Impact
If Porcelana is the Holy Grail of Cacáo, then this Oh Lord - oooooohhh this - is the chocolate communion wafer melting thru the imaginarium of dreams.
Worshipful.
Worshipful.
Appearance 5 / 5
| Color: | darker than most Porcelanas, similar to |
| Surface: | Zulia; Sur del Lago Maracaibo |
| Temper: | not lackluster but matte luster |
| Snap: | supersonic: breaks the sound barrier... deafening & heavy; red-flecks underneath |
Aroma 9.3 / 10
fragrance-alert: airloom chocolate, jasmine, & light bay leaf hover above the twin Porcelana signatures mamey sapote & piercing strawberry... spread on honey-toasted bread w/ roasted macs; sub-basement conveys underlying tone of tobacco & leather; sensationally balanced & breathtaking
Mouthfeel 14.6 / 15
| Texture: | substantial weight (no butter added); pinguid like a full-bodied olive oil that almost obstructs flavor |
| Melt: | everlast yet fast as in before you know it, or even feel it, you're there |
Flavor 48.8 / 50
alights pure chocolate... then w/ macadamia butter underneath -> bitter cocoa bud -> ash flicked off by strawberry eurythmics... develop into thicker mamey sapote & slightly numbing tobacco w/ kiwi & bay leaf in the faint reaches -> gradually dims on almond chocolate cream
Quality 19.4 / 20
Almost all Venezuelan Porcelana come from the same source around Lake Maracaibo (excepting perhaps Domori’s), allowing for comparisons to be drawn between the manufacturers' differing styles with this revered relic, given that pre- & post-harvest cycles are virtually equalized. And few if any beans receive the love & attention as these.
Coppeneur makes some right decisions here for the wrong reasons. Its approach is quite unadorned & naked - just cacáo & sugar - no vanilla, butter, or emulsifier, making it the purest of Porcelanas along with, again, Domori (apt since both houses are exacting & mental). Relatively high, indeed slightly over-roasted (though still mild by Coppeneur standards), eliminating some of the upper register & contributing to a rare bittering/torrefaction offset for this varietal of unusually soft tannins; this, its very fallibility delivers rein unterschied ('pure difference') lodging in the back of the mind, helping to remember the other more traditional aspects of Porcelana thru an imperfect ideal. Otherwise, it risks indirection; of being so smooth & gracefully simple to seem routine, even boring (the danger which most Procelana bars must fight) to echo Montaigne's essay Of Idleness that “If it be not occupied with a certain subject that will keep it in check… will cast itself aimlessly hither & thither into the vague field of imaginations.” (Italics added)
And yet this still remains peaceful, just missing that exhilarating friction of war, so it won't grab front page headlines because 'if it doesn't bleed, it doesn't lead'. That's the beauty of it. Plus, an ulta-finessed conche - slow shear – produces an overall ponderous nature of low 'wow' but huge 'IT' factors - a purebred exceedingly comfortable in its own skin, very aware of its DNA.
If you want splattering blood & guts, plenty of options are out there. If on the other hand you're always yammering 'keep it real', seeking what's true & just - look no further because this is super F-I-N-E to literally, in Shakespeare's words, kiss the image of a dream.
Coppeneur makes some right decisions here for the wrong reasons. Its approach is quite unadorned & naked - just cacáo & sugar - no vanilla, butter, or emulsifier, making it the purest of Porcelanas along with, again, Domori (apt since both houses are exacting & mental). Relatively high, indeed slightly over-roasted (though still mild by Coppeneur standards), eliminating some of the upper register & contributing to a rare bittering/torrefaction offset for this varietal of unusually soft tannins; this, its very fallibility delivers rein unterschied ('pure difference') lodging in the back of the mind, helping to remember the other more traditional aspects of Porcelana thru an imperfect ideal. Otherwise, it risks indirection; of being so smooth & gracefully simple to seem routine, even boring (the danger which most Procelana bars must fight) to echo Montaigne's essay Of Idleness that “If it be not occupied with a certain subject that will keep it in check… will cast itself aimlessly hither & thither into the vague field of imaginations.” (Italics added)
And yet this still remains peaceful, just missing that exhilarating friction of war, so it won't grab front page headlines because 'if it doesn't bleed, it doesn't lead'. That's the beauty of it. Plus, an ulta-finessed conche - slow shear – produces an overall ponderous nature of low 'wow' but huge 'IT' factors - a purebred exceedingly comfortable in its own skin, very aware of its DNA.
If you want splattering blood & guts, plenty of options are out there. If on the other hand you're always yammering 'keep it real', seeking what's true & just - look no further because this is super F-I-N-E to literally, in Shakespeare's words, kiss the image of a dream.