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Grenada

by Barsmiths™ Chocolate
Info Details
Country USA   
Type Semi-Dark   (75%)
Strain
Source Grenada   (St. Mark; Nonpareil; Crayfish Bay Estate)
Flavor Naked   (back in Earthen)
Style Old School      
lo
med
hi
CQ
Sweetness
Acidity
Bitterness
Roast
Intensity
Complexity
Structure
Length
Impact
An email, unsolicited, drops into the spam box.

In the flicker of just before clicking the 'Delete Forever' button, its subject header grabs some attention: Free $50 Bar of Chocolate.

Well, the C-spot® ain't in it for the free stuff. Seen lots of $50 boxes of chocolate with bows & ribbons & other frills. But a $50 bar? Must be very large or very many smaller ones stacked together, ala Pralus' Pyramid. Besides, if it's free, then it ain't really $50? Huh, another marketing gimmick.

Curiosity opens the email. It read, "We have been lurkers on your site for over a year now. We love it. So much that we want to name our chocolate project after something we first saw on the C-spot -- "Barsmiths". How do you feel about that? Are you OK with it?"

Verklempt & honored (fighting back tears!!)… well, yeah, of course & thanks for asking. show more »
Appearance   4.5 / 5
Color: cinnamon biege
Surface: sanded...
Temper: … matte
Snap: midrange; some crumbling on the edge
Aroma   9.1 / 10
super-soft butter-supple calf leather (the stuff cut for Prada's tan pants)
lemongrass & rosemary
Mouthfeel   12 / 15
Texture: fine particulate grit
Melt: urgent
Flavor   44.9 / 50
clean light-breaking chocolate with Milk Choc countenance -> hops & orange fruit acid (mango & mandarin) -> nut -> jute / hay action -> minor back bitter
Quality   17.6 / 20
Unlike any Grenada to date; vitally none of the raucous & unruly features commonplace to this island. Largely due to being, presumably, true single-source rather than pulling from several different properties, as is the case of Grenada Chocolate Company or L.A. Burdick.

Personally selected from an old estate in an isolated pocket after being treated to a fermentation-drying cycle of a couple weeks. The combination of some predigreed cacáos (again, presumably, descended from some possible ancient relics) & favorable terra account for its standing out from its neighbors that make up the bulk of Grenada's supply.

From there, Barsmiths™ Chocolate brings it home to a convection oven for a low 'n slow roast, then exquisitely hand-peels (!?!?!?) in family get-togethers (putting those kids to work?) before "refining" in a Premier Wonder Grinder for 55 hours.

It all works.

Precocious chocolate from an upstart. Exceedingly well-mannered yet dynamic. Truly a limited edition from an exclusive reserve.

INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar

Reviewed November 14, 2013

  

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