Color:	jet brown + flickering red shift
Surface:	superfine finish
Temper:	so much polish it'll shine boots
Snap:	volcanic; crumbled edge

beautifully breezy fruits & ferns w/ acids like coastal waters surrounded by thick, soft woods

Texture:	slightly desiccated + a little bit of grip (astringency), otherwise textbook & rotund pointing why 75% is nearly the ideal cacáo count b/c of its ~3:3:2 CBS ratio
Melt:	classic melter; heavy but even, weakens the knees

spurts out a candy-like chocolate grape (as if from some chemistry geek) -> dry baobab wood -> mud pie -> bitter mid-palate -> red hazing (grape 'n cherry - that geek in the lab again) -> sweet chocolate bang -> quickly covered by ferns & begonia leaf rooted in volcanic ash loaded w/ minerals... distills thru copra an astringent everclear juice (must be corn on São Tomé) -> backs out more mud pie & mocha

As ever with Pralus, it's about espresso-level roast, applied here to good effect. Assuages a lot of the island's usual aggressively tart & forward tannins, converting them to rich muddy chocolate with firm poise that stays in the pocket & lays waste to Amazon's ('Foresteros') undeserved rep for lacking fruit. Cluizel's Gracinda confects an easier, more approachable São Tomé but this is true, direct, closer to the taste of the place (unmediated by vanilla for starters), & consequently contains more of the island.