As far as I know from ciao.fr, Bonnat processed only one batch of Porcelana, since it seems it was made from 700kg beans of the 1000kg worldwide (???) crop of Porcelana in the region of lago Maraicaïbo. Read the full story by Parenthese - one of the most chocoholic on Ciao -you can find the full story at http://www.ciao.fr/Bonnat_Porcelana_75__Avis_1065704
(sorry, in French)
Anyway, she met Stéphane Bonnat and his wife themselves at the French Chocolate Show on 19oct 2007, then I think the info is reliable. BUT by now, I'd say nothing's left up from this small miracle...

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Originally posted by marioh

I have just found this Porcelana bar made by Bonnat. Does anyone know anything about it? Does Bonnat make it regularly now? Can it be bought somewhere else? Anything? The problem is, that you can’t always trust what Manufactum is telling you…

http://www.manufactum.de/group/189558/product/1413824/Produktdetail.1773.0.html
(Sorry, page is only in german)

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I guess we have different opinions here. IMHO, mostly "neutral" = "boring, lacks personality" = "not worth the high price".

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My name is Polarbear and I am a chocoholic...

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IMHO, this bar is less dark than other Bonnat bars, and the Bonnat "coffee-spicyness" is less pronounced, but still clearly present. But I agree that it is somewhat foolish to let your stylish preferences dictate chocolate taste, especially of high-quality beans. After all, what's then the point of using varieties if you force them to taste nearly the same?

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My name is Polarbear and I am a chocoholic...

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Bonnat has a tendency to roast on the darker side, that much is agreed, but in the case of Porcelana the beans are excessively bitter, and the bar tastes much darker than anything else Bonnat has produced. It just seems like an unnatural entry under their banner, even forced a bit just to make the most out of sub par beans.

Perhaps Porcelana's limited flavor contributes to this, and if so why roast so long even if stylistic preference dictates such actions? Any over-roasting will seem like overkill (even in Amedei's version you can sense that), but as I mentioned before the bitterness and the muffled flavor are turnoffs, and furthermore anomalies that a Porcelana should not possess. This, to me, suggests that the maker is hiding something, i.e. poor bean quality, since this is something you can clearly taste in the high bitterness level.

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My feel is that there isn't any one manufacturer who has a clear lead in preserving varietal differences, but rather different manufacturers with different style points are more or less successful with different varietal groups. I think also that inherently a manufacturer tends to select beans that will lean towards their style, because it's reasonable to assume that their style is what they think of as excellence in chocolate and thus beans with this source potential is what they'll prefer without even thinking about it. If pressed to pick a chocolatier whose varietals each seem the most uniquely different from their other varietals I suspect that would be Cluizel, but they're not necessarily "characteristic" of the varietal - even if some (Vila Gracinda in particular) clearly are. But different chocolatiers have different strengths. At the limit there is a tendency for extremely aggressive roasting to erase differences in varitals - so Pralus for example is more stylistic than varietally tuned, but even that works in some cases.

Porcelana is a difficult chocolate to review as you note because its inherent flavour *is* so neutral. The Bonnat bar isn't the only one that would make an ideal base chocolate for a blend and it's that very neutrality and even flavour that makes it such a top-quality bean. The expectation oftentimes is that great varietals should explode with bold and characteristic flavours a la Chuao but that isn't the only route to greatness.

Alex Rast
Alex_Rast_Alternate@hushmail.com

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My name is Polarbear and I am a chocoholic...

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My name is Polarbear and I am a chocoholic...

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Review is written, awaiting only a good bar image. Summarising what I've written, overall I found the bar to be very well balanced and in some ways a textbook example of what one might want in a "base" chocolate for blending - something simple and chocolatey that doesn't interfere too much with other chocolates and adds no negatives. Not that there's any real chance it'll be blended with anything and it definitely stands alone without difficulty. I'd say Domori still has the overall edge but this is another worthy contender.

Alex Rast
Alex_Rast_Alternate@hushmail.com

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Does this include oil fragrance? [8D] Lake Maracaibo is also Venezuela's main oil producing area.

I have ordered a couple of these bars from Manufactum and waits eagerly to see if they are worth the price, and if Bonnat hasn't roasted them too much.

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My name is Polarbear and I am a chocoholic...

I would be interested in how many grams of sugar are in each serving. Deducting this value from the total serving weight would allow us to find the ratio of fat...

Hmm...

" This rare cocoa, with an annual production of less than 1000 kg, comes from an ancient plantation in Venezuela. Porcelana beans are unique, in that they are a translucent white color. Fragrant and well balanced, the resulting chocolate is filled with the complex flavors imparted by the soil around Lake Maracaibo. From it's powerful fragrance to it's delicate taste, this chocolate will exceed the expectations of the most demanding chocolate connoisseur. "

Is there any information on the packaging of that bar that indicates the breakdown of sugar:serving size ratios? I am wondering if they overdid it on the cocoa butter...

When I see that cocoa butter is listed before sugar, a lot of alarms are set off for me and I am already thinking Hachez....my nemesis.

Sean