Ecuador Vertical
by Troubelice
Impact
A vertical taste-flight all the way from the pod seed to the pressed oil
Appearance 4.8 / 5
outstanding & informative boxed-set collection
| Color: |
Seeds: small sample size (just 8) but well in excess of the industry norm 1 gram per & so oblong & plump 100%: jet brown Hořká: reflects its Seed (above) Mléčná: swarthy pink Bílá: a green White Chocolate (see Flavor section below for details) |
| Surface: |
Seeds: pink coral husks (easy peel); 2 types of cotyledons – a) golden brown & b) slate brown verging on black 100%: same pod-motif mould as E. Euro neighbor Szántó Tibor Hořká: stressed-out Mléčná: clean hygiene Bílá: flush |
| Temper: |
Seeds: well-veined 100%: recessed Hořká: ditto Mléčná: matte Bílá: the model of composure |
| Snap: |
Seeds: friable 100%: dumb Hořká: smarts some Mléčná: the silent type Bílá: subsonic  |
Aroma 8 / 10
in addition to typical Ecuadorian herbal forest meadows, an unusual caramel too
Mouthfeel 12.4 / 15
| Texture: | percentage-correct |
| Melt: | built to last |
Flavor 42.6 / 50
Seeds
open savory, almost tartar sauce-like -> bites down onto topsoil + chicory root -> twine -> medicinal root / bark / quinine -> shuts off dry & stringent
100%
defined but brief sweet chocolate instantly rolls over to tannic unsweetened cocoa of no relief & almost no redemption except for the bitter comes from the good Earth variety -> pounding metal (more copper than lead) -> heavy cocoa butter (none added supposedly) spares / saves it
Hořká
75% cacáo-content
nuts (deep roasted filbert) -> flowers (the musky amber of cistus)-> spice (panela sweetener) -> creams away with breadfruit -> dark mocha
Hořká in Czech means "bitter". In other words, Troubelice tells a good lie as this practically exudes none.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter
Mléčná
51% cacáo-content
thick floral-caramel of almost powder room density (exceptional)… which in this case turns to milk powder -> banana / brown sugar -> melt downs into a deep grain silo -> sweet cream ending
Well-done from start to finish without skipping a beat. A crowd-getter 'n pleaser.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, milk powder, cocoa butter, sugar
Bílá
40% cacáo-content (as cocoa butter)
murky lake bottom of soft sediment & algae -> salted butter rescues would-be drowning victim but more chlorophyll hangs around as seaweed wraps the tongue -> late split pea soup -> sweet vegetal after-action
Curious pair: cocoa butter & spirulina. The latter provides both the gagging to the progression as well as the high point since it contains enough sodium to produce that umami moment. Before & after then, however, it hardly provides good taste. Gotta luv the cartoon slime-green color though.
open savory, almost tartar sauce-like -> bites down onto topsoil + chicory root -> twine -> medicinal root / bark / quinine -> shuts off dry & stringent
100%
defined but brief sweet chocolate instantly rolls over to tannic unsweetened cocoa of no relief & almost no redemption except for the bitter comes from the good Earth variety -> pounding metal (more copper than lead) -> heavy cocoa butter (none added supposedly) spares / saves it
Hořká
75% cacáo-content
nuts (deep roasted filbert) -> flowers (the musky amber of cistus)-> spice (panela sweetener) -> creams away with breadfruit -> dark mocha
Hořká in Czech means "bitter". In other words, Troubelice tells a good lie as this practically exudes none.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter
Mléčná
51% cacáo-content
thick floral-caramel of almost powder room density (exceptional)… which in this case turns to milk powder -> banana / brown sugar -> melt downs into a deep grain silo -> sweet cream ending
Well-done from start to finish without skipping a beat. A crowd-getter 'n pleaser.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, milk powder, cocoa butter, sugar
Bílá
40% cacáo-content (as cocoa butter)
murky lake bottom of soft sediment & algae -> salted butter rescues would-be drowning victim but more chlorophyll hangs around as seaweed wraps the tongue -> late split pea soup -> sweet vegetal after-action
Curious pair: cocoa butter & spirulina. The latter provides both the gagging to the progression as well as the high point since it contains enough sodium to produce that umami moment. Before & after then, however, it hardly provides good taste. Gotta luv the cartoon slime-green color though.
Quality 15.1 / 20
Troubelice becomes the 2nd Czech barsmith after Jordi's to enter The Chocolate Census. Its profiles, excluding Bílá, appeal to a more conventional sense of chocolate which should win it adherents from all over.
Reviewed September 17, 2015
Reviewed September 17, 2015