Impact
Could've gone either way. Ends up trending the Dow of Chocolate during a bust cycle, the stock chart unfortunately headed in a southeasterly direction.
Appearance 3.9 / 5
clean, professional packaging; good thickness on the bar (you chunky monkey/make-the-customer-struggle-to-break-a-piece-off jack asses…please take note)
clean, professional packaging; good thickness on the bar (you chunky monkey/make-the-customer-struggle-to-break-a-piece-off jack asses…please take note)
| Color: | mahogany |
| Surface: | no fancy relief work; a little dented up front; monster swales out back |
| Temper: | light polish |
| Snap: | tight & decisive; granular edge |
Aroma 6.2 / 10
scent of aged mahogany to match its color; otherwise aromatically challenged - cotton, corn, & rice w/ dusty rose in the spider webs; very south on the fruit (what little exists - a hopeful cassis & brandied cherries); composted funk on the rubdown
Mouthfeel 12.4 / 15
| Texture: | smooth fudge |
| Melt: | medium-fast flow |
Flavor 36.5 / 50
jacks-in loud cassis, blackberry, & pom-poms punching the mouth (pomegranate) -> dirty fighting bitters (stale grains from the aromatics... a constant background noise) -> enough fruit keeps it animated & alive -> mounting acidity (grape skin / seed extract) -> deflates on ink (back-cross to black fruit opening), spices (nutmeg; white pepper), & cork in the back end
Quality 14.3 / 20
Precise & concise but Houston (or the equivalent Flight Command Center in Ecuador), we've got a problem(s).
Where to begin? Very 2 dimensional (fruit top / bottom dirt) pulling away from each other as if from different bean stock or at least different crops. Randomized ending really breaks apart. Enormous potential (super ripe black fruit shows raw talent) but inability to husband underlying ill-mannered bitterness & control it toward better ends (slightly hotter roast / more shear on the conche could help [instead of relying on lecithin to furnish texture] though at the price of sacrificing some upfront fruits). More critically, drying/storage issues (excess moisture shows up at the finish), similar to those that plague República del Cacao's version of the same pinpoint origin (obviously common sourcing).
Where to begin? Very 2 dimensional (fruit top / bottom dirt) pulling away from each other as if from different bean stock or at least different crops. Randomized ending really breaks apart. Enormous potential (super ripe black fruit shows raw talent) but inability to husband underlying ill-mannered bitterness & control it toward better ends (slightly hotter roast / more shear on the conche could help [instead of relying on lecithin to furnish texture] though at the price of sacrificing some upfront fruits). More critically, drying/storage issues (excess moisture shows up at the finish), similar to those that plague República del Cacao's version of the same pinpoint origin (obviously common sourcing).