farewell to chuchuri

time to finish up a chocolate.
nice and sunny, dry, cool. typical tokyo winter weather. my mouth is a bit dry. a tiny bit overslept


amedei - toscano black 66%
look - a nice muddy brown with good reddish orange hints. very smooth 9.5
smell - toasty spice cake, nuts, slight fermentacious, flower touch, bean smokiness, cherry, charred bread, dried mixed fruits, slight perfume. 9+
taste - bit of hazelnut? sweetness, some chestnut feel, sweet, chocolate, dried apricots, slight touch of barbecue, grahm cracker, more roasty nut, nutty mild cocoa finish, touch of coffee 9 (sesame paste lingers)
balance - sweet. low on acid. but not bad. still, could use a little more weight (by dropping sweet and connecting with acid)
texture - nice. possibly a tiny bit powdery

interpretation - a fairly rich choco with gently roasted nutty flavors. also some dried fruit action, possibly flowery. gentle, with a specific type of soft, "old" acid. rich feeling as well. 9
summary - nutty, dried fruit, sweet
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guittard chuchuri
look - a dull cloudy brown, some gray hinting. also slight orange. smooth. 9
smell - BRIGHT cake frosting, vanilla, poppyseed paste, hazeltut?, piney, choco hidden beneath, (incredibly intense), green apple candy. 8.5 (intereting but overpowering)
taste - an apple hint to start, clovey, candy like, roasted, more apple, poppyseed paste with cinnamon, sweet sweet, very nice melt, odd... something green. more apple, a bit sickeningly sweet, more crazy apple, slight hint of cocoa at end. 7.5
balance - off. too sweet. nothing else. possibly some astringency rolling around in there. 7
texture - excellent. extremely smooth melt. rich. (sweetness screws up balance tho)

interpretation - this is a very wacky chocolate. very out of balance. extraordinarily intense atypical chocolate flavors (poppyseed, apple), but they're just too much. can't handle it. not to mention sweetness is thru the roof. very weird chocolate. more to come below. 7
summary - sweet candylike, poppyseed/apple, way out of balance
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pralus tanzanie
look - a dark brown with purple-brown "stain". some bubbling. 8
smell - woody, dry, cedary, roasty, waxy, dried wine, cranberries 8.5 faint and a little weird
taste - dried pasta, coffee roast, dried cranberry, choco cake, more roasty, chocolatey finish. 8 sort of plain, dry
balance - interesting dry feel. kind of had acid but was more dominated by this slightly sweet base-dry feel. 8
texture - seemed ok, but was a little dry feeling. 8

interpretation - fruity yet fairly astringent and dry. decent amount of roast involved. sort of remindds me of madagascar but almost like a failed attempt. 8
summary - dry, roasty, fruity
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As i promised myself, anytime i finish a chocolate, i'll write a full review on it.


E. Guittard - Chuchuri Bittersweet - 65%
(columbian trinitario)

First, the physical characteristics.
The look - This chocolate has a very pleasant lustrous brown-orange. It's extremely smooth - almost no bubbling visible on back or inside. Has the looks of something exciting (as though a lot of care was put into the texture)
The smell - On first whiff, I am immediately told of the incredible intensity of this chocolate. The most obvious is an extraordinarily intense/sharp aroma of something I've described as a combination nutmeg, (american) cake frosting, poppyseed paste and candied fruit. It really wakes me up. To be honest, it's a nice surprise (flavors I don't normally encounter), but it's way too intense for me to appreciate slowly. After getting past the first blast, I'm sometimes able to pick up aromas of vanilla, green apples, an artificial candy smell, lemon peel, cocoa and mild, sweet spice.
Just from the smell, I can tell that this chocolate will be a wild ride (and I'm not sure if I'm ready for it).
The taste - From the start, this chocolate comes on strong. Similar flavors that were in the aromas attack from the start. On top of that, the chocolate feels extremely sweet. Having eaten a 66% right before this (at least one tasting), I know that it has nothing to do with the percentage. The flavors almost exactly match the aromas, but in general (due to the high apparent sweetness), things have this "artificial candy" feel added on. It's a very weird experience. As the flavors develop (moving from high intensity nutmeg/apple/poppyseed to slightly more low key cocoa, apples and spice), I notice the excellent texture. It's extremely smooth, with a richness that's very pleasant (if it was in isolation). However, in context of the flavors, it's somewhat repulsive. Throughout a strange bitterness is also quite prominent, and an unpleasant astringency sweeps in at the end.
The finish brings relief - the intensity finally dies down. Faint cocoa flavors linger for a moment (floating above weird sweet/bitter aftertaste)
Balance and texture - Extremely sweet. The sweetness overwhelms everything and makes the chocolate somewhat nauseating. The texture is great. It's rich and extremely smooth. This chocolate is confusing.

