Naturale
by Donna Elvira
Impact
At half sugar / half cacáo, this is a 50-50 proposition that could’ve gone either way... or neither direction (& just cancel each other out). Instead, it goes both, as cacáo has just enough skin in the game to survive a sugared onslaught.
Appearance 4.3 / 5
semi-refined; 'scruff' the design objective
semi-refined; 'scruff' the design objective
| Color: | dark mud brown |
| Surface: | cleaner face than its Mayan cousin, only the backside is blooming & intentionally rusting w/ sugar crystals |
| Temper: | semi-gloss |
| Snap: | thud; beautiful red ‘n brown porous edge (late stage add’n of unmelted & unmixed sugar) |
Aroma 6.8 / 10
cocoa-scented dry wall, coconut shell, sand-paper, talc, & dirt
Mouthfeel 14.6 / 15
| Texture: | crumbles into granulars then smoothes out |
| Melt: | melts thru lipophillic, swells w/ lecithin-like properties (though supposedly none added) |
Flavor 38.7 / 50
unloads chocolate fructose (super strawberry sweet-spot) on a stacked sugar-mount... overtakes the cocoa tannins though they persist to a reduced degree
Quality 15.4 / 20
Hyper sweetened & diminished by sugar, yielding the net effect of alkalized cocoa. Judging by Texture, the couverture in this rustic Modican-style bar (an amalgamation heated enough for cacáo butter to melt but not enough to dissolve sugar crystals) has ample butter supplied &, crucially, sufficient tannic force to cut thru sugar cane – no small feat, making this a strong bean selection given the amount of sweetener (although at 50% sugar, any of the ferment’s acidity is fully converted from the Peru’s typical feral fruit character). A real tribute nonetheless to its Peruvian / Incan heritage.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter
Reviewed 8/25/09
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter
Reviewed 8/25/09