Impact
PNG lies close enough to Australia to be its suburb except it’s too wild for most, in the way the Bronx scares Connecticut or Compton the San Fernando Valley. Undaunted, Dean & Michelle Morgan of Zokoko make numerous forays to the island. This bar shows that they know it as well as the back of their hand. Very astute & studied, taking the rambunctious nature of PNG cacáo & taming it in the likes of
Cluizel with a semi-dark offering to satisfy sweet-tooth Aussies back home in their urban confines, living within gated communities, inside cages behind golden-chocolate bars.
With a chocolate this benign there's no need for such confinement.
With a chocolate this benign there's no need for such confinement.
Appearance 4.1 / 5
| Color: | annatto brown (sort of yellowish-red) |
| Surface: | active as this volcanic island itself – brush marks, pitting, bubbling |
| Temper: | hazy |
| Snap: | sub-terrain eruption |
Aroma 7.7 / 10
short, small berry yields to typical hammy PNG (think of hickory-smoked bacon) plus, instead of the common peat, an unusual peanut of karuka for a wild toffee signature -> oxidizes cocoa, moss & hops (some tar-inflected betel too)
Mouthfeel 12.4 / 15
| Texture: | cream-smooth |
| Melt: | lecithin-buoyant |
Flavor 44 / 50
loads in vanilla caramel -> rapid berry response (sunberry to the gooseberry-like wampi) -> sweet champedak pulp -> akebia -> cocoa struggling to assert itself in vain as alternating berry & spice form a duopoly to vie for attention -> surprise!... kakura nut wins out
Quality 17.1 / 20
Uncommon for PNG. Dilute & passive (CBS [Cocoa Mass/Butter/Sugar ratio]: 1 / 2.5 / 2.5) but very kind.
This one very much on the outlier of a bean selection.
Clones grown on Tokiala Estate in East New Britain which sets it distinctly apart & off the coast from the PNG "mainland" & therefore away from where most premium barsmiths source their cocoa in this country (this in spite of the province harvesting more than half of PNG's total cocoa production). Its cacáo inheres this bar with natural vanilla tones to seem Snicker™-friendly. Then one-third sugar comes along with gentle coaxing from Zokoko’s lite roast to really take PNG’s oft-unruly cacáo to charm school.
That usually raucous in-bred nature is one reason why the island’s character suits it fine in the Milk Choc format where it usually racks up the ratings. Here, with all the sugaring & clonal types, this almost mimics the same with that caramelized front. Fermented for a whole week allows it to cut thru the cane crystals some, without overwhelming them (or vice-versa... unlike Zokoko’s Alto Bení which overly sweetens the frame). In fact, just the opposite transpires: they play well on each other for vanilla-spiced caramel-berries.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter, lecithin
Reviewed August 8, 2011
This one very much on the outlier of a bean selection.
Clones grown on Tokiala Estate in East New Britain which sets it distinctly apart & off the coast from the PNG "mainland" & therefore away from where most premium barsmiths source their cocoa in this country (this in spite of the province harvesting more than half of PNG's total cocoa production). Its cacáo inheres this bar with natural vanilla tones to seem Snicker™-friendly. Then one-third sugar comes along with gentle coaxing from Zokoko’s lite roast to really take PNG’s oft-unruly cacáo to charm school.
That usually raucous in-bred nature is one reason why the island’s character suits it fine in the Milk Choc format where it usually racks up the ratings. Here, with all the sugaring & clonal types, this almost mimics the same with that caramelized front. Fermented for a whole week allows it to cut thru the cane crystals some, without overwhelming them (or vice-versa... unlike Zokoko’s Alto Bení which overly sweetens the frame). In fact, just the opposite transpires: they play well on each other for vanilla-spiced caramel-berries.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter, lecithin
Reviewed August 8, 2011