Impact
Exporting anything out of Venezuela these days, with the country’s contentious political situation, rises to the level of smuggling. It transfigues the Swiss boys at Idilio into that Nicolas Cage character in Lord of War, Part II. He sitting in front of his computer for hours as hired commander of botnets taking out national systems on orders of whoever pays top dollar (or yuan) that day while checking his deposits at his St. Gallen-based, nth time removed fortress-like bank account. A lot of "24-esque" type of dialogue takes place, like, ‘yeah they had to grease a few palms (& tongues as the case may be) to reach payload but, damn, that was worth it’.
Appearance 4.5 / 5
everyone lauds the textured wrapper (made from cacáo pod shells)… carrying a scent of art-class construction paper & an aesthetic of inside-out architecture; nice touch for sure -- but usually at the expense of the contents that are often ignored as an after-thought (think of all the wallpaper wrappers masquerading as chocolate makers today)… oh, the whims of up selling retailers
funny though, like the fussy French, with all this Swiss precision to detail, both countries seal their bars in the flimsiest / chintziest foil, completely useless for re-wrapping once opened
everyone lauds the textured wrapper (made from cacáo pod shells)… carrying a scent of art-class construction paper & an aesthetic of inside-out architecture; nice touch for sure -- but usually at the expense of the contents that are often ignored as an after-thought (think of all the wallpaper wrappers masquerading as chocolate makers today)… oh, the whims of up selling retailers
funny though, like the fussy French, with all this Swiss precision to detail, both countries seal their bars in the flimsiest / chintziest foil, completely useless for re-wrapping once opened
| Color: | ruby suntan |
| Surface: | smudged (otherwise immaculate) |
| Temper: | matte |
| Snap: | a rare clarion of a Milk Choc |
Aroma 8.7 / 10
deep cream, deeper than butter, down into the grass-green pastures & fresh meadows abloom in Spring
Mouthfeel 10.4 / 15
| Texture: | Wax Factor™ to the max |
| Melt: | slick, sleek, & slippery |
Flavor 46.1 / 50
quick draft of flowers, sprouts & baby's breath -> dairy surges in & pauses to allow substantial cocoa butter to melt thru some -> proceeds to vanilla-cream, then light caramel with a rear umami -> distant Milk Dud® -> cocoa milk accented in violets (sublime)
Quality 17.3 / 20
No mistaking: largely about the dairy -- a triple-clotted knot of it (see ingredients below). Cocoa mainly as butter rather than mass. The Texture at first burdensome, then oleaginous. Both conspire to suppress, though by no means thwart, Idilio's Orinoco cacáo utilized for the base here.
This trans-posits its Dark bar tags of dried fruit & tonka beans toward florals (including that queen of orchids -- vanilla).
Beneath & beyond all the fat, a lovely chocolate that bears resemblance to Zotter's rapturous Nicaragua MC which also taps Alpine milk. Hmmm… something about those mountainsides.
INGREDIENTS: sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, cream powder
Reviewed February 18, 2015
This trans-posits its Dark bar tags of dried fruit & tonka beans toward florals (including that queen of orchids -- vanilla).
Beneath & beyond all the fat, a lovely chocolate that bears resemblance to Zotter's rapturous Nicaragua MC which also taps Alpine milk. Hmmm… something about those mountainsides.
INGREDIENTS: sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, cream powder
Reviewed February 18, 2015