pralus tanzanie
look - dark dull brown, fair amt of swirling. some bubbles. 8.5
smell - a clean, woody smell, a bit of roast, buttery smell, slight cedary smell, slight planty smell. reminds me of astringent (possibly my association with the smell is directly connected to the taste now), 8.5
taste - astringent, papery, roasty, buttery, jammy, roast cocoa, coffee,a sweetness, a toasted white bread smell, acidity rolls in, nuttyness withastringent bckgd, coffee and dry pasta water finish, stronger roast comes in at end, strong finish, astringency. 8
balance - can't help but say it's a bit strange. esp due to astringency. appropriate levels of acid, sweet and base. just don't match up for somereason 8
texture - good, no big noticeable problems, just seems a bit powdery. 8.5
interpretation - a powerful chocolate in someways, but strange in others. strong roast and astringency really dominate at times, making it seem like a "blindingly" dark chocolte. but at the same time, there are interesting tastes of jam, bread, pasta, etc that don't really seem to match the previously mentioned aspect of the choco. could use some more cohesiveness. 8
summary - roast, astringent, jammy, woody
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domori sur del lago
look - heavily orange tinted. lots of tiny bubbling.
smell - aromatic spice dry exotic (completely my own terms...), deep cocoa, fresh and sharp green note - like leaves of... something, touch of orange liquer, some slight coffee, baked bread, a bit of nuttyness, some slight fermentacious. something that reminds me of cream. 8.5
taste - sweet, gentle, creamy to open, high sweet tones, clear cocoa, roast of coffee, slight breadiness, then this thing.... no what is it...? reminds of coconut but isn't. some astringency comes thru, strawberry?, gentle roasted nut (almond?), strong cocoa finish, cream feeling persists. texture is great. 9
balance - good, i experienced a little acid at the end that really kind of rounded things out. otherwise it as a bit on the sweet side. 8.5
texture - very nice. very "heavy" cocoa sense, but extremely smooth. not like pralus venez that feels a bit unctious. this one is all about the microscopic cocoa. 9
interpretation - a chocolate that's rather "true" to chocolate, but is very light and creamy. texture is great, sweetness is a bit high, but i could be influenced by the presence of a large amt of "sweet" aromas. a little bit of coffee, a little bit of bread, but really felt like rich smooth cocoa wth these somewhat un-identifyable sweet tones. nice. 9
summary - creamy, sweet, cocoa, pure
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valrhona - manjari
look - a cloudy red-orange tinted brown. some tiny bubbling
smell - raspberry, coffee, california pinot, some smoky aspects, something slightly sharp - maybe a fermentacious note, peppery, dried orange peel, sweet vanilla touch. 8.5 (the sharpness dropped the score a bit)
taste - very tart, slight tomato leaf/tobacco, more towards a smoky taste, a characteristic smell of caramelly hard dessert candies, berries and coffee, minty business, sweet, a bit rough ocoa, roasty crackers, slight citrus smell?, hummus, sweet flavors of vanilla and berry and acidic cocoa come thru at end, some "air freshener" sense lingering. 9
balance - sweet. but it is only 63%, so that's to be expected. it's balanced decently for a 60s class choco - a lot of acid to back it up. the base seems to be a bit lacking, but again this might be because of the relatively low cacao percentage. 8
texture - nice. a bit powdery though. 8
interpretation - a bright, action-packed choco. in some areas i feel like there's some "rounding" and mellowing of certain flavors going on, and that some lesser quality elements also sneak in (sort of like this choco was a big "overview" of a couple individual flavor profiles). regardless, the end result is nice, vibrant, and a pleasure to eat in general. 8.5-9
summary - bright acid, bright fruit, smoky, action packed
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theo ivory coast
look - a dull brown, slight reddish purplish tinting, smooth, very little if any bubbling 9
smell - "dry" chalky, sweet cocoa, sharper but low intensity tobacco, sweet and light coffee-ish, reminds a bit of some soap smells, apple skins or soemthing. 8.5
taste - sweet, cocoa essence, savory nutmeg, toasty bread w/slight cinammon?, more light and sweet woody/spice tones, fairly "high pitched", astringency begins to show, getting stronger, soily, cocoa, cinam, astringent finish. dry woody sweet cocoa flavor persists. 8
balance - sweet. barely anything in terms of acid. would have been nice wth a touch of acid, a large drop in astringency and a slight boost in "base". felt somewhat "flat" and sweet. 7
texture - fine powdery sensation. not terrible, but still powdery. 8
interpretation - a sweet and simple chocolate, appealing to the very basic taste of forastero. similar to the domori in some ways, but nowhere near as elegant. astringency, lack of acid, lack of depth keep it from being a much better chocolate. somewhat one-sided in the sweet-spice-woody cocoa flavors. would be nice to have some flavor "twists" in there. 7.5
summary - astringent, sweet, simple cocoa
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tht was a bit of a rushed tasting, but it turned out well. in some ways the time pressure forces me to focus more rather than get absorbed in sniffing something and trying to get every last little aroma out of it. as a "treat", i'm giving myself some pralus venez.
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