Cacao Sampaka
Impact
Presentation 4.2 / 5
starkly minimalist
Aromas 3.4 / 5
latent
Textures/Melt 7.1 / 10
| Shells: | chocolate armor |
| Centers: | vary from stiff & unyielding to soft & buttery |
Flavor 42.3 / 50
Innovative, sometimes daring portfolio - a truffled truffle or rosemary injected fillings. Every piece seemingly familiar then strange, each starting similarly before diverging into separate personalities, including more variations on the licorice/anise theme than a Bach canon (thanks to the well-roasted Chocovic couverture). As good as the chocolate armor is, this is about interiors & combinations that treat couverture as a canvas to complement & magnify infused elements.
Quality 26 / 30
Carefully conceived / precisely processed but often off-balanced
Selections
| Couverture: | in-house: Chocovic |
a) traditional Spices work well;
b) Savory add-ins relatively novel & extraordinary (a chocolate Simon & Garfunkel of parsley-sage-rosemary-&-thyme);
c) Fruits less successful – brassy & glassy & often overstated;
d) Nut meats so tender & medium rare w/ great meltability;
e) the lone flunk - Alcohols are hazardous, a terrifying ooze of booze cut w/ crystal sugar (in need of flavorist DC Duby at Wild Sweets, master of spirit reductions folded into chocolate, & acolyte of the molecular gastronomy gurus supposedly behind Sampaka)
b) Savory add-ins relatively novel & extraordinary (a chocolate Simon & Garfunkel of parsley-sage-rosemary-&-thyme);
c) Fruits less successful – brassy & glassy & often overstated;
d) Nut meats so tender & medium rare w/ great meltability;
e) the lone flunk - Alcohols are hazardous, a terrifying ooze of booze cut w/ crystal sugar (in need of flavorist DC Duby at Wild Sweets, master of spirit reductions folded into chocolate, & acolyte of the molecular gastronomy gurus supposedly behind Sampaka)