Cacao et Chocolat
Impact
Ethnobotany. Vibing on pre-Columbian mythology with some incongruity (e.g., employing lots of Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire beans under the adage that, hey, just as all humanity ultimately comes from Africa, maybe all cacáo is kinda Mayan). But more than just a Mesoamerican cocoa theme-park, C-et-C for the most part gets to the root of the matter while paying homage to it.
Presentation 4.8 / 5
Simple Simon w/ each piece designated by rune-like Mayan comix iconography drawn by the avatar of Keith Haring; good Fit & Finish to these from C-et-C's Imperiale & Jade collections
Aromas 4.6 / 5
fruits ‘n spices inside a chocolate salt-mine
Textures/Melt 8.4 / 10
| Shells: | semi-thin; free-release / little snap |
| Centers: | quite viscous; firm yet soft w/ light gum tack |
Flavor 43.2 / 50
French-forward: leans quite sweet & every infusion clearly expressed until recoiling back into a chocolate-cream frame
Quality 26.6 / 30
No extra layer of ‘wow’ or ‘ooohs la las’... just tremendously solid & well-crafted
Selections
Teocali - Nahua for ‘temple’; viscous to the very inner sanctum w/ an extracted grapefruit, girded in cocoa pwdr releasing apricot blossom; propitious offering
Lumi - presumably short for Cluizel’s Maralumi, a cacáo estate near the east coast of PNG, & the inferential ‘light’ as this brings sun-fruits & cream thru the tobacco haze, then toffee finish
Quetzal - the plumed-serpent riding in on slow ‘n low burning lemon-tequila fuel... unfurls its full tannic force & color pageantry at the very end; exceptional
Zope - some kind of Olmec trope, the originators linking up a honey tease & cool chili pepper tricks; excellent
Palenque - fractionally caustic but nothing ruinous here as cream tempers ginger gently rolling it into chocolate folds
Chapas - home of Palenque, Bonampak, Rio Usumacinta, & Lacandón Maya; highly contrastive, bright raspberry against a darkly strident cocoa that work magick on each other & fully fuse into an astringent zone evoking both the garden-forest & barren-desert, symbolic of life-death-rebirth
Papachu - citrus in Milk, the acids just running away from it; one of the few misses in the collection & not by much
Tolteca - aptly adheres to the Nahua term for ‘art & wisdom’; no chichimecans (nomads) here, just a refined plain Milk ganache that rolls a little caramel &, more sensationally, an evasive peach blossom honey... pure nagual according to the Way of the Yaqui
Lumi - presumably short for Cluizel’s Maralumi, a cacáo estate near the east coast of PNG, & the inferential ‘light’ as this brings sun-fruits & cream thru the tobacco haze, then toffee finish
Quetzal - the plumed-serpent riding in on slow ‘n low burning lemon-tequila fuel... unfurls its full tannic force & color pageantry at the very end; exceptional
Zope - some kind of Olmec trope, the originators linking up a honey tease & cool chili pepper tricks; excellent
Palenque - fractionally caustic but nothing ruinous here as cream tempers ginger gently rolling it into chocolate folds
Chapas - home of Palenque, Bonampak, Rio Usumacinta, & Lacandón Maya; highly contrastive, bright raspberry against a darkly strident cocoa that work magick on each other & fully fuse into an astringent zone evoking both the garden-forest & barren-desert, symbolic of life-death-rebirth
Papachu - citrus in Milk, the acids just running away from it; one of the few misses in the collection & not by much
Tolteca - aptly adheres to the Nahua term for ‘art & wisdom’; no chichimecans (nomads) here, just a refined plain Milk ganache that rolls a little caramel &, more sensationally, an evasive peach blossom honey... pure nagual according to the Way of the Yaqui