Gran Blanco
by Barsmiths™ Chocolate
Impact
The Aroma (below) vents up to the pinnacle of chocolate imperfection. A gold standard of inferior barsmithing that gives off the impression of something assembled at gunpoint.
Flavor mercifully dispels the dread.
Despite the slings & slights this label has suffered with previous releases, Barsmiths™ stays on it with an Edison-tested persistence: "I've not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
Very polished. A special occasion bar that will be sure to impress company. Especially if they see the receipt that speaks of someone in the 1%.
Flavor mercifully dispels the dread.
Despite the slings & slights this label has suffered with previous releases, Barsmiths™ stays on it with an Edison-tested persistence: "I've not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
Very polished. A special occasion bar that will be sure to impress company. Especially if they see the receipt that speaks of someone in the 1%.
Appearance 4.7 / 5
| Color: | darker than blanco (so named for its roughly 40% white seed count) with a li'l blushing cream |
| Surface: | perfect front; molten back |
| Temper: | hand-slabbed & excellent |
| Snap: | hi-gauge bullet |
Aroma 7.9 / 10
salt peter / gun powder 'n smoke directly off the steel barrel
oozes not blood but heavy sap that leads to canned fruit syrup
oozes not blood but heavy sap that leads to canned fruit syrup
Mouthfeel 13.3 / 15
| Texture: | soft foam |
| Melt: | takes a time-out |
Flavor 45.8 / 50
jumps off coffee arabica, pungent yet sweet -> resin-sap sweetner streams to treacle levels (a very common trait among northern Peruvian cacáos in the last couple harvests probably due to limited rainfall) -> bromeliad citrus exciter -> drips down into espresso -> walnut -> tantalizing cream at the final meltdown heralds cherimoya (so fine / refined)
Quality 18 / 20
Customized roast over 2 batches & blended together in this single bar. Moreover, Barsmiths™ also conches separately & only mixes the two for the last 8-hour shift, a degree of detailing practically unheard of with such rudimentary equipment.
The first roast, quite intense, generates that espresso-level shot at the front which draws all the way thru the second trimester of the progression. Some may object to it as too strident but it stays exceedingly clean & clear in its exposition. The rather steep roasting curve tops out at 285ºF for almost a half-hour prior to 64 hours conching. The second, lower & shorter along a more sloping curve, tends more toward citrus (at perceptual levels well above the 1.2% measured analytics on the seed in the lab), aided by just 48 hours in the conch cycle.
Both sides of this chocolate's composite flavor show what a quality cacáo Gran Blanco is… the self-same that won Amedei the gold at the Academy of Chocolate in 2012.
Barsmithing nearing its finest frontier.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar
Reviewed May 22, 2014
The first roast, quite intense, generates that espresso-level shot at the front which draws all the way thru the second trimester of the progression. Some may object to it as too strident but it stays exceedingly clean & clear in its exposition. The rather steep roasting curve tops out at 285ºF for almost a half-hour prior to 64 hours conching. The second, lower & shorter along a more sloping curve, tends more toward citrus (at perceptual levels well above the 1.2% measured analytics on the seed in the lab), aided by just 48 hours in the conch cycle.
Both sides of this chocolate's composite flavor show what a quality cacáo Gran Blanco is… the self-same that won Amedei the gold at the Academy of Chocolate in 2012.
Barsmithing nearing its finest frontier.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar
Reviewed May 22, 2014