Impact
In the Caura Forest, south of Barlovento, Venezuela from where this cacáo hails, lurk big bullet ants called hormiga veinticuatro (24-hour ants) since their intense sting gives anyone with whom they come into contact the uncontrollable shakes for a whole day.
Justin O. Schmidt, the entomologist whose name graces The Schmidt Sting Index, rated the relative intensity caused by the stings of nearly 80 species of insects in the Hymenoptera order -- which includes wasps, bees, & ants. He subjected himself to stings, ranking & describing them in colorful detail – much like the C-spot™ does for chocolate. The Veinticuatro received his highest rating at 4.0+ because they feel "pure... brilliant... like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heel".
The Nibs in this do the same – stinging the taste-buds in an entirely good way – then balms them in the emollience of cocoa butter from the smooth chocolate portion of the bar.
The yin-yang of pleasure & pain.
Justin O. Schmidt, the entomologist whose name graces The Schmidt Sting Index, rated the relative intensity caused by the stings of nearly 80 species of insects in the Hymenoptera order -- which includes wasps, bees, & ants. He subjected himself to stings, ranking & describing them in colorful detail – much like the C-spot™ does for chocolate. The Veinticuatro received his highest rating at 4.0+ because they feel "pure... brilliant... like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heel".
The Nibs in this do the same – stinging the taste-buds in an entirely good way – then balms them in the emollience of cocoa butter from the smooth chocolate portion of the bar.
The yin-yang of pleasure & pain.
Appearance 4.4 / 5
| Color: | dirt brown |
| Surface: | extreme clean upfront; Nibs & oil slicks on back |
| Temper: | muddy & opaque |
| Snap: | cracker barrel |
Aroma 8.3 / 10
sharp tobacco leaf spiced in vanilla & mace cuts a devil’s cake of chocolate... dark thick paste -> leather ‘n oak buttress some smoking caramel -> dense fudge hole at the bottom filled w/ flickering papaya
Mouthfeel 14.5 / 15
| Texture: | good mouth... contrasting soft-crunch / unctuous-butter |
| Melt: | controlled chaos |
Flavor 47.9 / 50
attacks out the gate w/ that papaya against a solid chocolate baseboard -> piercing Nibs bring a nut-counter (pistachio & roasted cashew) -> soft honey-caramel in the now swollen underbelly -> intensely deep charcoal brownie spiced w/ vanilla-nutmeg, moistened by light lychee & mango -> minor green leaf tobacco around the edges -> sweats out more fruited chocolate... for days
Quality 19 / 20
A thoroughbred stinger... no let up from the starting block to the after finish. Idilio / Flechlin carefully superintending the process; marksmen really, sniping every facet. That includes abandoning Felchlin's fabled longitudinal conch for a modern round one that better handles the volatiles.
Maybe a tad hot on the roaster button... just quibbles really in a bar that beautifully harmonizes the fruits... all of them.
Usually a hybrid such as Nibs in Chocolate takes on less fruit than a chocolate bar alone without Nibs. This does just the opposite.
In a portfolio that sports several really good bars, this is a great one. Very deserving of high marks, the upper extension of a steadily progressive line quite unlike the shock of Bessone's chart topping aberration.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter, nibs
Reviewed Summer 2010
Maybe a tad hot on the roaster button... just quibbles really in a bar that beautifully harmonizes the fruits... all of them.
Usually a hybrid such as Nibs in Chocolate takes on less fruit than a chocolate bar alone without Nibs. This does just the opposite.
In a portfolio that sports several really good bars, this is a great one. Very deserving of high marks, the upper extension of a steadily progressive line quite unlike the shock of Bessone's chart topping aberration.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter, nibs
Reviewed Summer 2010