Impact
Valrhona, ever the ethnobotantists, presumably named this after the Taino people of Hispaniola whom Columbus encountered on his 1st voyage, describing them as gentle & generous, with the sweetest voices & laughter in all the world. Which must’ve just made easier prey for the Spanish who worked many to death in gold mines & sugar cane fields while others elected to commit suicide, some leaping off cliffs, rather than face colonial rule.
This bar is no death spiral though; it jumps with bittersweet pride.
This bar is no death spiral though; it jumps with bittersweet pride.
Appearance 4.7 / 5
| Color: | huge rouge factor; scarlet brown |
| Surface: | sleek & smooth |
| Temper: | opaque linoleum |
| Snap: | crisp & high-pitched for a 64%, attributable more to the thin pour than to any poor temper |
Aroma 8.4 / 10
tobacco citrus... cigar leaf dripping tropical juice & cilantro -> wood underneath; shades of Vestri’s Naturale
Mouthfeel 12.7 / 15
| Texture: | lightweight frame |
| Melt: | fast flow; & practically too hyper smooth to get a tongue-hold |
Flavor 42.2 / 50
sugar bends down into deep chocolate -> mango to brief citric black currant -> unexpected cream-tone takes over the length -> banana chestnut -> mamon -> batata (sweet potato) -> cocoa apricot -> light tobacco leaf puffs up the only real apparition of a bitter in the after-throat
Quality 17.9 / 20
Acidity in the aromatics fully sublimated by sugar that generates a radical shift into sweet white & yellow fruits while maintaining Valrhona's hallmarks of balance & control. True to form, an assiduous bean selection even as this bar continues the company’s move slightly away from stronger ferments producing those Twang effects on which it made its name, & more toward the lower frequencies.
ING: cocoa beans, sugar, cacáo butter, soy lecithin, vanilla
ING: cocoa beans, sugar, cacáo butter, soy lecithin, vanilla