pralus - tanzanie
look - dark brown, bubbling, lumpiness on back surface 8
smell - 1(berry jam, vanilla), 2(dried green japanese tea), 3(herbal, slight cocoa), 4(peach), in general fairly fruity 8
taste - floury, doughy cocoa, bitter/astringent, reminds of pasta water, meaty, dried plants and herbs, somewhat nutty, roast, choco cake, slight woody finish. roasty cocoa lingers 7.5
balance - decent. a bit "hollow" - a lot of astringent, some bitter, as well as some sweet. sort of a lack of coordination 7
texture - fairly good, felt grainy at times possibly due to astringency 8
interpretation - roasty and astringent, nose being somewhat different than taste. there were some decent hints and expectations of fruit on the nose, yet the roast, herbalness and astringency hid any fruit that might have been tehre. a bit odd really... 7.5
summary - fruity nose, astringent roasty taste
-------------------------------------------------------------
look - brown-brown-red (sort of like NNW). fine-looking texture, tiny bubbling noticeable, but smooth overall 9
smell - 1(vanilla, beaniness, very slight fermentacious) 2("toasted" leaves), 3(coffee beans) 4(cooked lentils) 5(fermentacious, burnt popcorn) 6(domori) 7(cracker) 8(very slight pepperiness) 8
taste - slight beany, random trop fruit at opening, vanilla, fermentacios, carpet, beaniness, smell found in german white wines, more vanil and beany, slight coffee, roasty, reminds me of this park i went to when iwas a kid. fades to the carpet-like beany finish, some vanilla hinting. 8
balance - sweet, but in balance. "weight" seems to be the main counterbalance to the sweetness. little noticeable acid. 8.5
texture - very nice, smooth and "rich" feeling - 9
interpretation - somewhat simple in its tendency to lean towards fermentacious, beany and vanilla. tended to take those 3 aspects and play variations on the theme thru the duration of it. pleasant, but there's a bit of this "offness" that hides in the fermentacious (the carpet smell) - 8
summary - beany, vanilla, fermentacious. sweet.
-----------------------------------------------------------
michel cluizel - maralumi (papua new guinea)
look - a solid brown-red. smooth, but some bubbling on back. texture looks very fine - 9
smell - 1(middle eastern spice, fruit), 2(toasty, cocoa powder), 3(burnt something - indian something - possibly the daal), 4(slight honey), 5(vanilla, some desert flavor), 6(that's it! it's slightly burnt dried chilis), 7(dry nuttyness -roasty), 8(a bit of a meaty cheesy stink, slight acid smells), 9(nutty baked good) -- 9
taste - slight cocoa vanil, roast emerges, nutty meatiness, gripped by the sweet/acid meatiness, toasty nut, bitterness, a fruit paste, vanilla, fruit laden cocoa, bitter twang, roast some coffee, roast of chilis, slightly spice cakey, long long finish of meaty fruity cocoa. 9
balance - very nice. sweet, but acid and base and bitter all come together to make it a very balanced experience. acidity was definitely intense. 9
texture - really good. can't say anything bad about it. 9.5
interpretation - a very exciting choco. not so delicate. i'd say pretty fire-y. esp since it has all these meaty characteristics. lots of variety, development, acidity. just really a fun one to explore. it's hard not to give it a 9. (it's just that i think about the amedeis that i've given 9s, and they're very different). fine, it gets a 9 for excitement
summary - exciting, lively, meaty, fruity, spice (indian)
-------------------------------------------------------------
guittard - chuchuri (colombia)
look - brownish brown-red. smooth looking, only tiny tiny bubbles 9
smell - 1(poppyseed - like in a poppyseed cake. i can't believe i didn'tfigure this out before) 2(poppyseed with a twang of lemon rind) 3(possibly nutmeg, vanilla), 4(some fruity hint) 5(intense intense) 6(slight lime) 7.5
taste - cool, sweet, candy-like, poppyseed, lemony, piney, bubblegum, slight bitter, sweet, low acid, candy , continues, bitter astringent at finish, poppy seed finish. some unpleasantness. 7.5
balance - very sweet, plus sharp astringency not so pleasant. 6.5
texture - very nice. smooth. 9
interpretation - just too weird for me. it's kind of nice, but just the way it's so candy-like turns me off. the poppyseed is certainly interesting, but can't u show me anything else? the bitter astringency at the end definitely kills things
summary - sweet, candy-like, poppyseed, astringent
-------------------------------------------------------------
look - dark brown with fairly light reddish tint. slightly grainy looking, tiny bubbles 8
smell - soapy, chalky, dry cocoa, some unexpected spice (clove like, maybe nutmeg), cocoa, slight fruit and vanilla hints, but mostly the prev stuff 7.5
taste - opens cocoa-y, bitter, banana-peely, slight grainy, sweet, cocoa, roasty, dry nutty, finish wth some coffee, length is of bitter cocoa 7.5
balance - not so great. a bit hollow and watery (low to no acid, sweet and bitter/astringency present without much "weight" to back it up) 7
texture - ok, a bit powdery-feeling in parts. 7.5
interpretation - just a so so chocolate. it has its moments when it surprises with a little spice or a little fruit on the nose, but the taste itself doesn't really bring anything that impressive. nice to have a bitter choco every once in a while tho. 7.5
summary - simple, bitter cocoa, coffee. hollow
--------------------------------------------------------------
so, i htink we all know what my clear favorite from this tasting was. it's nice to have been tasting a lot of these chocolates over time. perceptions change a bit as time passes, brings out new ways to view the same smells, like the chuchuri.
i actually had a revelation when i was eating this poppy seed paste pastry. i said - damn, this IS chuchuri. then when i tasted the chuchuri again today, it was confirmed. interesting how there are many ways to interpret the same smell, but also that the mind tends to come up with "substitutes" when it can't remember the "true" smell.
so i guess my smell memory is very slowly improving.
time for a little taste of the lagavulin 16 i picked up yesterday (i can taste it already in my head). and yes, it is before 10am.
0 件のコメント:
コメントを投稿