Impact
Cacáo from the Los Rios region of Ecuador often conveys notes of fig among its flavor matrix - the king of the jungle fruits (practically every creature from gorillas to birds wants to get their claws on it). Here, a top banana & the queen of spices - ginger - hook up for a combustible mix turning mouths into canisters of tear gas. As the locals like to say, with an eerie smile, "En-yoy!"
Appearance 4.7 / 5
| Color: | 'brown midnight |
| Surface: | ideal imprint; dried banana studs out back |
| Temper: | absorbs rather than emits |
| Snap: | castanets; good integrity along break-wall considering the additives |
Aroma 7.1 / 10
bonoxious spice (listed at 4%) outstrips fruit (banana weighing in, according to Coppeneur, at 20%??) w/ a sub-twist: ginger & blackberry, the former dominates, ripping nasal passages w/ very dry, box-cutter sharp capsaicins (shogaol compounds)
Mouthfeel 8.9 / 15
| Texture: | rigor-mortis gummy bears... |
| Melt: | ... cremated into powder |
Flavor 29.6 / 50
aroma foretold the destruction: candied ginger starts getting hot & strikes a nerve -> cocoa butter momentarily calms it -> dry tannins fight for flavor, pulled-off by the spice, which then beats on banana (too dehydrated & stiff to express any real banana-ness) -> fig & cocoa dregs at the bottom of a cement barrel (Fred Flintstone screaming 'yabba dabba don't') -> explodes off more ginger...
Quality 7.8 / 20
Imbalanced; reckless ginger way too exothermic, springing hot & steamrolling then pulverizing all in its path, forced to lay down in torpor - if it ain't dead already (e.g., banana). A bar that simply fails to contain it. Ridiculous formulation.