Impact
Lovely Haiti... a chocolate barfly: sometimes what’s imagined seems so real one doesn’t know if they’re daydreaming or not.
For instance, freed cotton-pickers who came North & saw snowflakes the size of cotton balls, thinking they were heaven-sent.
Or this fig-chocolate. Or chocolate-fig? Which is which?
For instance, freed cotton-pickers who came North & saw snowflakes the size of cotton balls, thinking they were heaven-sent.
Or this fig-chocolate. Or chocolate-fig? Which is which?
Appearance 3.9 / 5
| Color: | marooned brown |
| Surface: | beats a bit of a hasty retreat on the finish (a few flakes, scratches, grease pips) |
| Temper: | slight downcast to the sheen |
| Snap: | medium strength; warbles w/ a little wobble (could go either way – courage or cowardice); airholes along the break wall |
Aroma 7.2 / 10
dooky, dirt, BMX rubber... the Earth unrefined... only sorghum & trace manioc suggest a foodstuff -> eventually punctuated by cloves & black pepper to nicely cover it
Mouthfeel 13.2 / 15
| Texture: | uniform & pillowed |
| Melt: | auto-magick... practically melts itself |
Flavor 44.7 / 50
sharp start dispels those fretful rumors in the Aroma: the spices bathed in a clean chocolate wash -> monster figs (first calmyrna then black mission) -> butter brings on manioc tones -> idles briefly on breadfruit -> spices stage a 2nd wind this time around along w/ bergamot -> excellent chocolate-dipped plantain stem... + a pinch or so of talc & sisal twine -> lite stringent rum grips at the very back
Quality 17.5 / 20
Humble Haiti has the rep of being so far from the cacáo gods yet so close to D.R., having gotten literally the short end of the island’s landmass, soil & trees.
This bar isn’t giving up an inch of ground however.
And for good cause.
Competent work on ferment & drying produce a respectable cocoa (though the twine at the finish suggests jute sacks & storage issues). The overall chocolate drive & the identifiable fig note which Stéphane Bonnat candidily admits is a mistake in his otherwise regulation roast makes up for any shortcomings. And the bergamot? Seemingly all natural compared to that freak bar from neighboring D.R.
To top it off, judging form this as well as Richart’s St. Domingue, Haiti’s cacáo feels endowed with a soft butter padding.
Proceeds go to l’Association des Vétérinaires sans Frontières for Haitian earthquake relief. A veiled comment that animals are more trustworthy than humans? (See Tenende Tanzania by Askinosie).
ING: cocoa mass, cacáo butter, sugar
Reviewed January 2011
This bar isn’t giving up an inch of ground however.
And for good cause.
Competent work on ferment & drying produce a respectable cocoa (though the twine at the finish suggests jute sacks & storage issues). The overall chocolate drive & the identifiable fig note which Stéphane Bonnat candidily admits is a mistake in his otherwise regulation roast makes up for any shortcomings. And the bergamot? Seemingly all natural compared to that freak bar from neighboring D.R.
To top it off, judging form this as well as Richart’s St. Domingue, Haiti’s cacáo feels endowed with a soft butter padding.
Proceeds go to l’Association des Vétérinaires sans Frontières for Haitian earthquake relief. A veiled comment that animals are more trustworthy than humans? (See Tenende Tanzania by Askinosie).
ING: cocoa mass, cacáo butter, sugar
Reviewed January 2011