Grand Cru de Plantation
Unroasted
Origine São Tomé
Trinitario
by Diogo Vaz![](https://www.c-spot.com/images/diogo-grand.jpg)
Impact
Ever since João Baptista da Silvade Lagos, the Portuguese governor of São Tomé in the early 1800s, the volcanic soils of this island "embraced" cacáo on a series of roças (estates).
Diogo Vaz, a Bud-to-Bud™ social enterprise (cacáo flower buds to human taste buds) ala Claudio Corallo on neighboring Príncipe Island, continues the tradition (sans the serviçais or forced labor / de facto slaves). Its activities forge a roças-cum-community center by supporting around a thousand people pulled in from 4 villages surrounding the property. On site, Diogo Vaz provides schooling (K-thru-8), a medical clinic & a church.
Chocolate can do all that, drawing people together. Pretty tight knit.
The power of cacáo.
Diogo Vaz, a Bud-to-Bud™ social enterprise (cacáo flower buds to human taste buds) ala Claudio Corallo on neighboring Príncipe Island, continues the tradition (sans the serviçais or forced labor / de facto slaves). Its activities forge a roças-cum-community center by supporting around a thousand people pulled in from 4 villages surrounding the property. On site, Diogo Vaz provides schooling (K-thru-8), a medical clinic & a church.
Chocolate can do all that, drawing people together. Pretty tight knit.
The power of cacáo.
Appearance 4.4 / 5
Color: | big "antho" (for anthocyanin); the Trinitario bar a shade lighter |
Surface: |
stylized geometric mould![]() |
Temper: | demi-burnished |
Snap: | amplified |
Aroma 8.6 / 10
Grand Cru de Plantation (Amelonado; 75% cacáo-content; Lot-Batch GCP-18-001)
huge African hardwoods
animal musk blown off by both marine & forest oxidation
Unroasted (Amelonado; 70% cacáo-content; Lot-Batch UNR-18-001)
those woods in the Grand Cru (above) not petrified but somehow caramelized along with more (green) foliage & air
Origine São Tomé (Amelonado; 65% cacáo-content; Lot-Batch OST-18-001)
Transmutes all the above toward a caramel-mud + ocean spray muskmelon
Trintario (Hybrid; 75% cacáo-content; Lot-Batch TRI-18-002)
animalistic -- foraged -- meaty
huge African hardwoods
animal musk blown off by both marine & forest oxidation
Unroasted (Amelonado; 70% cacáo-content; Lot-Batch UNR-18-001)
those woods in the Grand Cru (above) not petrified but somehow caramelized along with more (green) foliage & air
Origine São Tomé (Amelonado; 65% cacáo-content; Lot-Batch OST-18-001)
Transmutes all the above toward a caramel-mud + ocean spray muskmelon
Trintario (Hybrid; 75% cacáo-content; Lot-Batch TRI-18-002)
animalistic -- foraged -- meaty
Mouthfeel 12.9 / 15
Texture: | lecithin-swollen |
Melt: | extended |
Flavor 45.7 / 50
Grand Cru de Plantation
heavy lumber cocoa so resounding of West Africa, in a cedar-clove closet -> cookie wafer / breadfruit -> sweet cream -> baobab -> light black cherry -> bitter back -> black vanilla -> pretty clean (i.e., non-gripping / non-astringent) release
Unroasted
brown sugar -> cookie dough flirting with graham crackers (cinnamon chocolate chip) -> late faint baobab -> cocoa-marshmallow finish
Origine São Tomé
comes on cherry with hard wood in support -> brown sugaring FXs sweeten the fruit compound & quell the acrid component -> dirt chocolate (of the good Earth variety) -> small acid at the back (interpreted as pink grapefruit) -> falls out to a timberful of fudge brownie
Trintario
flash tobacco before confirming the Aromatics with portobello-sirloin FXs -> settles into creamed biscotti & hugs it until closing off a balsamic bramble
heavy lumber cocoa so resounding of West Africa, in a cedar-clove closet -> cookie wafer / breadfruit -> sweet cream -> baobab -> light black cherry -> bitter back -> black vanilla -> pretty clean (i.e., non-gripping / non-astringent) release
Unroasted
brown sugar -> cookie dough flirting with graham crackers (cinnamon chocolate chip) -> late faint baobab -> cocoa-marshmallow finish
Origine São Tomé
comes on cherry with hard wood in support -> brown sugaring FXs sweeten the fruit compound & quell the acrid component -> dirt chocolate (of the good Earth variety) -> small acid at the back (interpreted as pink grapefruit) -> falls out to a timberful of fudge brownie
Trintario
flash tobacco before confirming the Aromatics with portobello-sirloin FXs -> settles into creamed biscotti & hugs it until closing off a balsamic bramble
Quality 18 / 20
São Tomé embodied & personified in chocolate. All the bars deliver on the terroir.
For a measure of how indelible these volcanic soils can imprint themselves, even the Unroasted transports to/from there. Yes, a quicker / shorter length for sure thanks to zero Maillard reactions. Well processed & redolent nonetheless. One of the best "raw" chocs around.
Diogo Voz... a faithful representative of the legacy which may become the future island standard as it furthers its venture.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, lecithin
Reviewed May 29, 2019
For a measure of how indelible these volcanic soils can imprint themselves, even the Unroasted transports to/from there. Yes, a quicker / shorter length for sure thanks to zero Maillard reactions. Well processed & redolent nonetheless. One of the best "raw" chocs around.
Diogo Voz... a faithful representative of the legacy which may become the future island standard as it furthers its venture.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, lecithin
Reviewed May 29, 2019