Impact
What is this stuff? A spread? A dip? A sauce? Fudge, móle, ganache, fine frosting... some lotion, gel or face cream?
Soft chocolate? Spoon chocolate? Chocolate butter? Whipped chocolate?
Really now, what is it?
For the answer, see Quality section below.
Soft chocolate? Spoon chocolate? Chocolate butter? Whipped chocolate?
Really now, what is it?
For the answer, see Quality section below.
Appearance 4.8 / 5
| Color: | Crayola™ brown |
| Surface: | perfectly smooth |
| Temper: | matte |
| Snap: | n/a (unless breaking the glass jar it comes in) |
Aroma 7.6 / 10
what starts life on basic cocoa-cream aerates rapidly as the tannins oxidize into leather, copal, tobacco & a fringe tang
still, all pretty planar
still, all pretty planar
Mouthfeel 12.3 / 15
| Texture: | slick & sleek & so slippery it probably wouldn't even hire itself |
| Melt: | comparatively lightning-fast & cool on the tongue |
Flavor 42.7 / 50
kids cocoa-nut (cocoa+coco) -> vanilla -> mild tannic attack -> tobacco smoke thru oak (beautiful) -> lone pistachio -> caramel (in a back-cross to the vanilla) the after-linger
Quality 17.4 / 20
Q: What is this?
A: Simple spreadable stuff... but in the deep chocolate vein (notwithstanding the rather paltry 54% cacáo-content) & different.
The coconut difference.
Nova swaps out adding any cocoa butter for expeller-pressed coconut oil. Not quite a solid, coconut oil can be likened to water's various phases (liquid / solid / vapor). It reduces the melting point of a chocolate by about 10ºF (noticeable in the Mouthfeel), thus galvanizing a quicker release.
Very clean too, this particular oil modestly imparts its own flavor to taste almost clarified, serving more as a canvas that absorbs the cocoa compounds, then carries them forward beyond their weight in cacáo-content... however rapidly.
Despite that, the length is not entirely short... nor very long either; a middle concourse of sorts.
Otherwise, Nova's approach calls for a suitably simple process: out of the oven & into the grinder & that's about it.
A real crowd-getter that only looks 'quick 'n easy' because a lot of preparation has gone in behind it to get the sensory profile right.
ING: cocoa mass, coconut oil, sugar
Reviewed January 12, 2012
A: Simple spreadable stuff... but in the deep chocolate vein (notwithstanding the rather paltry 54% cacáo-content) & different.
The coconut difference.
Nova swaps out adding any cocoa butter for expeller-pressed coconut oil. Not quite a solid, coconut oil can be likened to water's various phases (liquid / solid / vapor). It reduces the melting point of a chocolate by about 10ºF (noticeable in the Mouthfeel), thus galvanizing a quicker release.
Very clean too, this particular oil modestly imparts its own flavor to taste almost clarified, serving more as a canvas that absorbs the cocoa compounds, then carries them forward beyond their weight in cacáo-content... however rapidly.
Despite that, the length is not entirely short... nor very long either; a middle concourse of sorts.
Otherwise, Nova's approach calls for a suitably simple process: out of the oven & into the grinder & that's about it.
A real crowd-getter that only looks 'quick 'n easy' because a lot of preparation has gone in behind it to get the sensory profile right.
ING: cocoa mass, coconut oil, sugar
Reviewed January 12, 2012