Though Domori’s bars usually suffer in appearance due to minimal processing, Porcelana has obviously received top priority. The bar is truly a sight for sore eyes, radiating with a beautiful sheen that reflects a rusty shade of orange. The aroma continues to build excitement with a simple yet luxurious theme of strawberries and cream, which is underscored by an intriguing bread-like component. At this point, it’s virtually impossible not to fall in love with the chocolate before tasting it!

The chocolate immediately starts the show on the purest and one of the most awe inspiring flavors the word “chocolate” should embody. This chocolatiness doesn’t relent either, instead gushing its contents ever stronger as strawberries and cream add a strong sense of the sophisticate and never crowd the palate with complexity. Indeed, with such a refined flavor that speaks purely and boldly of the Porcelana bean, who could possibly want more? It’s like looking through the clearest crystal and seeing only perfection. Domori has successfully delivered the best interpretation of this varietal, capturing its notes loudly with a perfect balance that was probably achieved by a breaching of philosophy.

Just about the only semblance to Domori’s usual style is the texture, which is super smooth and creamy. Not to discredit the bean, this smoothness can also be attributed to the innate characteristics of the cacao itself, which always has a topnotch texture. It’s apparent that Domori knew exactly what they were dealing with and decided to tread carefully with this gentle cacao. There are no fermented notes, no uncontrolled acidity, no wild intensity levels, or any other irregularities that ruin the chocolate. Like Beethoven’s “”Für Elise,”" the chocolate is simple yet beautiful, unfolding soft and delicate notes in a procession of gentility that could hardly convey the same sensation if altered with complexity. Both resonate through the senses with sheer complacency and send you melting into total relaxation.

The bar that started the Porcelana craze. And completely worth the hype. Indisputably Domori’s finest chocolate and a textbook exemplar of its varietal. Delicate, subtle, a beautiful chocolate. A worthy anchor at the top of the line of one of the best chocolate manufacturers in the world.

Unwrapping this bar yields a gorgeous, deep red-brown tablet, at least once you get past the annoying plastic inner seal. Domori really should jettison the plastic which besides being a pain to open tends to release odours into the contents. Nonetheless, the bar itself has a near-mirror finish of a perfect temper. A few mould bubbles suggest more a slightly artisan character to the process than they do carelessness.

Aroma is an interesting mix – there’s a decided smell of buttered toast, very alluring if one might say so, along with a whiff of coffee and a vague, strawberry/cherry fruitiness. It’s like waking up to breakfast. The flavour is perhaps the purest “”Criollo”" flavour ever elaborated in a chocolate. Initially there’s a saturated yet delicate taste of utterly fresh strawberries and cream, and then a suggestion of cherry. There’s also a darker harmonic here – something a bit like brown sugar but with a very slight, bitter edge, not anything at all harsh yet enough to sustain interest. Texture, too, is per the Domori standard of excellence – it’s ultra-smooth and exceptionally creamy.

The bar really stands out in its delicacy, a very feminine chocolate that, without seeming to need the power of bolder chocolates, effortlessly overcomes one’s will to resist. It’s a chocolate that literally makes you feel pampered and happy. And this is what Porcelana is supposed to be – the essence of lightness, the definition of subtlety in chocolate. Domori shows the world what to do with this bean.

The colour of this chocolate is a long way from the ‘black’ of some lesser bitter chocolates – you might well mistake it for milk at first glance. The snap is very solid, revealing a red-flecked granite roughness with the odd bubble.

The aroma is so distinctive here I’m tempted to call it just ‘porcelana’, but it could be described as a combination of caramel, red wine, exotic fruit and tobacco, with a deep underlying tone, which is just too hard to name, but maybe leather and honey would come closest.

At first the taste is acid/lime with liquorice, but on the first bite the true pedigree of this chocolate shines through in a sudden flood of intense honey, caramel, on the edge of ‘umami’ – again that hard to pin down ‘porcelana’ taste. A little thick in the mouth, but this does not linger. Towards the end the flavours resolve into chocolate loveliness, without the slightest hint of burning or other mistreatment of the beans. The length is lime with a slight cheese sourness, but steady all the same.

A high chocolate indeed, you will forget this is a strong 70% chocolate without any added cocoa butter – this is chocolate honey.