Color:	dark for Mad; typical orange cast comes thru w/ purple too (sign of substandard post-harvesting?)
Surface:	beaten, battered & broken; violent swirling out back
Temper:	soft wax sheen
Snap:	high pitch on the long axis, low thud along shorter scored portions (possible uneven tempering; early blooming on the break wall)

roasting on the edge: cocoa husks & dust -> dried coconut -> coffee -> petrol... cut by rarified jackfruit & hazelnut to save it; none of the usual Mad suspects (chert & citric fruit) & leather instead of wood (though sandalwood peeks thru); aerates murky ylang vanilla

Texture:	midweight w/ small grain
Melt:	even-paced; astringent grip

promising start on golden raisin -> clay-rich cocoa -> silica -> bitter acid to the back -> high-pitch sour cranes up to... nothing -> downclimbs potted soil + mushrooms w/ green pineapple & Pear Williams -> crushed rose & vanilla (but none added) -> grinds out angry coffee

Resembles Malagasy on its bad days - which is most of them. Wrong in every way from vintage (poor crop) & ferment (short cycle) to roasting (this origin prone to bittering if overheated)... then conche (insufficient leaving astringent polyphenols of the condensed-tannin variety intact). Dirty batch in need of better winnowing (detectable husks) tops it off.

UPDATE: Madécasse released a dry season crop of deeper chocolate nasal presence & drier, more hazelnut tongue that's highly astringent, the overall difference in rating being negligible.

ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter; CBS (Cocoa Mass:Butter:Sugar ratio) 14:17:11

Reviewed Autumn 2008