OIALLA
100%
92%
by Bojesen
Impact
REDUX REVIEW (of sorts): Bjosen adds a 92% cacao-content to its growing Oialla denominations. Overall rating reflects a composite average of both the 92% & the unsweetened 100%
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During a tinku ceremony, the traditional Andean dance & music, small villages in Bolivia see tinku dancers square off in bloody fistfights after many rounds of chich (fermented rye beer). Such a ritual feeds the earth with spilled blood to ensure an ample harvest or good fortune for a community… an association cacáo also once “enjoyed” in certain parts of pre-Columbian America.
Some of these tilts are crossed-over by metaleros (heavy metal fans) wearing chulo, those colorful wool cap with earflaps worn in the Andes.
When that happens, says the lead singer of pre-Incan metal band Armadura, “A tinku becomes much heavier than any mosh pit anywhere in the world”.
For a flavor of all this, check out Alcoholika La Christo (literal translation: Drunk Ms. Jesus) who blasts traditional tinku songs accompanied by panpipe players in ponchos & whirling dancers in feathered headdresses backed by a metal band in black.
A few may construe that the mash mix of folk & metal contains more confusion than fusion but it all works – at least to this outside ear.
Ditto these bars at 92% + the brutal-sounding 100% cacáo-content – a staging to frighten all but the most undaunted which, once in it, makes palatable sense.
Some of these tilts are crossed-over by metaleros (heavy metal fans) wearing chulo, those colorful wool cap with earflaps worn in the Andes.
When that happens, says the lead singer of pre-Incan metal band Armadura, “A tinku becomes much heavier than any mosh pit anywhere in the world”.
For a flavor of all this, check out Alcoholika La Christo (literal translation: Drunk Ms. Jesus) who blasts traditional tinku songs accompanied by panpipe players in ponchos & whirling dancers in feathered headdresses backed by a metal band in black.
A few may construe that the mash mix of folk & metal contains more confusion than fusion but it all works – at least to this outside ear.
Ditto these bars at 92% + the brutal-sounding 100% cacáo-content – a staging to frighten all but the most undaunted which, once in it, makes palatable sense.
Appearance 4.1 / 5
| Color: | deep umber |
| Surface: | disks the size & thickness of checkers |
| Temper: | optic shifts |
| Snap: | crashes the ear drums |
Aroma 8.4 / 10
Oialla 100
cocoa dust & nuts in a spice uplift
green underlings
Oialla 92
classic honey drop into a cocoa plume with a purple sweet spot
cocoa dust & nuts in a spice uplift
green underlings
Oialla 92
classic honey drop into a cocoa plume with a purple sweet spot
Mouthfeel 13.2 / 15
| Texture: | voluptuous, almost suffocating without pasting; 5-star porn hotel experience... |
| Melt: | … further enhanced by silicon implants (added cocoa butter) |
Flavor 44.9 / 50
Oialla 100
rolls up roasted chicory -> black coffee, softened by soaked breadfruit -> nut skins -> flickering purple sweet-spot -> earth tones 'n elements (mushrooms, soil, minerals) -> buttery enticements develop into savory peaks (umami / saline / more minerality -- absolutely tremendous) -> light vegetals / green impressionism -> creams away to its dissolution before plunging into a good bitter earth hit (remarkably kind stamina) -> fine truffled-nut oil aft-linger
Oialla 92
dust dry cocoa tannin -> honey & sap -> Brazil wood -> those Earthen aspects of the 100% (above) pop up here in a slightly sweet countenance -> splinters black wood hosting black truffle
rolls up roasted chicory -> black coffee, softened by soaked breadfruit -> nut skins -> flickering purple sweet-spot -> earth tones 'n elements (mushrooms, soil, minerals) -> buttery enticements develop into savory peaks (umami / saline / more minerality -- absolutely tremendous) -> light vegetals / green impressionism -> creams away to its dissolution before plunging into a good bitter earth hit (remarkably kind stamina) -> fine truffled-nut oil aft-linger
Oialla 92
dust dry cocoa tannin -> honey & sap -> Brazil wood -> those Earthen aspects of the 100% (above) pop up here in a slightly sweet countenance -> splinters black wood hosting black truffle
Quality 17.7 / 20
Bojesen crafts only this one single-varietal -- the de facto heirloom / wild-harvested Beniano from Bolivia. Which allows the imprint to get intimate with it.
Now creeping up the scales of cacáo-content after 70% and 78% iterations, here it tips them at the full-on, pod-strength unsweetened 100.
Hi-control. Glimpses savage terra without crossing over & deep into it, yet delivers strong-throttle action all the way through.
It really knows the parameters within & thus takes the essential & makes beautiful to become ethereal for such -- qualifier-alert -- brut level. About the lone drawback: lo-CQ (i.e., no core chocolate-chocolate base note -- rarely encountered at this percentage anyways).
A sound choice for diabetics as well as a substitute for the daily bread now that that staple falls victim to gluten-free hypochondria.
100%: Reviewed December 10, 2015
92%: Reviewed July 13, 2016
Now creeping up the scales of cacáo-content after 70% and 78% iterations, here it tips them at the full-on, pod-strength unsweetened 100.
Hi-control. Glimpses savage terra without crossing over & deep into it, yet delivers strong-throttle action all the way through.
It really knows the parameters within & thus takes the essential & makes beautiful to become ethereal for such -- qualifier-alert -- brut level. About the lone drawback: lo-CQ (i.e., no core chocolate-chocolate base note -- rarely encountered at this percentage anyways).
A sound choice for diabetics as well as a substitute for the daily bread now that that staple falls victim to gluten-free hypochondria.
100%: Reviewed December 10, 2015
92%: Reviewed July 13, 2016