60%
by Q Aquim
Impact
Samantha Aquim, the woman behind Q Aquim Chocolate, defies the odds in making the difficult taste easy. Take this bar as an exemplar.
Appearance 3.5 / 5
| Color: | pewter biege |
| Surface: | ravaged |
| Temper: | fried |
| Snap: | bends without balking |
Aroma 6.4 / 10
equestrian
a horse's behind
in a barn strewn with hay
in a forest reserve
vents plain cocoa
a horse's behind
in a barn strewn with hay
in a forest reserve
vents plain cocoa
Mouthfeel 12.9 / 15
| Texture: | exceptionally smooth for a 60%... |
| Melt: | ... not a trace of grain save for a fleck or 2 of what feels like coconut shred |
Flavor 43.6 / 50
cocoa rides in on bare horseback greased in butter -> light purple flowers (plum blossoms) -> wood -> milky choc finish (almost coconut milk) with wood backing
Quality 18 / 20
Strong tone & backbone for the semi-sweet range; one of the more stalwart 60%s around... anywhere.
Very able cacáo presence in the face of 40% sugar; the tannic force cuts thru.
Results of this same cacáo type at higher percentages suggest that relatively high sugaring suits it well. Hence, thoughtful formulation / calibration here by Q Aquim with respect to this particular bar.
And that Texture -- excluding the aberrant shreds -- exceedingly uniform, the particulates pulverized, then subsumed into a soft butter, bespeaks a well conched operation. Indeed, this bar the first of Q Aquim's line to show noticeable butter flavor.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar
Reviewed May 9, 2013
Very able cacáo presence in the face of 40% sugar; the tannic force cuts thru.
Results of this same cacáo type at higher percentages suggest that relatively high sugaring suits it well. Hence, thoughtful formulation / calibration here by Q Aquim with respect to this particular bar.
And that Texture -- excluding the aberrant shreds -- exceedingly uniform, the particulates pulverized, then subsumed into a soft butter, bespeaks a well conched operation. Indeed, this bar the first of Q Aquim's line to show noticeable butter flavor.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar
Reviewed May 9, 2013