Friday 28 November 2014

Willie's Cacao Colombian Gold Los Llanos 88

It's Willie's darkest GOLD yet. If you were to buy the Colombian 88%, you'll find that on the packaging, and online too, it will say "redcurrant and spice" notes, however on my packaging it was "soft cherry & plum". I was curious to find out which was more accurate
The single estate, Los Llanos, cacao aroma was cocoa (standard, dutch-processed), coconut, and most definitely plummy. Like dark, verging on overripe plums and their pits fermenting in barrels. Strikingly it became a malt loaf, packed with raisins, lightly spiced and made extra sticky with black tea. The malt loaf was toasted. I suspect Willie went for a medium roast 
The flavour opened with cocoa, which also finished the chocolate, and a soft bitterness. Naturally, as chocolate melts, flavour compounds break down on the tongue and you begin tasting all the different flavours of the chocolate. With this Colombian 88%, cherry quietly surfaced, which brought a sour-cherry feeling on the tongue. The cherry remained mild in taste though, with only the slightest sourness. I discerned the toasty roast, but apart from that ... nothing. I was hoping for more flavours, like the plentiful fruits in aroma. Once, whilst chewing it tasted like a cherry sponge cake

The chocolate didn't take me on a gustatory journey. I will admit that the intense cocoa flavour distracted me slightly, but I still don't think it had a complex flavour. I liked the aroma though, that was nostalgic. Like Willie's Peruvian, it smelt like Polish sweet things - cherry, plum, prune etc.

I like my chocolate to be a little sweeter and fruitier

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