Impact
Symphonic Sturm und Drang that should be on the tip of every lip. This German company can play chocolate & is clearly gunning for 1 spot: the top. A few more bars like this & it'll own it.
Appearance 5 / 5
another Coppeneur pin-up
another Coppeneur pin-up
| Color: | warm orange-brown |
| Surface: | breaks the mold by perfecting it - stunning |
| Temper: | matte w/ a little glint |
| Snap: | right on cue for a 72 - sharp & succinct; sanded cleave |
Aroma 8.3 / 10
Sides w/ the Caribbean island versions of this hybrid more than the ones from the S American mainland: dark spice wood lays the lumber on a floor of chocolate like a 2x4 to the head; some rubber on the rubdown.
Mouthfeel 13.4 / 15
| Texture: | sheet of lace... the butter is all butter, no additives in this back-to-basics bar, light w/ touch of sugar grain... consistent & well-integrated |
| Melt: | easy breezy, medium long, & well-distributed |
Flavor 47.8 / 50
Sets off a series of rapid-fire explosives - BANG-BANG-BANG - right in succession & rocks the face off: a) pure chocolate -> b) fruit crystals (black cherry / apricot & tamarind / riberry) -> & c) sugar boom -> slows to a momentary spice digression (nutmeg, bergamot) -> steadies on wood of immortelle & its taproot (the madre de cacáo), reaching straight down into the earth (shadow society of dirt, worms, & mushrooms) along a deep chocolate vein -> lazes over to an uplifting green: tobacco tea... & avocado verbena to soothe the haze, without ever losing site of that adorably fuzzy apricot chocolate, now joined by bay, laurel, & sandalwoods.
Quality 19.6 / 20
Painstaking symmetry & cohesion, plus huge 'IT' factor. Light quill frame, though possibly the heftiest Trinidad taste around. Tremendous spatial distribution brings thunder & lightning: very front-loaded, lots of lateral movement early on along the horizontal axis, then idles away by drilling down vertically. Gorgeous, ripe ferment matched by Coppeneur's most finessed roast yet... taking Amedei's raspberry tart of a Trinidad, applying more heat without burning the fruit, & turning it to dried apricot with, just as importantly, so much backing it up from the bottom & behind which Amedei could not. And no cheerleading whatsoever from vanilla & lecithin either - just cacáo solids & sugar, & that's all. In a word, C O M P L E T E.