cleaning house

a little bit sleepy, nice and sunny, good temperature. getting hungry but not incredibly so.


guittard - ambanja
look - very vibrant orange brown. smooth and no bubbles. 9
smell - soft cocoa, bacon (1st impression), sweet spice (nutmeg? clove?), like sharp wood, durian, white/black pepper mix, toasty, vanilla, (jasmine rice). 9
taste - soft cocoa, vanilla, sweet spice, chestnut paste?, slight acid, somewhat sickly sweet, slightly off bitterness, perfumy woody, vanilla, slight coffee, wood-like length. 8.5
balance - on the sweet side. acid was present but not very strong. odd bitterness detracted from overall taste. 8
texture - very nice. very smooth, rich. 9

interpretation - an interesting woody and spice (and vanilla) centered chocolate. very soft, great texture. would have been up there with the greats if it wasn't so sweet and it didn't have teh slightly off bitter taste in teh middle. other than taht, enjoyable as a relaxing chocolate. 8
summary - wood/spice, vanilla, soft, great texture, odd bitterness
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guittard - chuchuri
look - fairly dark brown with polished-woody colored tints. smooth, almost no bubbling 9
smell - bright poppyseed paste, sharp candied lemon, vanilla, toasted bread crust, nutmeg (bright somewhat painful sweet spice),plant-like sharpness, cocoa. (these are all exciting to see in chocolate, just way too sharp and somewhat unpleasant). fresh apples. 8
taste - interesting. bright mustard to open, sharp poppyseed smell, very odd bitter, very sweet, soft, whoa bitter getting stronger, the taste of a sandwich with poppyseed, slight fruitiness appears and tehn hides (fresh apple), creamy-sweet-vanilla-poppyseed, bitter. length also bitter.astringency appears. 7
balance - sweet. low acid provides for little backbone, base is present but sweet is overpowering. bitter present from midway on, seems to get stronger. 7.5
texture - very nice. smooth and rich. 9

interpretation - a wacky chocolate. bitter running thru most of it is very unpleasant. but the sea of fresh and bright aromas really expands the possibilities of chocolate. sweetness is overbearing. a very unforgettable chocolate, but in a somewhat regrettable way... 7~7.5
summary - bitter, poppyseed/nutmeg, sweet (and just plain crazy)
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pralus - tanzanie
look - deep brown with black sense to it. bubbling, swirling, chunkiness. 8
smell - very roasty, slightly lumber woody, dark berry jam, kind of a heavier spice, a soapiness, dried red chinese date skin, 8.5
taste - heavy cocoa, berry jam sweetness, pleasant bitter, fried japanese potato croquette, a bit of a glue-like sell, coffee's bitterness, slight twiggy smell, savory sell, some roast, finish of bitter and astringent coffee/vanilla/roasty wood. 8
balance - very good weight to it, a bit sweet feeling at times, acid seems present, just a bit of a lack of harmony. the astringency at the finish really makes it feel a bit discombobulated. the bitterness is pleasant, but the astringency is not. 8
texture - despite appearance, very nice. perhaps a slight powdery sensation due to astringency. 8.5

interpretation - dark and deep, with a fairly simplistic cocoa feel to it. at times interesing flavors dip in (spice, dried dates, even fried foods), but in general a dark roaster. astringency at finish makes this a lot less exciting than it could have been. with just the bitterness, it's a pleasant dark experience. astringency kills it. 7.5~8
summary - dark roast, astringent finish, bitter, heavy, some fruit jam
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theo - ivory coast
look - a dull ashy brown. slight bubbling. 8.5
smell - spice (clove), fresh peppery, slight sesame, wood, slightly toasty, green bright fruit, 8.5
taste - sweet, clear (not much base or acid), toasty cocoa, odd bitter emerging, spice, more spice on roasty cocoa, continuation of prev flavors, powdery, smoky, astringent and clovey finish. 7.5
balance - sweet. not a lot of base to back it up so it ends up feeling kinda watery and hollow. acid is also almost nonexistant. astringency to boot. not so pleasant. 7.5
texture - a bit powdery. slight crunches at times. 7.5

interpretation - a cleaned up version of very basic chocolate. it'd be a lot nicer without some astringent elements (and a "strange bitter") which i perceive as fault(s). otherwise it's a great exploration of spice oriented forastero cocoa. high sweet notes, woodyness. enjoyable in that sense. i'd say it's a work in progress... 7.5
summary - watery-sweet, bright sweet spice, woody, astringent
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i guess you could call this tasting "house cleaning". i don't have a very good impression of any of these chocolates, and sometimes i just feel like "getting rid" of ones i'm not that fond of. so today was one of those days. i did good. there's a lot of excitement and promise in the guittards, i just think they need to get a handle on the astringent aspects as well as toning down some of the more headache-producing aromas. but i feel like some really good chocolate COULD be made from what they've already accomplished.