FLAVOR PROFILE : Earthen; dry wood, occasional spice (cinnamon), & sharp cherry
CHARACTERISTICS : tannic, simple, & aggressive
Probable descendent of the 1st documented cacáo harvested in the Old World starting in 1822. That, a transplant of a transplant from, in all likelihood, Espirito Santo, Brazil to Principe Island off the coast of West Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. While joined by an hybrid type introduced in the 1950s, Principe may still possess near copies of those original heirloom grafts, providing a taste of some direct history grown in its volcanic clay soil. Offshoots of this crop eventually made their way to neighboring São Tomé which, in turn, provided the seedlings for most of the production on the Africa continent today, a crucial link to the mainland for what’s known as West African Amelonado
