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Iara 82% and 62%

by Hussel
Info Details
Country Germany   
Type (82% [Batch 37047]; 62% Dark-Milk [Batch 67065])
Strain Nacional   
Source Ecuador   (Los Rios; Hacienda Iara II)
Flavor Earthen   
Style Neo-Modern      
lo
med
hi
CQ
Sweetness
Acidity
Bitterness
Roast
Intensity
Complexity
Structure
Length
Impact
PanAm started with the idea of Pan Americanism. An airline seized on the concept in 1927. A decade later the PanAmerican highway began construction.

Today, a) political schisms between Latin America & the superpower up North, b) a road with severe -- forget the potholes -- whole gaps, & c) a bankrupt air carrier (a victim of industry deregulation / consolidation) whose afterlife of an iconic building standing proud in the Manhattan skyline followed by merchandising, all adds up to d) hope turned nostalgic.

Iara once was a cacáo estate in Ecuador sheltering some vanishing Nacional cultivars. Greater opportunity costs in rubber & bananas led to clear cutting of its cacáo trees.

But as with branding any respectable legacy, the name lives on & so too the spirit… down the road (aptly), less than 5km at Iara II.

In this bar Hussel leverages Iara, then contracts Coppeneur for private labeling.

The following details a Chocolate Daily Double –- 2 reviews in 1. The overall rating & metrics (upper right) reflect a composite average of each bar's individual measures.
Appearance   4 / 5
Color: 82%: Darth purple
62%: deep magenta
Surface: 82%: cookie cutter
62%: cleaner than its Big Bro 82%
Temper: 82%: tired & dull
62%: backlit
Snap: 82%: hard yet hollow
62%: ultra-easy along the scored line; recalcitrant in the middle of the tiles
Aroma   8.3 / 10
82%
potent as ever
claustroflavic / suffocating density
pounding Earth works: soil, clove, fungi, teak, espresso… such a bottom feeder, no way but up

62%
equally forceful, just cut with dairy which punctuates with a wicked, brooding caramel-toffee
Mouthfeel   12.9 / 15
Texture: 82%: effortless
62%: granulated
Melt: 82%: bides its sweet time
62%: swells unto forever
Flavor   46.2 / 50
82%
instant attack on really positive dark chocolate infused seemingly by clove -> butter surrounds & contains insurgent bark while contributing to a budding florescence + bergamot fronting a back bitter -> grows sweet as tannins gracefully subside -> fleet licorice descent onto the forest floor of organic mulch, spores & topsoil

62%
blasts up dark caramel…
… flickering apparitions of almonds, umami, vanilla-clove + royal black mulberry but nothing substantial to compete with the full-on dark chocolate caramel -> ongoing burnt butter flan top
Quality   18.4 / 20
82%
A re-wrap of Coppeneur's self-same Iara Dunkle in a bit of a pale shadow of its former incarnation. But only by a few shades.

If the original resembled a rottweiler, this bar has been spayed -- with cocoa butter.

Properly & carefully engineered for a market unaccustomed to the 80% class. Make no mistake however, it still clamps down with some bite & pressure…. just tamed, considerate, & loyal to its prey.

Mercifully, unlike the Dunkle, the earlier smoke-damage has been controlled. None to speak of here. Evidence that Coppeneur found the ‘off’ switch on the roaster in demonstrating it can still produce the goods after a recent string of disastrous years.

INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter

62%
Ditto... Coppeneur's Iara Vollmilch in the guise of a Hussel.

1 instant & eternal note -- brown caramel -- practically nothing before / nothing after, just all-encompassing. Automatic power & endless stamina. Stunning & remarkable, as if proof for the infinite via gastronomic chocolate. Oh, entirely sumptuous too all along the concourse. A world-beating phenom & absolutely enters the Dark-Milk pantheon.

INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, sugar

Reviewed March 11, 2015

  

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