two new chocolates!

slightly cloudy, fairly hungry. hopefully not so hungry as to interfere with tasting
two new chocolates!! this should be exciting...

pralus tanzanie
look - (same as usu) brown brown, bubbling, a bit of chunkiness 8
smell - berries, slight cocoa, nice berry jam, peach pie, slight vanil?, toasty leaves, (seem to be picking up a lot of the sweet, fruity aromas) 8.5
taste - biter, plain cocoa powder, fruity jam on choco pancakes, brownies, evolves to lighter and softer berries with cocoa, coffee emerges, roasty leaves, vanilla touch, coffee and bitter astringency continue, dark bread, finish mostly of cocoa and dried leaves, length is decent, but nothing new (same as tastes). a bit more astringency lingering at back of throat 8
balance - reasonable. astringency kind of throws things off, brings out sweet and bitter-astringent elements, hiding acidity. body is also somewhat subdued. feels a bit out of balance. 8
texture - seemed decent, a slight "powdery" sensation may have been due to astringency

interpretation - a decent chocolate with strong cocoa feeling. it's just that the astringency tends to throw things off. kind of feels incomplete in the sense that there are some nice powerful cocoa flavors, but the finnesse of a good finish is lacking 8
summary - roasty, cocoa, berry jam, astringency
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pralus papousie
look - dark brown, fine looking inside but backside has tons of ugly bubbling and swirling. 7.5
smell - faint flower, faint mint. somewhat of a doughy essence (very faint smell), strawberry?, reminds me of a tea cafe, very mild, a touch of cocoa, like a raspberry tea? 8~8.5 (too mild to really get any enjoyment)
taste - light vanil opening, cocoa, some bitter, tea flavors, fairly rich, vanilla and cocoa, very pleasant light combo, a little worried about stange bitter lurking in back, extremely balanced and round. vanilla and cocoa on length. gently fades. (still continuing!) 8.5
balance - very good. very harmonious. acid, sweet and base all seemed to be present in equal amounts. very soft, allows for enjoyment of extremely subtle tastes 9.5
texture - very nice. felt velvety and rich, but not as "overly rich" as pralus venezuela

interpretation - a bit too subtle on the flavors and aromas, but the taste balance was dead on. that is, except for the extraneous odd bitterness. not even sure if that was somehow carried over from the last one. either way, thatprevented this tasting from becoming a nine. 8.5
summary - very mild cocoa/vanil, great balance, soft
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amedei - toscano black 63%
look - brown, hinting on the lighter side. smooth, tiny tiny bubbling 9
smell - very fruity leather smell, wine, beany, vanilla, smoke, slight licorice possibly, sweet high note, (cracked choco open) very flowery fruit [sim to vanil + strawberry], olives, slight herbal touch, touch of pepper, powdered dried raspberry (if that existed). 9~9.5
taste - weet, soily-treelike, vanilla, flowery, touch of coffee? hazelnut?, red fruit, ambrosial honey, acid tucked away but present, slight breadiness, sweetness very powerful, a bit of smoky whiskey, finish continues with that flavor (along with a sweetness), length continues with long notes of vanilla-flowery-fruit (somewhat signature-ish of amedei) 9
balance - just a bit too sweet. made it tough to focus on the other flavors of the chocolate. everything was still somehow balanced, acid supporting in the background, with good base to hold it all up. 8.5
texture - nice, possibly a tiny bit powdery. 8.5

interpretation - a nice flowery and fruity chocolate. somewhat "simplified" (more subtle flavors lost) due to high level of sweetness. that's really my only complaint. i really would have liked to have seent the flavors i was getting on the nose when i was tasting it. regardless, very pleasant, and not too mild.
summary - sweet, vanilla/flowery/fruity, bold
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amedei - trinidad
look - slight orange-red tint. tiny bubbling. 9
smell - minty, somewhat "exotic smell" (clove, flowery trop fruit), a bit of vanilla, soil, kind of vegetative, a little bit sweaty leather. really kinda lost here. there's a dominating smell of something dry woody maybe? exotic spice? wet driftwood?, dried prunes, (cracked open at this point) lavender, sweet vanilla, pineapple?, honey, spice, 9
taste - interesting woody opening, dried prune, winey dark fruit, honey, sweetness emerges, woody, acid now developing, a little bit dry in this fruity sense, a bit soily, woody cocoa, slightly potpurri, slightly coffee and vanilla on finish, as well as original fruit. long length of dark things. 9
balance - felt a bit off the mark, but not bad. all of the elements were present, i just can't say it was harmonious. acid shooting out at times, other times sweetness overpowering. 8~8.5 (i'm only being harsh because amedei has a high standard)
texture - fairly powdery. 8

interpretation - very interesting with a lot of character. "mysterious" woody and dried prune flavors drift in and out, giving it a dark feeling without actually having any typical roasty dark chocolate aromas. if i associated a color with this, it'd be some sort of transparent black, if that makes any sense. black because of the "darkness" of the flavors, but transparent because it wasn't heavy or roasty chocolatey. 8.5~9
summary - dark, mysterious, dried fruit/wood
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(green one)
michel cluizel - los ancones (saint dominguez)
look - orange tinted wood-brown, very fine looking. 9
smell - the meat in mabo dofu, spice mix, slight sweet tone hiding, cinnamon?, one other smell i can't pin down (kind of minty kind of smoky kind of dill-like), [crack open], munster cheese, fermenacious cocoa, roasted peanut 9 (very lively)
taste - sweet, slight vanilla, spice, mabo tofu, slight nutty, flowers/fruit, more roast nut, slight caramel, a little bit pencil lead, really really nice smoky chestnut, blending to gentle cofee, (realy getting exciting now),sweet roasty nut, coffee caramel on length. very nice. 9.5
balance - very nice. a bit on the sweet side, but base really evens things out, and of course there is acid to spare (this being cluizel and all) 9
texture - very good. 9~9.5

interpretation - amazing. i really like this one. really fits my personality. savory spice character, roast nuts, chestnut. the ending was really superb. this is definitely my favorite cluizel. possibly my favorite of this tasting too. this one is wild and exciting like mangaro, but rather than a fruit bomb, it's very focused on aforementioned flavors. (if only he cut the sugar just a tad...) 9.5
summary - exciting, spice/nuts/creamy, a bit sweet
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wow, the ending of the michel cluizel (los ancones) was really an eye opener. i remember having liked that chocolate a long time ago, but now i know why. very enjoyable. i don't want to eat anything for a while...
as for the others, trinidad was fun and intersting, but not necessarily one you could relax to. toscano black was a bit mild in the sense that it felt like a generic amedei - pleasing but doesn't deviate from norm. pralus papousie was a bit soft and subtle for me. i'd like to give it another tasting before i rate it too harshly.