CHOCOLATE TASTING
PART 1/2
In recent years the community of serious chocolate tasters has been growing rapidly and has gained widespread attention in the media. The art of chocolate tasting is equal to that of wine tasting, and the complexity of flavours in wine and chocolate are comparable. The climate, surroundings and harvest develop unique flavours and aromas in cacaos. This article aims to help you investigate these profiles with a summarized analysis of Michel Cluizel’s plantation chocolate bars.
In Part 1, we will cover the following Single Plantation chocolate bars:
- MEXICO, Mokaya, 66% Organic Plantation
- LOS ANCONES, Saint Dominique, 67% Organic Plantation
- VILA GRACINDA, São Tomé, 67%
- MARALUMI, Papua New-Guinea, 64%
MOKAYA, Mexico, 66% Organic Plantation
The Plantation
This plantation located in the Chiapas region perpetuates the local age-old tradition by producing unique taste cocoa beans. First to burst into the mouth, the powerful notes of cocoa and fruits turn in a second time into dried fruits flavours. The home of cocoa, which was discovered about ten years ago at the heart of the Chiapas province in Mexico, stretches down to the border with Guatemala. Over 2000 years before our era, the Mokayas, an indigenous people of fishermen, already used to have a drink made with cocoa flesh or grains: the first “cocoa” in the world, which was then called “kakawa”. At the heart of the warmest area of the country, on fertile volcanic lands, planters perpetuate an age-old tradition that dates back to the Maya period.
Flavours & Smells
INITIAL TASTE: Sweetness of Milk Caramel
CORE NOTES: Explosion of acidulous exotic fruits, honey from Mexico, grilled dried fruits (almonds and hazelnuts)
AFTERTASTE: Grilled cocoa, slight bitter, pepper notes, extremely fruity and acidulous
Aromatic Hints
After a first very « jammy » hint of exotic fruits, this Mokaya reminds the acidulous honey of the wild bees of Mexico before revealing a final hint of strong cocoa flavor.
LOS ANCONES, Saint Dominique, 67%, Organic Plantation
The Plantation
In the heart of the Caribbean, to the west of San Francisco de Macoris. The Los Ancones plantation is in the centre of the island and somewhat above sea level, and it benefits from the abundant amounts of warm rain brought by the trade winds.
Since 1903, not much has changed in the Rizek family’s plantation, where an aromatic variety of trinitario cocoa trees is cultivated. This is done with full respect for the cocoa trees, under the protection of palm trees, and without adding any fertilizers or pesticides (organic cocoa). The beans are fermented for six or seven days and dried in the sun on racks without regaining any moisture thanks to the use of drying houses with sliding roofs.
Flavours & Smells
INITIAL TASTE: Coffee, liquorice, maté
CORE NOTES: Soft fruit, leather, old wine
AFTERTASTE: Currants, acidulated apricots
Aromatic Hints
The Rizek family beans release in this chocolate their aromas of liquorice wood then red berries and green olives with a lingering flavour of dried currants and apricots.
VILA GRACINDA, São Tomé, 67%
The Plantation
In Africa, off Gabon, São Tomé is a small island made up of a volcano, on the equator, in the Gulf of Guinea. Its volcanic soil and its hot, very moist equatorial climate suit the cocoa trees so well that cocoa growing accounts for 90 % of the island’s export revenues. São Tome really deserves its nickname of “Chocolate Island”. In the east of the island, close to the costs, the plantation ‘Vila Gracinda’ spreads on 50ha.
The plantations go back to the nineteenth century, and they benefit from the full range of savours of various very old varieties… Amongst them, the famous forastero amelonado, with its round red pod, is still the mainstay of São Tome’s reputation. Because the ‘Vila Grancinda’ plantation is set close to the sea, the rich aromas of its cocoa trees are further heightened by a hint of iodine from the salt spray of the Atlantic Ocean.
Flavours & Smells
INITIAL TASTE: Liquorice, chinese tea
CORE NOTES: Flower honey, cinnamon, rapadou (return of liquorice), green olive
AFTERTASTE: Black olive, slightly acidulated, overripe apricot, candied plump
Aromatic Hints
This chocolate, born from a volcanic and marine soil, reveals toasted, spicy and herbaceous notes with flavours of ripe tropical fruits and liquorice sticks.
MARALUMI, Papua-New Guinea, 64%
The Plantation
Asia, the island of Papua – New Guinea, to the north of Australia, in the Pacific Ocean. On the eastern end of the island, just south of the equator, the Maralumi plantation benefits from a moist equatorial climate and soil that is rich in alluvia, making the area ideal for growing cocoa trees. ‘Maralumi’, the ‘river spirits’ watch over the plantation that bears their name.
In Papua New Guinea, plantations are subjected to strict rules: from picking to drying, via the graining of the beans, everything is done to ensure rigorous quality supervision for the cocoa. The Maralumi plantation produces cocoa of the trinitario variety, with plenty of character.
Flavours & Smells
INITIAL TASTE: Slightly bitter herbaceous notes, lapsang souchong
CORE NOTES: Tobacco, smoke, prunes, milky note
AFTERTASTE: Soft fruit (redcurrant), pepper, strawberry, crystallized bananas
Aromatic Hints
The cocoa beans give this mellow chocolate slightly roasted and spicy flavours, fresh notes of green bananas and acidulates flavours of red currants prolonged by charming aromas of Havana tobacco leaves.