Willie's Cacao Rio Caribe Gold 72%
Willie's Cacao - Rio Caribe Gold - Venezuelan Dark Chocolate - 72%
Cacao origin/type:
Local cacao variety
Ingredients:
Cacao mass, cane sugar, cacao butter
Other facts:
Made in UK (Willie's Cacao, Uffculme)
The cultivation on the plantations of Willie Harcourt-Cooze takes place without pesticides, fertilizers or other chemical aids, and irrigation is carried out with water from the surrounding area. After harvesting, the cocoa fruits are dried and fermented on site before being shipped to Devon. There, Harcourt-Cooze carefully roasts the beans on an old facility dating back to the 1920s.
The lettering and also the square shape of the simple package reminds one of rather classic 1960s sweets from the UK and America, obviously intentional.
As a gift it is not the biggest looker, that is for sure, but the design does its job. On the back of the package a lot of small print, since it is translated into various languages, doesn't help the missing elegance of the design. Inside we get the bar in golden aluminum foil with a nice logo print. The bar itself too is very oldschool, a little thicker than most fine chocolates and classically divided into 4x4 squares, each with a cocoa bean embossing.
A very matte, mahogany dark chocolate bar, a somewhat rough finish in comparison to others, but still acceptable. Breaks quite hard and thanks to the clear, square subdivision also really straight.
Aroma:
Nutty on the nose, wild mushrooms, fine roasted notes, some vanilla, fresh coffee beans, something alcoholic as in some filled chocolates, but overall not very intense
Taste:
Very slowly melting and quite dry, first comes very clearly freshly ground coffee, some lemon zest, roasted nuts of various kinds, walnut, hazelnut, pumpkin seeds. The lemon zest transitions into ginger. Fascinating how slow and dry it melts. The roasted notes become slightly more intense, a little bit, but not much stronger than the Chapon from Venezuela
Finish:
In the finish the mushrooms come back delicately, some walnut and coffee beans, hint of citrus peel, just medium length
Comment:
Somewhat flat compared to the Chapon we reviewed last time, also from Venezuela. Especially in the nose this is the case, but also the very dry melt is not my thing. Not bad overall, interesting notes here and there, but there is just something missing compared to the Chapon.
