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Amazonas Wild Cacao 72%

by Castronovo
Info Details
Country USA   
Type Dark   (Batch 484)
Strain Playa Alta   
Source Venezuela   (Bolivar; Orinoco River Basin)
Flavor Naked   (+)
Style Classic      
lo
med
hi
CQ
Sweetness
Acidity
Bitterness
Roast
Intensity
Complexity
Structure
Length
Impact
Letting go of the shameless world – re: the new hyper-normal in this post-factual age of crazy-makers -- seems perfectly illogical to so many these twisted days.

Take for example Venezuela from where Castronovo, via a broker, sources this bar.

In a country running low on electricity for even hospitals & running out of prescription drugs, Venezuelans turn to black magic, herbalism, gangster gods (no kidding, some pray to Ismailito Gonzales!) & the syncretic Santeria (a blend of Catholicism, Yoruba spirituality & native shamanism) as well as concoctions of vanilla, musk, & tangerines to heal thyself. Hey, according to the ‘paper of record’ NYTimes, placebos work 50-50, or about as well as actual drugs.

Sacrificing birds as offerings to God has become such a national pastime that peddlers cash-in on fears which helps the teetering economy. Stat: more than half the population deals with black-market hawkers, known as bachaqueros after the large, voracious bachacos ants.

If all else fails, hell, take chocolate… that is, if any can be found in a country that nonetheless grows it.
Appearance   4.6 / 5
Color: dark chestnut
Surface: flawless
Temper: top notch
Snap: sharp & clean
Aroma   7.1 / 10
full nose full of forest honey flowers & cherrywood sap
Mouthfeel   12.9 / 15
Texture: cream smooth
Melt: even ride 'til the end of the line
Flavor   46.2 / 50
purple Concord grape -> wave of heavily roasted oats parted by heady cocoa bloom -> molasses & honey -> roasted nut rise, interplays with that threaded cocoa
Quality   18.3 / 20
6 years on since Idilio introduced Amazonas to the world. Not a whole lot has changed since then. Then again this varietal hung out for centuries in the woods so a half-decade or so amounts to a blink & a flash. Continuous core chocolate burst with a fruit onlay.

Castronovo brings these cocoa-nuts in from the (semi?-)wild & tames..er...nails 'em, with skillful execution in the sweet spot of sweetness. This barsmith-adventuress could surrender her specimens for a museum exhibition replete with display cases to prevent museum-goers from fingering the contents because, with flavor like this, they're sure to be grabbed & gobbled.

INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter

Reviewed November 9, 2016

  

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