Impact
Panda bears live on a strict bamboo diet. Nibs like these might (initially) fool them.
No wonder Amano’s Jembrana bars are fine-sublime.
These unsculpted gems (nibs, that is) must be cracked from some happy beans. They're too good (at least earlier on) to talk while consuming - not that anyone will be able to anyways with nibs trapped between teeth, under the tongue, stuck in the throat... before it takes the suicidal death-march (as most Nibs do) known locally in Bali as puputan.
Resistance is then required to the bitter end because these nibs never surrender.
No wonder Amano’s Jembrana bars are fine-sublime.
These unsculpted gems (nibs, that is) must be cracked from some happy beans. They're too good (at least earlier on) to talk while consuming - not that anyone will be able to anyways with nibs trapped between teeth, under the tongue, stuck in the throat... before it takes the suicidal death-march (as most Nibs do) known locally in Bali as puputan.
Resistance is then required to the bitter end because these nibs never surrender.
Appearance 4.5 / 5
| Color: | generally light, almost Milk Choc brown |
| Surface: | mostly small-to-medium fragments |
| Temper: | semi-frosted |
| Snap: | n/a |
Aroma 8.3 / 10
similar banana uptake as Amano's Accra Nibs - hardly surprising since both share a fair amount of genetic lineage: pulverized bamboo wood chips mixed w/ cocoa dust swirling around banana / mangosteen -> kerosene lights up a little peat-manure
Mouthfeel 11.2 / 15
| Texture: | work zone ahead: some dirt & grit along w/ nibs (Winnowing issues) |
| Melt: | good fat content & body |
Flavor 42.6 / 50
enters a very light break (bael + pedalai = peach-breadfruit toast) -> banana -> cocoa-bamboo shoots -> figs -> brazil nut -> pots down into wild mushrooms & soiled greens (akebia, gale leaf, & watercress) bring acidity along with bittering qualities... forward momentum stalls like this -> scatches against a green walnut then bumps up green coffee bean -> background bitter comes fore, strong & dirty (mugwort) -> datura & medicinal fingerroot -> mite cocoa in the deep shaft along w/ trace citrus
Quality 17.4 / 20
Very much the parent to Amano’s 70% Jembrana bar which also starts spectacularly kind, then the same DNA grounds down into subsoil elements. (Tip: chewing hard & fast may conche some of the bitterness out.)
A clear window nonetheless onto the genetics of this type from Bali & its flavor potential (especially those early aromatics that provide ebullient flavor tags) once it's fully developed by chocolate processing.
Amano renders a relatively light-handed touch in their vintage ball roaster to spare those delicate notes upfront that, conversely, also preserves the harsh ones at the back (further aggravated by imperfect Winnowing).
A mixed bag of beans, so to speak.
ING: cocoa nibs
Reviewed Autumn 2010
A clear window nonetheless onto the genetics of this type from Bali & its flavor potential (especially those early aromatics that provide ebullient flavor tags) once it's fully developed by chocolate processing.
Amano renders a relatively light-handed touch in their vintage ball roaster to spare those delicate notes upfront that, conversely, also preserves the harsh ones at the back (further aggravated by imperfect Winnowing).
A mixed bag of beans, so to speak.
ING: cocoa nibs
Reviewed Autumn 2010