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10:23 pm
August 24, 2007
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Eshra
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Southgate, USA
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posts 178
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Just recently made my way back to El Rey chocolates after several years and am extremely pleased with their Gran Saman bar. This is one intense choc! The bar is able to carry a wallop of chocolatiness without ever conveying bitterness. Slight mustiness in the later experience in the bar….but not enough to shadow how marvelous this bar from El Rey tastes.
Has anyone tried El Rey recently? What are some opinions on specific bars?
Sean
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12:45 am
August 25, 2007
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ChemicalMachine
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USA
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posts 110
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The flavor is excellent, but the texture is so poor that I do not enjoy their chocolate much.
I have tried the bars, and I find the Gran Saman to be their best.
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1:02 am
August 25, 2007
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Alex Rast
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Manchester, United Kingdom
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posts 283
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quote:
Originally posted by Eshra
Just recently made my way back to El Rey chocolates after several years and am extremely pleased with their Gran Saman bar. This is one intense choc! The bar is able to carry a wallop of chocolatiness without ever conveying bitterness. Slight mustiness in the later experience in the bar….
Nice deconstruction. Yes, I note a slight mustiness, too, but the power is incredibly impressive. As ChemicalMachine says, it’s not great on texture but that’s an inevitable result of the lower cocoa butter content. If they improved the texture by upping the fat, that characteristic freight-train-like intensity would go away. In fact, you can find this out explicitly with Apamate, which does exactly that.
I’ve been impressed with their Rio Caribe Macuro most of all. This is a great, rich chocolate with lots of character, an unmistakeable fruity/spicy flavour, and a texture that improves significantly on Gran Saman. The San Joaquin is also pretty good although with Ocumare beans there are better chocolates from Domori. Need it be said? Icoa white chocolate is the best in the world.
Alex Rast
Alex_Rast_Alternate@hushmail.com
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Alex Rast
Alex_Rast_Alternate@hushmail.com
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1:09 am
August 25, 2007
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sunita
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San Francisco Bay Area, USA
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posts 6
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I really enjoy El Rey’s Gran Saman, I find the bar to be very playful while full of flavour. I love the sugar crystals in the bar even though it changes the texture of the experience– yes, I guess playful is the way to describe it. Their 41% milk bar Caoba is OK. Not too milky, has decent flavour for a milk, but still rather sweet. I am not a big fan of their Apamate bar at 73.5 %. Gran Saman by far is my favorite El Rey bar.
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2:11 am
August 26, 2007
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ChemicalMachine
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USA
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posts 110
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I am not comfortable with attributing the poor texture to the low butter content, as I see no improvement in the Ampate; the Gran Saman is rough and coarse, while the Ampate is rough, coarse, and waxy.
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5:35 pm
September 2, 2007
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johnhart52
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Seabrook, TX, USA
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posts 4
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I wonder if anybody can tell me if the Gran Saman in disc format (for baking) is the same product as the Gran Saman bar? I have ready access to the El Rey baking chocolate format, but not to the eating bars, and I wondered it it was the same thing. Anyone know? Thanks!
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7:07 pm
September 2, 2007
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Alex Rast
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Manchester, United Kingdom
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posts 283
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quote:
Originally posted by johnhart52
I wonder if anybody can tell me if the Gran Saman in disc format (for baking) is the same product as the Gran Saman bar?
Yes. Blocs too. Same chocolate, just moulded differently. Sometimes the bars have slightly more quality control applied to temper, but the difference is trivial – it’s not as if the discos are out of temper. They often suffer chipping and flaking in transit as well, but again, insignificant to the flavour usually.
Alex Rast
Alex_Rast_Alternate@hushmail.com
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Alex Rast
Alex_Rast_Alternate@hushmail.com
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4:53 am
September 4, 2007
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johnhart52
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Seabrook, TX, USA
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posts 4
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Alex, thank you very much for your clarification on this, it is much appreciated!
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