This bar is made using cocoa beans from the Piura region of north west Peru, sourced directly in collaboration with CacaoTales and finally blended with coconut milk. 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. Having tried this cocoa as a 75% and a 100% I’m inclined to expect some of the yellow/golden fruit notes to carry over slightly and some of the biscuity notes to turn dark caramel. Coconut milk does have an affect on the flavour adding coconut like tones to the flavour, which depending on the cocoa use is as good if not sometimes better than cows milk. Here I’d expect the flavours to combine in a east Asian style to give sweet and savoury coconut notes with a milk driven dessert feel with touches of that golden fruit flavour. My main hope is that this bar can offer some roundedness and balance. Opening the packaging I’m presented with a crazy paving cocoa pod slab in a matte gloss finish. Breaking off a piece reveals sweet aromas of coconut, honey and cocoa with some toasted coconut in the finish. Placing a piece in my mouth the chocolate has textures of honey that turn to caramel with these accents of what i can only describe as sugar soaked desiccated coconut. To taste this bar opens with notes of cocoa, honey and coconut. The flavours are bright and sweet and lead to fruitier and chewier notes of apricot caramel and desiccated coconut before some horchata like notes in the finish. The flavours are complementary and pleasant here, but the bar leans a little sweet, probably owning to the coconut milk, sugar and the lighter more refined cocoa being used. There’s definitely cocoa and biscuity notes here, but a lighter cocoa and roast profile offers up more fruit than structured backbone. This is one for those who love Asian sweetened coconut desserts, fans of sweetened condensed milk or for those who prefer a lighter profiled dark milk. Best enjoyed with pastry, pistachios, rose or hoppy IPA’s.
Ingredients: Cocoa beans, coconut milk, unrefined sugar
Appearance 8.5/10
Colour: Medium brown
Texture: Smooth, light ridging
Mould: Cocoa pod crazy paving
Snap: Crisp
Temp/Shine: Matte gloss
Aroma 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 9
Notes: Coconut, honey, cocoa, toasted coconut
Quality: Sweet, roasted, golden
Melt/Mouthfeel 9/10
Length: Long
Evenness: Even
Texture: Honey, syrupy, sugar soaked desiccated coconut, caramel
Quality: Sugary, syrupy, lightly chewy
Acidity 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 2
Notes: Apricot
Quality: Fruity, honeyed, chewy
Sweetness 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 9
Notes: Honey, caramel, apricot caramel, horchata
Quality: Golden, honeyed, fruity
Flavour 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 9
Type: Sweet
Notes: Honey, coconut, caramel, desiccated coconut, apricot caramel, horchata
Quality: Sweet, golden, lightly chewy, milky, fruity
Length 9/10
Flavours are big and long from the outset, making slightly uneven rounds from peaks of fruity acidity
Finish 9/10
Notes: Horchata
Quality: Coconut flavours run into a biscuity cocoa and frothy milk like finish that reminds me of drinks like horchata leaving lingering sweet tones for an age
Balance 9/10
Bar leans a little sweet, although flavours are complementary, medium structure allows some freedom, with good anchoring and stability
Overall 8.5/10
Bar has some depth and some dimension, complexities are complementary and balanced, structure is consistent, expression feels honest but heavily influences by coconut milk with processing encouraging sweet milky profile
Seed Chocolates Tasting Notes: Coconut, dried fruit, long lasting cocoa
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