81%
70%
by Hacienda Paria Shakti
Impact
REDUX REVIEW: the following features 2 bars, both 81% cacáo-content -- one reviewed in 2010, & the other in 2016. Overall rating (upper right above) indicates a composite average of both.
************************************************
Chocolate can often be a game like sex roulette, just never quite knowing when the jackpot's going to hit. Who'd suspect this humble homebrew from a backyard cultivator, operating basically as a roadside stand on the Paria Peninsula, Venezuela could deliver such pay load & hit the C-spot™, giving it major street cred?
That's why we play the game.
That's why we play the game.
Appearance 3.2 / 5
| Color: |
2010: firebrick red ground into a doleful brown 2016: blackened brown |
| Surface: |
2010: front & back airholes & micro-bubbles (needs better shaking/vibrating) 2016: much improved |
| Temper: |
2010: uneven; oily; plastic transfer 2016: in the doldrums |
| Snap: |
2010: click-clack, nearly brittle (again, temper + slight drying; more airholes along the cleave) 2016: upbeat |
Aroma 7.6 / 10
2010
clears the room... earth-quake wake-up call: jolting robusto coffee-grinds & exotic smoked bucare ceibo wood; almond skins mixed in
2016
gamey... not the big African game (rhinos, hippos) but small game... + molasses bar-b-q sauce -- signs of over-fermentation (generally attenuated in the Flavor, see below)
clears the room... earth-quake wake-up call: jolting robusto coffee-grinds & exotic smoked bucare ceibo wood; almond skins mixed in
2016
gamey... not the big African game (rhinos, hippos) but small game... + molasses bar-b-q sauce -- signs of over-fermentation (generally attenuated in the Flavor, see below)
Mouthfeel 12.1 / 15
| Texture: | smooth but a little seized |
| Melt: | semi-elapsed, light-middleweight meltdown; almost quaffable |
Flavor 44.3 / 50
2010
fierce mocha java blast... dark thick & heavy... rocks the face off -> cream sub-stream -> chocolate bang does damage right between the eyes with contrastive papaya (beautiful) -> minor vanilla & flash cinnamon -> stalls & stretches back to plain chocolate, a bit muddy & wooden -> coffee resurgence -> finishes on a frosting lick; spiced brazil nut the after-length
2016
base cocoa -> black sap -> brown sugar spice -> grain -> macadamia -> caramel -> talc close
fierce mocha java blast... dark thick & heavy... rocks the face off -> cream sub-stream -> chocolate bang does damage right between the eyes with contrastive papaya (beautiful) -> minor vanilla & flash cinnamon -> stalls & stretches back to plain chocolate, a bit muddy & wooden -> coffee resurgence -> finishes on a frosting lick; spiced brazil nut the after-length
2016
base cocoa -> black sap -> brown sugar spice -> grain -> macadamia -> caramel -> talc close
Quality 16.1 / 20
2010
Pretty on-point for Rio Caribe. A little bottom heavy with coffee undertones whose bold tannins, however, are sweetly surrounded in lite cream (the Ocumare 61 component of this hybrid?) which ultimately stands up a firm chocolate backbone. Good median-point processing, well-controlled bitter, though this crop could've tolerated & benefited from longer ferment cycle.
2016
Confined & generally steadfast with medium depth. Surprising pyrazines / caramel / core cocoa flavor for a "raw" bar. None of the objectionable tags so pestilent with this category (save for the talc -- a residue generated probably in storage). Then again, cooking in the conche (or what passes for conches in the micro-craft movement) assists in generating those tones. But it also lacks the array found in the 70% (roasting + add'l sugar account for that). Still, highly respectable for the percentage & the "rawness".
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar
Reviewed October 2010
Revised July 5, 2016
Pretty on-point for Rio Caribe. A little bottom heavy with coffee undertones whose bold tannins, however, are sweetly surrounded in lite cream (the Ocumare 61 component of this hybrid?) which ultimately stands up a firm chocolate backbone. Good median-point processing, well-controlled bitter, though this crop could've tolerated & benefited from longer ferment cycle.
2016
Confined & generally steadfast with medium depth. Surprising pyrazines / caramel / core cocoa flavor for a "raw" bar. None of the objectionable tags so pestilent with this category (save for the talc -- a residue generated probably in storage). Then again, cooking in the conche (or what passes for conches in the micro-craft movement) assists in generating those tones. But it also lacks the array found in the 70% (roasting + add'l sugar account for that). Still, highly respectable for the percentage & the "rawness".
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar
Reviewed October 2010
Revised July 5, 2016