86% (Raw)
by Olivia
Impact
To the Inukitut-speaking peoples of the Canadian Arctic, northern Baffin Island is called Sirmilik -- “place of the glaciers” marked by fjords, snowcapped hoodoos & cliffs, ice sheets & eroded formations. In other words, generally uninhabitable.
Here's an unroasted "raw chocolate" from Canada's newest barsmith named Olivia that feels perfectly acclimated to Sirmilik's long, frigid winters & short, cold summers.
Sirmilik Nat'l Park captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua Satellite (image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team)
Here's an unroasted "raw chocolate" from Canada's newest barsmith named Olivia that feels perfectly acclimated to Sirmilik's long, frigid winters & short, cold summers.
Appearance 3.9 / 5
A Bar that Defies Gravity & Taste
| Color: | imposing |
| Surface: | generally good imprint |
| Temper: | midnight sun |
| Snap: | craggy |
Aroma 5.8 / 10
iced coffee & leather buried under the frozen tundragrass / moss + WTFudge... smoked Canadian bacon (oh, those tricky harvesters in the D.R. "hamming" it up for their northern neighbors)
Mouthfeel 12.8 / 15
| Texture: | lecithin smooth 'n round |
| Melt: | metronomic |
Flavor 36.3 / 50
raw cocoa against a flickering raisin -> vines & wood bark -> rubber trees -> buttered latex -> phosphorous-rich potted soil -> vanilla-clove background -> blows off course with some entrails of camp firewood
Quality 14.1 / 20
Most "raw chocolate" bars source their seeds from Ecuadorian slag. Exceptions include Fearless' Dark Midnight (Brazil) & now this -- from the island of D.R.
The green / vegetative attributes are compliments of no roast, while hammy aroma & wooden tongue speak to some fermentation/drying issues. Olivia then strips it down as much as possible in the conching so that scant bitterness & astringency remain (ditto, alas, flavor too). So much so that precious little difference exists between this & the label's roasted version.
Why bother then to abolish the island's hard-won reputation for Big Taste? That same rep, mind you, rooted in a strong tree stock & post-harvest methods, mollifies what should be a brutal percentage aggravated by low-impact processing.
In this bar's case, all for the sake of preserving "raw" cacao's ostensible health benefits &, naturally, marketing dollars.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, lecithin, vanilla
Reviewed March 13, 2012
The green / vegetative attributes are compliments of no roast, while hammy aroma & wooden tongue speak to some fermentation/drying issues. Olivia then strips it down as much as possible in the conching so that scant bitterness & astringency remain (ditto, alas, flavor too). So much so that precious little difference exists between this & the label's roasted version.
Why bother then to abolish the island's hard-won reputation for Big Taste? That same rep, mind you, rooted in a strong tree stock & post-harvest methods, mollifies what should be a brutal percentage aggravated by low-impact processing.
In this bar's case, all for the sake of preserving "raw" cacao's ostensible health benefits &, naturally, marketing dollars.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, lecithin, vanilla
Reviewed March 13, 2012