Seed Chocolate Peru Gran Yapatera Blanco 75% 90/100

This bar is made using cocoa beans from the Piura region of north west Peru, sourced directly in collaboration with CacaoTales. Once harvested they’re shipped to Stoke on Trent where James Walter turns them into one of Seed’s chocolate bars.

If there’s a theme when I write about chocolate from Peru, it’s that the country is large and extremely biodiverse with a ridiculous wealth of microclimates. From the Andes mountains in the north, to the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Amazon Rainforest in the south east, the climate is varied to say the least. If you tried to pin down Peru as a single origin you’d be struggling. Even describing the flavour profiles of a region like Piura would have you floundering, such is the variety and diversity of flavour exhibited by Peruvian cacao. Here we have a bar made from Gran Yapatera Blanco beans from the Piura region. A set of white cocoa beans from eastern Piura around the Chulucanas area. I’ve tried a couple of bars made using white beans from Piura, but mostly Gran Nativo Blanco and I’ve tried a number of bars using beans from Chulucanas. Those with white beans so far have presented similar profiles, yellow fruit flavours with mild acidity and a generally lighter profile, whereas beans from Chulucanas tends to have more cherry and raisin flavours with an increased acidity. I’d be inclined to expect a delicate profile even at 75% with some light fruit and medium acidity, but I’m unsure whether to expect flavours in the direction of white grapes or dried raisins. Opening the packaging I’m presented with a crazy paving cocoa pod slab in a glossy matte finish. Breaking off a piece reveals soft golden aromas of dessert wine, honey and apricots. Placing a piece in my mouth the chocolate is syrupy and firm with a touch of biscuit cream in the finish. To taste this bar opens with a cocoa backbone, but with apricot and apricot jam notes on top carried by waves of honey that provide the sweetness. This is a particularly honeyed and golden flavours contrasting with darker base notes of cocoa and dark muscovado. Towards the finish their begins to appear a spiced biscuit note which lingers on long after the finish. There’s a refined nature to the flavour here, which pairs with a firm structure that forces the flavours into the middle, which reminds me of a balanced dry wine, crisp and structured. This is one for those looking for a more refined cocoa, those who like fruit, but not an overwhelming amount. Best enjoyed with live yoghurt, cinnamon rolls, strawberry jam doughnuts or red fruit lambic beer.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, unrefined cane sugar

Appearance 8.5/10

Colour: Darker brown
Texture: Fudgey, heavy ridging
Mould: Cocoa pod crazy paving
Snap: Crisp
Temp/Shine: Glossy matte

Aroma 9/10

Intensity(0-10): 7
Notes: Dessert wine, honey, apricot
Quality: Golden, honeyed, soft

Melt/Mouthfeel 9/10

Length: Long
Evenness: Even
Texture: Syrupy, firm, biscuit cream
Quality: Syrupy, firm, ligtly juicy

Acidity 9/10

Intensity(0-10): 3
Notes: Apricot, dessert grapes
Quality: Golden, juicy, balancing

Sweetness 9.5/10

Intensity(0-10): 8
Notes: Honey, apricot jam, dark muscovado
Quality: Golden, rich, depth

Flavour 9/10

Intensity(0-10): 9
Type: Sweet
Notes: Cocoa, apricot, honey, dark muscovado, spiced biscuit
Quality: Golden, rich, deep, nuanced, refined

Length 9/10

Flavours have a steady, consistent and stable middle length, making rounds on short peaks of juicy acidity

Finish 9/10

Notes: Apricot jam, spiced biscuit
Quality: Lashes of apricot jam give way to a spiced biscuit notes in the finish which lingers long after

Balance 9/10

Bar has a heavily structured balance, complementary flavours are firmly placed in the middle by a firm structure that provides tonnes of stability and lots of anchoring

Overall 9/10

Bar has good depth and good dimension, complexities are firmly balanced and structure is consistent, expression feels honest and transparent, although a little dark and firmly stabilised with processing encouraging structure and balance

Tasting Notes: Stone fruit. Malt. Honey. Citrus.