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Info Details
Country USA   
Type Dark   (70%; Batch #10-013)
Strain Hybrid   
Source Jamaica   
Flavor Earthen   
Style Industrial      
lo
med
hi
CQ
Sweetness
Acidity
Bitterness
Roast
Intensity
Complexity
Structure
Length
Impact
Jamaican cacáo may have originally come from Mesoamerica, an offshoot transplanted there by the European encounter with the Mexica / Aztecs.

If some chocolate from this island twinkles with star fruits under the Milk Way ala champagne bubbles, this bar could be a toast to tzitzimitl -- the Aztec deity associated with stars, especially those seen around the sun during a solar eclipse.

Virtually a total blackout.
Appearance   4.9 / 5
Color: beautifully burnt sienna
Surface: meticulously molded
Temper: neutral / natural
Snap: fragile (just one effect of low conching)
Aroma   7.7 / 10
thru the drum roaster darkly: leather / pleather / vinyl & Jamaican creosote overrun a fleeting champagne grape along with litchi-like guineps -> exudes fresh rubber to trap some sparkling juniper & star anise
Mouthfeel   12.1 / 15
Texture: soft & smooth
Melt: lightweight; semi-astringent
Flavor   38.3 / 50
uploads peach -> rapidly downshifts to black raisin then blackstrap molasses -> star anise hugs a dark rail (carob & chicory more than chocolate, & above all volcanic lahar... basically hot cement) -> treacles out black maple sap until butter balms it for black mission fig -> crumbles & disintegrates over toasted breadfruit
Quality   13.8 / 20
Fresco warns that #209 carries an “in-your-face earthiness from the start”. Not quite but almost.

Minimal conching to highlight the roast, renders a strange exhibition on this origin. The temperature gauges so strong that any flavor flags in this customarily delicate bean are burned off halfway down their concourse.

A prime example of a barsmith branding his maker’s mark on it rather than the other way around.

This bears more than just shades of Blanxart’s Congo 82%; it hides in its long dark shadows. Both houses share a current penchant to burn ‘em down -- leaving soot & syrup in their wake.

ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter; CBS (Cocoa mass / Butter / Sugar) ~3:3:2

Reviewed June 2011

  

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