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Le Noir Extra Amer

by Valrhona
Info Details
Country France   
Type Brut   (85%)
Strain Blend   
Source (Africa)
Flavor Earthen   
Style Classic      
lo
med
hi
CQ
Sweetness
Acidity
Bitterness
Roast
Intensity
Complexity
Structure
Length
Impact
Reminders of Ovid on Medusa: beautiful as well as terrifying, anticipating the Christian belief (substitute stone for dust) – “stone to stone & to stone you shall return”... an impregnable fortress, once breached, turns up scant but rewarding booty even though this stuff too probably goes back to gorgonized rocks in the bowel guts.
Appearance   4.6 / 5
Color: brown, scarlet & grey
Surface: pavement
Temper: fine gloss
Snap: cliff-edge rock
Aroma   7.2 / 10
concrete & dry: cocoa dust, powdered butter, dried hibiscus & elder flowers, black sesame seed, almond extract, stone basalt, cassis
Mouthfeel   10.4 / 15
Texture: a diabolical quarry
Melt: breaking rocks ala Steve McQueen on the Devil Island chain gang
Flavor   43.1 / 50
sweet almond -> cassis -> controlled bitter black sesame... pac-manning down a long cobbled back stretch -------> bittersweet almond gets cinnamon wainscoting -> peanut -> toasted biscuit crisp -> all turns Medusa-like to metamorphic rock
Quality   17.3 / 20
Long crag-interrupted undulations grow shorter with each passing wave-form in an interminable evolution as rough-hewn texture gets in the way of taste. Once shattered thru, butter moderates flavor profile... keeping bitters in check while allowing acids to percolate up, which together carry forward – albeit at a slow bar crawl – perpetual length (really 2 lengths - the core & then the after-tremors) - appreciated by resisting temptation to swallow instead of letting it all melt... hard as that literally may be... but all of it at the expense of CQ (chocolate quotient). Val's hallmark parameters (deep ferment, quick roast, & judicious conche). CBS 3:4:1

  

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