Impact
Appearance 3.7 / 5
medium-large seeds
medium-large seeds
| Color: | ink jet brown; quite uniform thru & thru |
| Surface: | easy-off husks / parchment paper |
| Temper: | lightly buffed |
| Snap: | n/a |
Aroma 6.8 / 10
pretty acetic: vinegar & film developer, some so stinky / sticky they clump together -> once unshelled they emit pencil shavings (lead No. 2) & tobacco leaf -> leather
Mouthfeel 12.6 / 15
| Texture: | cocoa crisps + some grit |
| Melt: | gruel |
Flavor 45.2 / 50
faint cocoa -> mineralizes beautifully over a wood veneer -> forested mushroom -> umami FXs (cassava chips) -> slight herbal back -> tolerant bitter at the very end
Quality 17.8 / 20
Very satisfying; excellent in fact.
Simple, perhaps too simple, as maybe the ferment -- still lingering on the husk -- could've gone longer to penetrate the seeds more to impart vital flavor pre-cursors.
Hard to argue with the results though: scant bittering (except for the dying end) & what a constancy of flavor once it hits mid-palate.
The degree to which Monda roasts really measures & nuances this Amelonado genotype & nicely squares its compounds. Precious few are prominent in number, & those mainly residing at the lower strata of the spectrum, but well defined & articulated.
And done in situ no less; a demo of just how serious Monda is in taking cacáo to the next level by keeping its processing close to home (in this case Nicaragua). The kind of bean that screams "CHOCOLATE" in the tradition of the Xoco-sourced Indio Rojo.
ING: whole bean cocoa
Reviewed January 11, 2012
Simple, perhaps too simple, as maybe the ferment -- still lingering on the husk -- could've gone longer to penetrate the seeds more to impart vital flavor pre-cursors.
Hard to argue with the results though: scant bittering (except for the dying end) & what a constancy of flavor once it hits mid-palate.
The degree to which Monda roasts really measures & nuances this Amelonado genotype & nicely squares its compounds. Precious few are prominent in number, & those mainly residing at the lower strata of the spectrum, but well defined & articulated.
And done in situ no less; a demo of just how serious Monda is in taking cacáo to the next level by keeping its processing close to home (in this case Nicaragua). The kind of bean that screams "CHOCOLATE" in the tradition of the Xoco-sourced Indio Rojo.
ING: whole bean cocoa
Reviewed January 11, 2012