Deutsch beat-down in the World Cup, followed by another at the feet of Netherlands, & then arch-rival Argentina playing the finals.
But as scripture reminds, this too shall pass. It hurts though because people today live in a world of now, trending the moment in the moment of what's hot or not.
No schadenfreude... to global citizens everywhere, Brazilian music, carnivals, beaches, futbol, & chocolate customarily bring lots of joy to the world.
Appearance 4.7 / 5
| Color: | blushing brown |
| Surface: | perfect slate |
| Temper: | flashing reflection due to optically-scored lines in the mold |
| Snap: | a rubber soul |
Aroma 7.9 / 10
Sun-Maid® Soma -- sticky, goopy raisins straight out of the box to recall Valrhona's salad niçoise days when it seemingly topped every bar with 'em -> pine resin / juniper berry
diffuses a come-hither scent of cinnamon-cream 'n honey (nice)
diffuses a come-hither scent of cinnamon-cream 'n honey (nice)
Mouthfeel 12 / 15
| Texture: | foretold in the Snap -- vulcanized |
| Melt: | takes its good ole time |
Flavor 37.6 / 50
chocolate breadfruit -> dry, slightly caustic FXs -> gradually rolls over the acidulous Aromatics surrounding juniper + passion fruit to the point of a stringent swipe -> Vermouth splashdown -> brownie back
Quality 14.8 / 20
Quite austere & angular.
Out of step with the origin & the strain. Amelonado usually exhibits greater core cocoa principles (or higher CQ for chocolate quotient). And Brazil's characteristic feral fruits display here a bleached acetate trait for that very dynamic mid-palate.
Parasinho, an Amelonado cultivar, witnessed before in Amma's chocolate from neighboring Fazenda Monte Algre. This instead fools momentarily of jejune Madagascar.
Soma customarily applies a pretty thorough processing to cacáo nuts yet these could stand a touch more roasting & refining. Moreover, the pre- & post-harvst on the ground in Brazil calls into question the ripeness of the pods & the number of turns in the 7 or so day fermentation cycle (though David Castellan of Soma reports taking delivery of very darkly fermented cocoa). If so, then perhaps the soil on the mountains around Cafundós, atop which the Parasinho trees grow, makes for a hard scrabble despite organic compost fertilizer.
Then again it might all boil down to the weather. Such is chocolate.
Whatever the circumstance, the individual compounds on their own display flash, even momentary magic; combined together as a whole however they quit on each other, such as Amelonado's hallmark chocolate base which lacks guts & backbone as well as stamina even as it stages a half-hearted comeback at the very end.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter
Reviewed July 14, 2014
Out of step with the origin & the strain. Amelonado usually exhibits greater core cocoa principles (or higher CQ for chocolate quotient). And Brazil's characteristic feral fruits display here a bleached acetate trait for that very dynamic mid-palate.
Parasinho, an Amelonado cultivar, witnessed before in Amma's chocolate from neighboring Fazenda Monte Algre. This instead fools momentarily of jejune Madagascar.
Soma customarily applies a pretty thorough processing to cacáo nuts yet these could stand a touch more roasting & refining. Moreover, the pre- & post-harvst on the ground in Brazil calls into question the ripeness of the pods & the number of turns in the 7 or so day fermentation cycle (though David Castellan of Soma reports taking delivery of very darkly fermented cocoa). If so, then perhaps the soil on the mountains around Cafundós, atop which the Parasinho trees grow, makes for a hard scrabble despite organic compost fertilizer.
Then again it might all boil down to the weather. Such is chocolate.
Whatever the circumstance, the individual compounds on their own display flash, even momentary magic; combined together as a whole however they quit on each other, such as Amelonado's hallmark chocolate base which lacks guts & backbone as well as stamina even as it stages a half-hearted comeback at the very end.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter
Reviewed July 14, 2014