Plain Dark
by Oakland
Impact
Easy, mon as in ‘easy-does-it’ allows this to live up to its name of Plain (& deceptively simple... as in extra-ordinary). Almost sidereal: a Chocolate-champagne, the latter popularly associated with the Benedictine monk Dom Pierre Perignon (1638-1715). Although he neither invented nor discovered it, he founded many principles & processes in its production that are still in use today. Upon sipping the bubbly he reportedly declared, “I am drinking stars.”
This bar amounts to champagne for less than the price of beer.
This bar amounts to champagne for less than the price of beer.
Appearance 3.9 / 5
real home-made look
real home-made look
| Color: | on the light side of brown |
| Surface: | thick brush strokes |
| Temper: | oily |
| Snap: | sharp & low |
Aroma 7 / 10
strange mix of creosote & champagne with the coal-tar & ash-wood dominant
Mouthfeel 11.8 / 15
| Texture: | powderful & dry |
| Melt: | mass & fat separate into liquid with globs |
Flavor 45.6 / 50
spices in on Jamaican allspice + a flash surprise champagne-grape -> lychee-like guinep settles thru to cocoa cream -> rubber bounces off cocoa butter -> with figs the fruits really start coming on strong (sapote, canned peach, ackee + yam) -> Milk Chocolate ending... loiters around golden raisin
Quality 16.4 / 20
‘Home-ground’ / kitchen-ware from scratch. Probably cooked in a convection oven & finished in a jerry-rigged mixer (hell, maybe even a Cuisinart™). Expect no golden roasts or sub-20 microns on the Mouthfeel.
Which all points to this bar’s redeeming feature.
Jamaica can be a fragile cacáo. Industrial or even vintage equipment could’ve laid this to waste.
Oakland Chocolate Company calls it about right & brings justice to the origin. If it goes even a little hard, giving this the rough treatment, the bar would’ve sacrificed the few delicate compounds it possesses &, in the process, threaten its charming humility.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter
Reviewed July 2011
Which all points to this bar’s redeeming feature.
Jamaica can be a fragile cacáo. Industrial or even vintage equipment could’ve laid this to waste.
Oakland Chocolate Company calls it about right & brings justice to the origin. If it goes even a little hard, giving this the rough treatment, the bar would’ve sacrificed the few delicate compounds it possesses &, in the process, threaten its charming humility.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter
Reviewed July 2011