DISTINGUISHED BEANS
Reviewing the best in craft chocolate
Dominican Republic
Dominicano beans tend to have an intense, fruity, slightly funky flavor. Multiple makers in this producing country are making fine chocolate with local cacao.
Cacaoteca
Cacaoteca's chocolate is grown, roasted, and made into bars entirely in the Dominican Republic. This young company (2016) is a great new addition to the expanding range of makers that produce fine chocolate in the country of origin.
Dominican Republic Intense Dark 78%
Aroma: deep, intense aroma. Fermented, port, mud/damp soil, sweet dried fruit, orange rind, coffee grounds, fermented
Flavor: Distinct fermented flavors with a little funk, dark fruit, prune, raisin, grapes, wine, coffee grounds, brownie, heavy cream. Dark fresh flavors, like they originate in the cacao itself and the fermentation, not from a dark roast. Some slight bitterness emerges in the middle and softens to vanilla near the end. Still quite sweet even though it is 78%.
Recommendation: Recommended. A distinct flavor profile with lots of earthy, fruity funk
Batch info: Lot no. 78200919; September 20, 2020
Kah Kow
Kah Kow makes bars and other products from Dominican cacao, as well as providing commercial quantities of beans, cocoa mass, nibs, butter, and coverture.
Dominican Republic 70%
Aroma: rich earthy aroma upon opening, floral, dried cherry, roses
Flavor: Subtle and delicate, few bold flavors right away. Initial hint of molasses flavor, perhaps from the sugar. Toasted nuts, floral, seeds, warm chocolate flavors, low bitterness and acidity, no astringency, smooth criollo nuttiness and some delicate criollo flavors, vanilla, spices. Coffee, roasted and dark toast notes, nice base cocoa, some brown fruit undertones. A very slight mustiness, kind of earthy along with spring day and fresh grass notes. Very smooth texture.
Recommendation: Recommended. Overall, well-balanced across a range of flavors, smooth and pleasant.
Batch info: Lot no. 70-002555
Definite
Mallano 90%
Aroma: faint, crackers
Flavor: Overall pleasant. Very earthy with a very slight mold aftertaste.
Recommendation: Recommended with reservations. I’ve noticed this very fermented/funky flavor in beans from the Dominican Republic before. Still, it’s satisfying but I would not highly recommend it.
Batch info: Batch T0655; Best before April 2022