Chapter Twenty-Five: Valrhona Abinao 85%

This week, we are tasting Valrhona's Noir Abinao 85% cacao, a bar from France which was gifted to us by Gaby's aunt who was recently traveling.  Not just excited because we scored another free bar, but also because we were amazed to read that this brand aided to reestablish a nearly extinct strain of cacao.  Their packing was sophisticated; a sealed tin box opens to individually wrapped, bite sized bars (we made each of our bars last several bites because we like tiny bites to really taste the flavor profile).  If you visit Valrhona's website, they advise tasting their bars with all your senses, in this way:

 

"Sight: First of all, look at the chocolate. Concentrate carefully on the polish, the shine, and especially the color. Colors can range from milky beiges, to pure mahoganies, to deep dark browns. It is an essential detail that reveals the varieties of cocoa beans used.

Smell: Next, smell the chocolate, breathe deeply and fill your mind and body with its aromas.

Hearing: Listen by breaking a square into fragments between your fingers, and listen to the snap it makes.

Taste: Start by biting into a quarter of a chocolate square, let it melt on the tongue to taste the initial flavors, aromas and consistency. Gently rub the tongue against the palate. This causes the temperature of the chocolate to slowly increase, resulting in the final release of its flavors and aromas. Close your eyes and focus only on the development of the aromatic notes of the chocolate in the mouth."

You can see more of their tasting advice on their website.  On to the tasting!

Tasting No. :23

Valrhona's Noir Abinao 85 Percent

Initial Impressions:
This was a very dark brown bar, the snap was firm, almost brittle.  The smell was mild, musky like wet earth, and spicy.  The base bar was almost cloyingly sweet in comparing both the smell and taste.

Flavor Profile:

Initial – mild, earthy

Middle – almond, acidic

After – soil, cinnamon

Texture:
This bar had one of most intriguing textures we have come across thus far; the snap and first bite led us to expect the bar to be dry and crumbly.  Surprisingly, the bar melted easily and the texture was smooth but ended on a dry note.

Overall:
This bar was reminiscent of baking chocolate; it had an intense cacao flavor, was not very sweet but was also dry.  We paired it with black tea and it brought out the flavor profile nicely.  This brand has a lot of variety: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate with different flavors, baking chocolate, gift boxes, bourbon chocolate, and more.  We strongly encourage you to check out their website, there is a lot of educational material there about their chocolate making process, tasting tips, and their Clean Water Project which is inspiring.

Rating: 8 /10

*Notes:

Available on Valrhona's website
Price: $7.50

Next week, we're excited to start a a series for the colder weather: hot chocolate tasting!  We're gathering a few of our favorite brand's cocoa powders to sample during the month of November.  Be sure to check back next week for our first review, we can't wait!


For now savor: “Don't wreck a sublime chocolate experience by feeling guilty.  Chocolate isn't like premarital sex.  It will not make you pregnant.  And it always feels good." - Lora Brody

Chapter Two: Tasting Methods

“The difference between tasting chocolate and eating chocolate is that tasting chocolate is a constant and deliberate process, one in which you pay attention to every aspect of what you are eating and consciously evaluate the sensations you are experiencing.” - Clay Gordon, Discover Chocolate

Before we begin we want to quickly run through our ever evolving (amateur) tasting method.  We are by no means experts! If you have any suggestions or observations, drop us a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!  

We want to keep the focus on our love of chocolate and don’t want to get caught up using obscure, technical terms that you wouldn’t use on a day to day basis.  As you can probably guess, our end goal is to get chocolate in our mouths and have fun along the way.  While we researched chocolate tasting, we came across Clay Gordon’s book, Discover Chocolate that we found to be interesting and informative.  We’ve adapted his ideas to develop our tasting method.  Particularly helpful was his list of suggested questions to ask yourself while bar hopping. We will be answering a few of the following questions with each review:

How is the chocolate presented?

What does the chocolate look like?

What does the chocolate feel and sound like when it is snapped?

What does the chocolate smell like?

What does the chocolate taste like?

How does the chocolate feel on the tongue and how does it melt?  What other physical sensations does the chocolate cause in your mouth?

What memories does the chocolate evoke?

That’s it! Sweet and simple; we’re ready to start reviewing. Check in next week for our first bar hopping [chocolate] review, where you can finally hear our thoughts on a chocolate bar.