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Info Details
Country Germany   
Type Dark   (72%)
Strain Ocumare   (Subclone 61; Criollo)
Source Venezuela   (Aragua; Ocumare de la Costa Valley)
Flavor Naked   
Style Neo-Modern      
lo
med
hi
CQ
Sweetness
Acidity
Bitterness
Roast
Intensity
Complexity
Structure
Length
Impact
Simple & simply great... & a bit outspoken for an Empress of Criollo. Dark chocolate cream pie - a genuine Ocumare very close to the popular conception of exactly what chocolate should taste like... namely, like chocolate (free of any overweening nuances) & nothing but.
Appearance   5 / 5
dangerously gorgeous
Color: perfect pitch brown w/ garnet hiding for mahogany effect; slightly opaque
Surface: museum-level silk-plate (event swirling / designer-whorls / A-1 styling on graphic imprinting)
Temper: soft glint finish
Snap: excellent choice on the thickness of this pour; quick, crisp; fine crumb & cleave
Aroma   9 / 10
cocoa-cream / light cherry fudge-pie, crusted caramel; spicy fern & humus; leather backing; all light, fairly pure (no vanilla / lecithin added) w/ minute wax factor
Mouthfeel   12.4 / 15
Texture: muddy for good rear molar chew...
Melt: ... viscous velvet cream - which only slows & prolongs the sensation
Flavor   46.7 / 50
unpacks seemingly dutched cocoa -> charcoal-grilled almond flicks off an ash flint -> harsh chocolate tannins thunder across the pal to balance acidic ‘ground cherry’ (a variety indigenous to Central & South America; flavor of tomato/pineapple -strawberry w/ wild musk/peat undertone) -> resolves mercifully to brief passing red currant -> onto pain au chocolat w/ chestnut puree -> roasted cocoa -> mocha brownie seals the deal
Quality   18.9 / 20
Through a dark glass, roasting on the edge & within an eyelash of its life (that burnt coffee finish). Still, among Coppeneur’s kindest yet.

This was the bar that convinced that Coppeneur was on its way. A first sample of it years ago -- well before the label's ascent to the summit of chocolate when many thought the company was just a middle-of-the-pack copycat of Pralus (or worse) -- showed, yes, a Pralus-like roast but also a finesse in the formulation.

Aromatic components fired & fused into a huge single-sided wall of cacáo hanging out a provocative bitter & an unusual acidity before absorbing them back into the chocolate grain. No silly over-fermenting or heavy-handed lecithin either.

A real turning point for this chocolate maker. Let's hope it stays that way despite the departure of managing partner Georg Bernardini.

ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter

Reviewed Spring 2007

  

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