Diego's Decadence
by Kallari-Sacha
Impact
A "hand-tempered" bar. Tempering the end-stage process by which a barsmith raises, then lowers, & finally returns the temperature back up on molten chocolate to set its butter crystals in, ideally, a Beta V phase. This imparts both a glossy sheen to the finished bar's visuals as well as a sensuous mouth-feel during the meltdown.
Why stop there though? How about ditching machinery altogether; pull out a metate & rolling pin & go all in on the manual processing of chocolate?
Because to do so is a back-breaking bitch & so anti-evolutionary nowadays that it deserves a nomination for a Darwin Award.
As is, this bar follows the drive-thru at the car wash when, at the very end, the crew opens the doors to hand wipe the windshield for that extra shine (& tip).
Decadence is a helluva self-indulgence.
Grinding away... from the Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin Cone Collection, circa 18th century
Why stop there though? How about ditching machinery altogether; pull out a metate & rolling pin & go all in on the manual processing of chocolate?
Because to do so is a back-breaking bitch & so anti-evolutionary nowadays that it deserves a nomination for a Darwin Award.
As is, this bar follows the drive-thru at the car wash when, at the very end, the crew opens the doors to hand wipe the windshield for that extra shine (& tip).
Decadence is a helluva self-indulgence.
Appearance 3.2 / 5
| Color: | magenta brown |
| Surface: | smudges & scratches |
| Temper: | the quiet reflection of 1-hand tempering |
| Snap: | close & intimate |
Aroma 8.3 / 10
archetypal Ecuador -- fresh forest meadow air -- charged with ions -- eventually blows in a coconut palm breeze
Mouthfeel 11.1 / 15
| Texture: | Wax Factor™ |
| Melt: | coconut shred / Nib fraction |
Flavor 32.8 / 50
same start as Kallari's earlier 85% iteration... climbing vines around raw cacao -> latex -> coconut (mostly shell) -> chonta palm -> vanilla-coated chalk / caulk / sheetrock -> musty / moldy finish over green walnut
Quality 10.7 / 20
Apparently Kallari, in a brand identity crisis, in the guise of this Sacha, in a counterintuitive MBA 101 course to confuse the marketplace, strives to enter the lucrative "raw chocolate" space.
Highly underdeveloped. Even more choked off than this bar's predecessor. By so compressing the flavor points, however, it succeeds in eliminating the extremes towards a more confined & bearable experience, though not necessarily any better. But it is "butter" since cocoa butter dominates much of the middle course & the formulation (CBS [Cocoa mass / Butter / Sugar ratio]: 2:4:1), followed by coconut (a suspicious shred in the post-melt reveals possible coconut contamination).
The kind of slag that vogue-seekers will exalt, mistakenly, as something "authentico". Which entitles it a gold star at some awards ceremony soon.
For Diego's sake -- Kallari's lead coordinator on the ground in Ecuador -- let's hope there's some other decadence he can enjoy in his life.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla
Reviewed February 27, 2013
Highly underdeveloped. Even more choked off than this bar's predecessor. By so compressing the flavor points, however, it succeeds in eliminating the extremes towards a more confined & bearable experience, though not necessarily any better. But it is "butter" since cocoa butter dominates much of the middle course & the formulation (CBS [Cocoa mass / Butter / Sugar ratio]: 2:4:1), followed by coconut (a suspicious shred in the post-melt reveals possible coconut contamination).
The kind of slag that vogue-seekers will exalt, mistakenly, as something "authentico". Which entitles it a gold star at some awards ceremony soon.
For Diego's sake -- Kallari's lead coordinator on the ground in Ecuador -- let's hope there's some other decadence he can enjoy in his life.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla
Reviewed February 27, 2013