Impact
Appearance 4.5 / 5
| Color: | nacre rouge |
| Surface: | Marco’s perfectly-squared spelling-block mold |
| Temper: | soft sheen up front / brush plate out back |
| Snap: | shushed (losing temper); crumbled edge |
Aroma 7.1 / 10
tight & site-specific: spiced nopales (chili peppers / coriander) & rubber, w/ chocolate flickering around battata (type of sweet potato)
Mouthfeel 13.2 / 15
| Texture: | softly tender butter of lite-heavyweight frame |
| Melt: | patient; elapsed as an hourglass... practically zero astringency |
Flavor 46.7 / 50
swoops in huge chocolate plum -> neroli -> mamey sapote -> whipping cattails (especially its squash blossom component) -> battata -> spice flush (coriander / white pepper / mace) -> restrained bitter, the understory of depth, unhinges breadnut -> acid fruits from earlier crisscross back w/ greater zing-zang citric force, winding toward guava & guanabana, just shy of bile -> funnels prickly cactus nopales for a little post-party depression
Quality 18.9 / 20
Sensational opening sheds darkness over a versatile coarse of its evolution to brightening acids - without altogether losing track of core baseline chocolate flavor - that tannins are able to support & uphold. Marcolini checks all the boxes on this one: a clean bean, decent enough ferment, roasted just below his hot-norm, & among his finer conches to date (long, though well short of stripping away all those willing volatiles).
Easy to ascertain just how ‘Porcelana’ this strain really is since its feral fruit nature shares traits with Diego Badaró from Brazil. Speculators raise the possibility whether this might be some variant of the white Amazon type known as Catongo. Genetics, however, indicate a faux Porcelana: an F1 clone (Amelonado with some timid Criollo), then purposely underfermented to keep 'em whitish.
The net result tastes less agressive than Coppeneur’s version of this cacáo sourced from the same Finca La Joya near Tulipán Mexico, delivering controlled bitterness & fuller chocolate; the differential, as shown in their respective textures, being the lengthier conche & balmier butter which also translates into a softer profile here.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, lecithin, Tahitian vanilla
Easy to ascertain just how ‘Porcelana’ this strain really is since its feral fruit nature shares traits with Diego Badaró from Brazil. Speculators raise the possibility whether this might be some variant of the white Amazon type known as Catongo. Genetics, however, indicate a faux Porcelana: an F1 clone (Amelonado with some timid Criollo), then purposely underfermented to keep 'em whitish.
The net result tastes less agressive than Coppeneur’s version of this cacáo sourced from the same Finca La Joya near Tulipán Mexico, delivering controlled bitterness & fuller chocolate; the differential, as shown in their respective textures, being the lengthier conche & balmier butter which also translates into a softer profile here.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, lecithin, Tahitian vanilla