Impact
One of the very first reviews on this site some 2,000+ bars ago featured Tsachili by Coppeneur. Though undeveloped, it held special properties.
Tame - unlike the people after whom it’s named - the 2,700 strong Tsáchila, f/k/a the ‘Colorado’ (re: red, because they dye their shiny hair with the red seeds of the achiote plant, originally tapped to ward off smallpox), practicing occult magic in the Andes highlands outside Quito, Ecuador. Among their divination instruments, a reputedly ‘wild’ jungle cacáo (cacáo silvestre) culitivated according to, supposedly, ancient methods.
Nobody on record has since ventured into Tsáchila territory for cacáo… until now. Thanks to Bonnat the wait has been worth it.
Tame - unlike the people after whom it’s named - the 2,700 strong Tsáchila, f/k/a the ‘Colorado’ (re: red, because they dye their shiny hair with the red seeds of the achiote plant, originally tapped to ward off smallpox), practicing occult magic in the Andes highlands outside Quito, Ecuador. Among their divination instruments, a reputedly ‘wild’ jungle cacáo (cacáo silvestre) culitivated according to, supposedly, ancient methods.
Nobody on record has since ventured into Tsáchila territory for cacáo… until now. Thanks to Bonnat the wait has been worth it.
Appearance 4.4 / 5
| Color: | silver brown |
| Surface: | hygienic |
| Temper: | polished |
| Snap: | tiny but tough |
Aroma 8.7 / 10
sweat board of knotty pine (pretty wooden) lacquered in resin
black tea + a solid core cocoa base
alights a white floral with brown spicing
quite the unfolding manifold
black tea + a solid core cocoa base
alights a white floral with brown spicing
quite the unfolding manifold
Mouthfeel 13.2 / 15
| Texture: | suave |
| Melt: | fluid rendezvous |
Flavor 45.6 / 50
gets up & on immediately with that flower faction in the Aroma + a soft cardamom sublimates into sweet cream -> super light cocoa, virtually a "Dark-White" Chocolate -> macadamia oil -> marshmallow to white truffle (truly sublime) -> brief hibiscus -> golden roasted almond -> flushes away cocoa syrup the consistency & strength of water
Quality 18 / 20
Cacáo from Santo Domingo, Ecuador -- sandwiched between Manabi to its west, Los Rios down south & the green glories of Esmeraldas up north. Heard & seen from few & far between… therefore gratifying to receive a second go-around after Coppeneur's fabled bar in 2010.
Harmonized to the nth degree. Nary a strand out of place. Unlike other wild (Beniano, Bolivia) or feral (Sierra Neveda Colombia) cacáos, this silvestre registers each & every impression at the liminal limits, almost at the level of gently-massaged gauzy cashmere. Bonnat really backpedals on the roast, diverging from its customary warm toasting in deference to these seeds. Yes, the house still applies some heat but only commensurate to the delicacy herein.
Best to close the eyes in order to fully undergo its spell. The lone deficiency, perhaps, its curbed magnitude which all but guarantees that those who view the world thru Google Glass & listen to their Dre headphones turned up to 11 as they ride their Cannondales thru urban traffic shall miss it, especially the cycling kamikazes performing face-plants beneath passing buses (if only he wore those Big-Time Hollywood action-specific shades -- aviators -- to shield him from seeing his fate; plus, oh, what a stylish departure it would've made). Except for that &, moreover, the seemingly superfluous added cocoa butter, this vaults into chocolate nirvana.
Among a handful of bars that define the overwrought expression 'fine chocolate'.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter
Reviewed February 20, 2015
Harmonized to the nth degree. Nary a strand out of place. Unlike other wild (Beniano, Bolivia) or feral (Sierra Neveda Colombia) cacáos, this silvestre registers each & every impression at the liminal limits, almost at the level of gently-massaged gauzy cashmere. Bonnat really backpedals on the roast, diverging from its customary warm toasting in deference to these seeds. Yes, the house still applies some heat but only commensurate to the delicacy herein.
Best to close the eyes in order to fully undergo its spell. The lone deficiency, perhaps, its curbed magnitude which all but guarantees that those who view the world thru Google Glass & listen to their Dre headphones turned up to 11 as they ride their Cannondales thru urban traffic shall miss it, especially the cycling kamikazes performing face-plants beneath passing buses (if only he wore those Big-Time Hollywood action-specific shades -- aviators -- to shield him from seeing his fate; plus, oh, what a stylish departure it would've made). Except for that &, moreover, the seemingly superfluous added cocoa butter, this vaults into chocolate nirvana.
Among a handful of bars that define the overwrought expression 'fine chocolate'.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter
Reviewed February 20, 2015