My overall interpretation -
This chocolate is insane. It's just way too intense, with no sense of balance. Personally, i get a bit nauseous if I eat too much. I'd only recommend this chocolate to someone who's just being introduced to single origin chocolates because it has such a different profile than typical supermarket-dark. It really expresses the extremes that chocolates can go to. However, for someone looking for a serious, harmonious chocolate, this is about as far as you can get from what you want. The intensity, the aftertaste and the nauseating candy-sweetness are not recommended. Among the chocolates that I currently have in store that I picked up from Chocosphere, this is clearly the most unpleasant. (Not exactly a nice review, huh?)

all across the world

nicely hungry, a slight bit tired. sun is shining. good conditions overall for tasting.
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pralus - tanzanie
look - dark brown - significant bubbling, bad texture, odd white things (like little sugar crystals?)
smell - flowery with a bit of berry, like some good oolong, slight herbal or plantyness, a bit of meaty cocoa, malt ball smell, cranberry, blueberry jam, 8.5
taste - light cocoa astringent start, some roasty, watery pasta, slight caramel, coffee, fruity with meaty component, nutty roast, slight acidity peeks out, bitterness hangs in, woody and roasty length, seems to fade somewhat quickly. 8
balance - reasonable. sweet and bitter + astringent tend to dominate, but with a slight acidity that sort of gives it this "hollowed out" feeling. interesting. 8
texture - ok, a bit rough 7.5

interpretation - decent chocolate, just a bit hollow. also doesn't relly come thru on the promises that the smell gives off. where is the fruit? i guess it's in there, but it's not nearly as pleasant as the smell, probably due to excessive roasting and astringency. 7.5~8
summary - roasty, hollow, astringent, berry smells
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amedei - toscano black 66%
look - a medium brown with a purple-red tinge. fine looking texture, tiny bubbling 9
smell - very woody up front, somewhat... winey or grapey, some sharp aroma - possibly fermentacious, vanilla, beeswax lies beneath, a bit of hazelnut, kind of milk chocolatey, some raspberry, slight soil beneath. 8.5~9
taste - sweetness, cocoa and vanilla opening, slight honeyed accent, shifting into acidic phase, some red berry fruit, toasty coffee, woody cask, gentle honey-like tastes, nice level of acid, sweetness also prevailing, a bit of toasty, a vanilla and woody length, turns slightly bitter. perfumy length really lingering 8.5~9
balance - a bit on the sweet side. base was present to support sweet > acid balance. pleasant
texture - very good, possibly a tiny bit of powdery feel

interpretation - this one loses a few points for not being bold enough. i feel like it was pretty timid, never really ventured out to show anything off. i guess that's the point of these blends tho. still, i could have used more excitement. regardless, winey/woody tastes complimented by honey/perfume is hardly something to complain about. amazing lenght. 8.5~9
summary - mild, sweet, woody/fruity, slight honey/perfume
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michel cluizel - mangaro (madagascar)
look - a lightish brown, not much in terms of red. some slight bubbling 9
smell - (smelling loads of fruit after opening the wrapper) rich fruity, cocoa and meaty smells. smoke, red fruit, vanilla, fertilizer, peanutty, tropical fruits, somewhat of a plasticy, orange, significant acid, the woody peel of some fruit-- what is it??, slight minty hiding in back, cherries? 9
taste - sweet and tart, caramel and fruit at opening, develops cocoa, nuts, fruit, fairly tart, guava, pineapple, meaty cocoa, more pineapple, slight dustiness in cocoa, more caramel, fudge tasting, tart, vanilla, red fruit on finish. also some interesting nutty(pistachio?), some whisky. very intersting finish, lingers for some time. 9
balance - sweet and tart. very lively. a good base as well. 9
texture - very good. 9.5

interpretation - an intense experience with loads of "high intensity" fruit. really gets in your face with it. acidity, fruit (esp tropical) and meaty cocoa are all very strongly imprinted in memory. really powerful. not much finesse, but i guess u can't have both. personally, if it was a tiny bit less sweet, this would be up in my favorites. a really fun-filled, exciting chocolate 9
summary - intense, exciting, acidic, tropical fruit, meaty cocoa
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lindt - ecuador
look - dark brown withreddish tinge, some tiny bubbling 9
smell - strong perfumy, woody, vanilla, cinnamon, a very blendy smell, apple cinnamon cake, possibly cloves, vanilla, green tropical fruit, very intense, somewht simple in that way 8.5
taste - significant bitter, roasty and spice smells, slightly burnt feeling, strong nutty wood sense, kind of nutmegggy, a bit flat (sweet and bitter only), more nutmeg, bitter/astringent roasty touched finish. 6.5-7
balance - so so. no acid for support. lots of bitter. 7
texture - not really any problems. 9

interpretation - this choco is wack. from teh smells you'd expect something smooth and round, but that's not the case at all. loads of bitterness and astringency await in the mouth. not to mention the flavors are far less refined when actually eating it. very strange. not a big fan, despite interesting smells. 6.5~7
summary - nice spice aromas, off taste.
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(this tasting may be a bit rushed, not to mention awful bitter left behind by prev choco)
domori - sur del lago (venezuela)
look - dark brown with slight red tint. tiny bubbling present in large amt. quite an appetizing color actually 9
smell - nutty, roasty smells, slight fermentacious, very interesting... marker?, pretty low intensity, a little bit of stink, some leathery tree branches, peppery maybe, 8
taste - peppery, blue cheese, bitter, fermenty sweet, coffee, pineapple? odd cocoa nib, creamy, interesting fruit, amazing texture, like a gently cheese, light sweet cocoa finish. 9
balance - quite nice. a little bit of acidity, mostly sweet countered well with base. 9
texture - amazing. perhaps my favorite. however, the random crunchy bit of cocoa nib is a big minus. if it wasn't for that, this texture would be in the 9.5~10 range

interpretation - very interesting. i like it. development all over, especially the light slightly fruity and fermenty flavors. creamy as well. texture is really great. i have no idea what the random woody nibs are doing in there. a thoughtful choco, and a refreshing change from vanilla and fruit heavy chocolates. 9
summary - interesting fruit/fermenty, very nice texture, random cocoa nibs.
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i was very impressed this time by domori. glad i picked up 2 from chocosphere's bargain basement! lindt was disappointing. amedei... was a gentle one. cluizel was firey. a very "all over the board" tasting