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Originally posted by Eshra

Greetings!
I just picked up a bar of Kallari 85% at my local Whole Foods. I must say that I am impressed. The bar is single origin Nacional Cacao from Ecuador and is produced bean-to-bar in Ecuador from cacao harvested by a cooperative of 850 Kichwa farmers. The bar is quite mild for an 85%, conveying a sweet floralness all its own with some nutty undertones. Highly recommend. Anyone else try this line yet?
Sean

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I tried both 75% and 70% and was rather underwhelmed. They’re OK, but I wouldn’t rave about them.

The 75% starts out nice with a good fruity, blackberry burst at the start but then becomes much more bitter and flat. It must be said that
the aroma is pretty good, although a little coconuttiness hints at
potential future problems.

The 70% is heavy-handed with the vanilla, so that it ends up tasting more like vanilla than anything else. In fact, this was a bit of
a problem with the 75% as well. I’d call the 70% “easy to eat” which
if you know me falls into the damning-with-faint-praise category.
The upfront taste is again nice but it just can’t sustain it and
lapses into bland generic flavour.

There are worse organics to be sure, but there are better ones too.

Alex Rast
Alex_Rast_Alternate@hushmail.com

quote:

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Originally posted by Eshra

Alex,

Have you tried the 85%? I think the handling of the bean is quite good given the percentage. I do not experience any bitterness in the 85%. I have only tried the 85. Cannot speak on the others.

Sean

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I hadn’t before, but did so now. I think I can see what you liked in it, but again to be honest I think it also has some problems. The flavour starts out well with fruity currant and strawberry, but then flattens off utterly into coffee. There’s virtually no length. Also, it has the same problem as the other percentages: heavy-handedness with the vanilla. It’s an improvement on the other percentages, but I think you can see a repetition of the same pattern. They need to pull back on the roast a bit, and, I think, use a shorter conching time. You’re right that there’s minimal bitterness, but IMHO flatness is as bad. Again, not dreadful, not by any means, but there are better 85% chocolates available, better Ecuadors, better Nacionals.

Alex Rast
Alex_Rast_Alternate@hushmail.com