Impact
“Capability” Brown, an English landscaper, designed gardens that broke with the French formal tradition. Brown instead favored a distinctively English style of grandly picturesque, natural-looking, & asymmetrically structured landscapes replete with groves of trees, expansive lawns, meandering streams, & sylvan lakes. In 1749, he became a consulting gardener & earned his nickname by often telling clients that their properties had "capabilities."
These brown bars likewise seek to evoke, quite capably by the way, a certain wilderness when in fact, similar to Brown’s work, they’re carefully pruned, crafted, & groomed in the fashion of a English garden… which ain’t no Amazonian jungle, notwithstanding that the cocoa herein orginates from Ecuador. And a marked improvement on Duffy's earlier Corazon del Ecuaodor bars sourced in Manabí: 83% and 43%.
Appearance 4.8 / 5
| Color: | from deep purpled (83%) to pewter (72%) & sienna (43%) browns |
| Surface: | slate |
| Temper: | release marks |
| Snap: | high strung |
Aroma 7.6 / 10
83%
that streamline yeasty Camino forcing the bread crust
72%
stoned-ground yeast
43%
smells of both the mother & the heifer… all of them: udder, hoof, sweaty nostrils
allspice underfoot
that streamline yeasty Camino forcing the bread crust
72%
stoned-ground yeast
43%
smells of both the mother & the heifer… all of them: udder, hoof, sweaty nostrils
allspice underfoot
Mouthfeel 13 / 15
| Texture: | fine... |
| Melt: | … prolongation |
Flavor 42.6 / 50
83%
dense walnut brownies -> a little flour opening, cream back -> nutritional yeast -> light dark bitter
72%
Aromatics lead-in & slowly instantiate a brownie whence the bar takes on the traits found in its 83% sib but softer, creamier, & of course sweeter -> slight departure with the emergence of roasted / caramelized walnut -> after-taste mimics mandarin (far richer & more honeyed than orange)
43%
yielding, powderful bite of mostly milk & cocoa butter to almost draw a blank until caáo gradually asserts a presence, very considerate & reserved, holding in tow a spice-laden treasure (cardamom, allspice & sassafras) -> a terrific final cocoa kick
dense walnut brownies -> a little flour opening, cream back -> nutritional yeast -> light dark bitter
72%
Aromatics lead-in & slowly instantiate a brownie whence the bar takes on the traits found in its 83% sib but softer, creamier, & of course sweeter -> slight departure with the emergence of roasted / caramelized walnut -> after-taste mimics mandarin (far richer & more honeyed than orange)
43%
yielding, powderful bite of mostly milk & cocoa butter to almost draw a blank until caáo gradually asserts a presence, very considerate & reserved, holding in tow a spice-laden treasure (cardamom, allspice & sassafras) -> a terrific final cocoa kick
Quality 15.9 / 20
From Vincente Norero's Camino Verde experimental fermentation tank discussed at length in prior reviews.
83% (Batch 140046)
Highly restrained for the percentage.
Liner notes promising "hints' of citrus, raisins" smack as unlikely for Camino & simply nowhere to be found in the bar here. In fact, this projects deadpan & appreciable CQ (or core cocoa flavor).
72% (Batch 140046)
Little differentiates this from the 83% despite 11% more sugar except for effacing altogether that lone bitter. As such a limited exposition on the effect of percentage to flavor. Nonetheless, a sound bar all the way through.
43% (Batch 140043)
Noticeable grain on the Texture (notwithstanding that Duffy's cosmetics & tactiles rate among the top of the UK barsmith scene) but what closing gastronomics. Other than that rather blank canvass opening, an exceptional MC to merit its own separate standing & review. A Red Star All-Star.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin (for 43% add milk powder)
Reviewed February 25, 2015
83% (Batch 140046)
Highly restrained for the percentage.
Liner notes promising "hints' of citrus, raisins" smack as unlikely for Camino & simply nowhere to be found in the bar here. In fact, this projects deadpan & appreciable CQ (or core cocoa flavor).
72% (Batch 140046)
Little differentiates this from the 83% despite 11% more sugar except for effacing altogether that lone bitter. As such a limited exposition on the effect of percentage to flavor. Nonetheless, a sound bar all the way through.
43% (Batch 140043)
Noticeable grain on the Texture (notwithstanding that Duffy's cosmetics & tactiles rate among the top of the UK barsmith scene) but what closing gastronomics. Other than that rather blank canvass opening, an exceptional MC to merit its own separate standing & review. A Red Star All-Star.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin (for 43% add milk powder)
Reviewed February 25, 2015