70%
by IncaKaw
Impact
About 9,000 taste buds cover the tongue, the throat, & the roof of the mouth.
This bar tickles just about each & every one of them.
This bar tickles just about each & every one of them.
Appearance 4 / 5
| Color: | slate brown with a little red-eye |
| Surface: | minor flaking & 'choc-druff' |
| Temper: | neutral |
| Snap: | power tool |
Aroma 9.1 / 10
stone-ground werks + jasmine essence in the backdrop including a mist of dew
special
special
Mouthfeel 12.3 / 15
| Texture: | fractures into lecithin-aided roundness |
| Melt: | on-time |
Flavor 44.9 / 50
sweet cocoa -> rare cherry for Ecuador -> oncidium sherry (flower that diffuses both cocoa + vanilla scents) -> roasted chocolate -> balsam -> very mild gentian root at the rear -> rarefied jasmine drifts in from the aromals (above) -> jute for that authentic cargo sack from the tropics
Quality 17.7 / 20
Aa a rash of actors in Ecuador rush forward in the wake of Pacari, Hoja Verde, & others to move cocoa on the int'l market, most like IncaKaw serve up brands that survey the landscape, select quality produce from a growing list of fincas / estates, & have manufacturers like Equatorial co-pack (handle the actual grind / processing), thereby leaving the label free to promote their wares.
After years of experiencing such, the players are getting better at the game.
This bar bears solid testimony to it. Enough so that anyone in the biz today who fails to produce good chocolate -- given how much technical info abounds even online free for the searching, & how equipment continues to improve -- either doesn't know what the hell they're doing or just doesn't give a spit.
Beyond merely following the pack, IncaKaw's 70% also stands out from it. One of the precious few bars from this origin to possess almost inordinate levels of hi-CQ (Chocolate Quotient, re: core basal cocoa flavor). Credit the upper-middle, in some stretches robust, roast in large measure (perhaps even a customized dual-roast blend?). And yet it holds more that just that -- a good array to complement the base.
Those Ecuaboring days may be coalescing in the miasma of their own haze then blown off by the momentum of this next generation.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, lecithin
Reviewed December 21, 2016
After years of experiencing such, the players are getting better at the game.
This bar bears solid testimony to it. Enough so that anyone in the biz today who fails to produce good chocolate -- given how much technical info abounds even online free for the searching, & how equipment continues to improve -- either doesn't know what the hell they're doing or just doesn't give a spit.
Beyond merely following the pack, IncaKaw's 70% also stands out from it. One of the precious few bars from this origin to possess almost inordinate levels of hi-CQ (Chocolate Quotient, re: core basal cocoa flavor). Credit the upper-middle, in some stretches robust, roast in large measure (perhaps even a customized dual-roast blend?). And yet it holds more that just that -- a good array to complement the base.
Those Ecuaboring days may be coalescing in the miasma of their own haze then blown off by the momentum of this next generation.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, lecithin
Reviewed December 21, 2016