At 90%, the luminous bar appears forbiddingly dark but is saved from complete blackness by a brick red tint. There isn’t a single imperfection to be seen; Slitti has presented a beautiful bar that will also intimidate. The aroma, unlike the rest of the Gran Cacao range, is much more controlled and equally balanced, hitting you squarely in the jaw with a combination that works flawlessly. Onto the strong chocolaty backbone is the primary note of coconut, while fleeting raspberries flutter around in there somewhere. The intense chocolatiness, though, is what seals the deal, winning you over with power rather than complexity.
Taking cues from the aroma, the flavor gets right down to business. Coconut leads the profile and is peppered by surges of raspberries, but underneath all this is a beautiful chocolatiness that impresses as much as it satisfies. It’s a fierce and powerful punch to the face, unlike the sluggish jab the 73% delivered. With so much momentum in its favor, the chocolate possibly can’t fail, and sure enough it doesn’t. As the length continues, the strength mounts ever higher and finally culminates at the end with a sobering but pleasant jolt of bitterness and a lingering reminder of its presence. This chocolate cannot be easily forgotten, and indeed, it shouldn’t.
It is here, though, where the texture turns slightly (and I do mean slightly) dry, but for the most part Slitti has successfully delivered a thick yet creamy consistency, a pastiness usually associated with higher percentages. After striking out twice with the 73% and 82%, Slitti has finally hit a homerun. What we have here, then, is the pinnacle of this line, a chocolate that exhibits the greatest balance, an absence of offensive irregularities, and the strongest cacao intensity that needs no complexity to make the flavor awesome. It seems only a little sugar is needed to smoothen the flavor and that power is needed for this blend to work. It’s tempting to wonder, though, can too much power be overkill? Will the 100% reveal some nasty secrets the cacao is hiding?
