Combava & Pink Pepper
by Menakao
Impact
A kind of edible Fab 4: cocoa, sugar, combava (aka keffir lime) & pink peppercorn -- add lecithin as the "5th Eatle" to manage & smooth 'em all over.
Appearance 4.4 / 5
| Color: | milken beige |
| Surface: | simple clean scoring up front with an etched pod; nicely undifferentiated on the back |
| Temper: | relaxed |
| Snap: | pretty vocal for a 63% |
Aroma 9.6 / 10
a confected powder room of warm spices, citrus blossoms & flowers
Mouthfeel 12.8 / 15
| Texture: | voluptuous with minute grain at the back |
| Melt: | protracted; clears out on some excellent, clean stringency |
Flavor 45.4 / 50
blooms forth into a spray of pink peppercorn florals, quickly backed in lovely light lime (& harmonizes sweetly), the inherent citrus of the corns in perfect alignment with the kaffir's own -> dapples of candy chocolate (basically sugar accented by chocolate) create a cocoa-lime sunsplash (outstanding) in a direct hit on the C-spot® (for Choc, Citrus & Climax) -> peppered resurgence as a pastel-offset for all-in-the-pool flavor -> goes down "arranged rum"
Quality 17.5 / 20
Pulls out the black pepper & the voatsiperifery in Menakao's Pepper Trio bar, leaves the pink pepper, & adds lime.
While other barsmiths experiment with habenero & heat all they want to burn holes in the sides of mouths, Menakao speaks in tongues of true flavor. Such a subtle hand -- no boiled peels or zest; just very natural & pure. And only a little sassy -- in an adorable way.
That "hint" (to use a term on the Banned Words LIst) of kaffir found in Menakao's unflavored 72% just pulsates here as the addition of it softly amplifies the FXs.
The lone flaw (& rather nib-picking at that): this could stand greater tannic presence (as is, sugar absorbs & overtakes chocolate). The caning then gets multiplied by the resident sweetness of the other components so by the finish a sugar bomb explodes with flavor fragments.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, lecithin, pink pepper, keffir lime
Reviewed August 1, 2012
While other barsmiths experiment with habenero & heat all they want to burn holes in the sides of mouths, Menakao speaks in tongues of true flavor. Such a subtle hand -- no boiled peels or zest; just very natural & pure. And only a little sassy -- in an adorable way.
That "hint" (to use a term on the Banned Words LIst) of kaffir found in Menakao's unflavored 72% just pulsates here as the addition of it softly amplifies the FXs.
The lone flaw (& rather nib-picking at that): this could stand greater tannic presence (as is, sugar absorbs & overtakes chocolate). The caning then gets multiplied by the resident sweetness of the other components so by the finish a sugar bomb explodes with flavor fragments.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, lecithin, pink pepper, keffir lime
Reviewed August 1, 2012