Tasting Notes: Rich chocolate flavor, lime, red grapefruit, leather, earthyness, and spice.
Papua New Guinea is one of the earth’s wildest regions. Towns are no more than outposts, and the rules of the Wild West still predominate--roving bands and vigilante justice. Here too is one of the world’s hidden jewels when it comes to fine-quality cocoa. Very little cocoa from New Guinea makes it outside of Indonesia. Most is used for internal consumption. This chocolate is made from these very special beans. The flavors found in the chocolate made from cocoa grown in the wilds of the Morobe province have beautiful citrus notes most reminiscent of lime and red grapefruit. Beautiful earthy notes give balance throughout. As you eat this chocolate, the flavors hidden in the cocoa bean gently unwrap themselves in waves, which in turn create rolling waves of flavor--a flavor experience not to be missed.
Ingredients: Cocoa Beans, Cocoa Butter, Pure Cane Sugar, Whole Vanilla Bean.
Recent Awards:
Winner of the Bronze medal at the 2016 Academy of Chocolate Awards
Winner of the Bronze medal at the 2015 Academy of Chocolate Awards
Chocolate Maker's Notes:
I stumbled upon these magical beans some time ago. The moment I tasted these raw, unroasted bean from the southern most part of Papua New Guinea, I was overwhelmed by the bean’s intense flavor, as well as the large number of complex flavors all in this simple cocoa bean. The bean’s complexity and intense flavor also meant that it would be a difficult task to bring out all those flavors in a balanced and nuanced fashion.
I spent many late nights at the factory roasting the beans at different temperatures and for different lengths to understand how this bean responded to roasting. Similar testing went into conching and refining, since both the conching length and temperatures affect flavor, and the refining process affects how those flavors are expressed.
After an immense amount of testing, I found a path through the processes of roasting, refining, and conching that really brings out the intense flavors of these beans and reflects my vision of what makes these beans special. It is my desire that you enjoy the chocolate made from these magical cocoa beans as much as I do.
