![]() It was a moment two years in the making.īefore landing in California, their Ucayali won two more awards including the Triple MMM, a special award given by the founding partners of the ICA to recognize a personal favorite from that year. The plane was pushing off the ground when they learned their Ucayali chocolate received that year’s gold medal out of all the micro-batch competitors in North and Latin America. Their single-origin Ucayali (pronounced yü-ca-yālē ) dark chocolate bar was up for consideration. ![]() Their flight was homeward bound for Los Angeles, and as the plane was taking off, the Menkes watched a livestream of the International Chocolate Awards (ICA) for the Americas with anticipation. exhibits a respect for the elements in generalized dark tones that transmute core chocolate tags into deeper hues & saps.In the summer of 2017, David and Corey Menkes, founders of bean-to-bar chocolate company Letterpress Chocolate, were leaving the Fine Chocolate Industry Association’s biannual event in New York City. Near classic rendering of the now-defunct La Red co-op introduced to the premium scene by Mast Bros in their early heyday (strange how that went) &, with this strong closeout by Letterpress, the 2 bars bookend bold, noble flavors that contributed to putting the D.R. ![]() Very basic Central American cocoa seen in an earlier guise from French Broad (that contains with more in-depth info on its provenance).ĭominican Republic (Los Pajones, María Trinidad Sánchez Province) La Red cultivar 2014 Harvest 72% cacáo-content Batch 26 INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butterĬosta Rica (Limón Province San Andrés) Blend ( Matina Scavina +) 2014 Harvest 70% cacáo-content Batch 29 The 3 together, along with Kokoa Kamili's own sample, shows that Letterpress reads these seeds accurately & crafts accordingly. ![]() This here less ornate than Palette de Bine, falls more in line with Middlebury. With so few Kamili bars on the market, the parameters of this regional cacáo are still to be fixed but already the early general curve shapes up: opening fruit pop, nut close, & moderate cocoa base. Tanzania (Kilombero Valley, Morogoro) Varietal Blend 70% cacáo-content Batch 17 Generally correct prep & process (excepting that soap bubbling - a rinse issue with the moulds?). Once the raisin vanishes, the bar slips way upstream, practically untethered into the fruits & florals (+ possible solvent) with no balance to bring it back save for the chicory aftermath. Knowing this varietal, the color reflects a hearty mix of pale & purple seeds. Peru (Marañón Canyon) Nacional 2013 Harvest 70% cacáo-content Batch 7 Grand entrance: a complex of chocolate / fruit (sapote) / wood (immortelle) - exceptional - encompassed in a beautiful musk -> hits on a sweeter fruit spot (dried apricot) -> some blackstrapping in the back -> thickens into a turgid tamarind-caramel -> heavy palm sugar ending Translates faithfully from the Aroma with pops in an early fruit tang (tamarind, including a mild detergent of the self-same character as Marañón … hmmm) -> settles on dried sap & resin shadowed by the anise-like Pinus patula -> late lychee (real nice) -> bitter nut (call it marula kernel)īlack attack (loganberry -> molasses -> licorice) -> bitter black olive -> blackwood ( Gliricidia septum) cut lightly by rambutan -> faint soap wash -> resolves to a plantain / coffee cross ![]() Archetypal drupe fruits backed in black raisin & amber treacle -> a rather rare grapefruit for this cultivar -> soap bubbles & flowers centered about geranium -> puckering finish -> chicory root in the deep aftermath ![]()
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