Released: June 2021
The coarse ground is an homage to the traditional way of consuming cacao.
5000 years ago, cacao was consumed in Latin America as a strong bitter drink that was believed to give supernatural strength. Cacao was thus reserved to the elites and to the warrior before battle, it was also used in ceremonies as it was believed to have a spiritual power. Surely, they could feel the rush from the Theobromine, wish is pretty magical, let's be real.
The cacao was milled by hand using a matate (the ancient equivalent of a stone grinder) to make a thick coarse paste from the dried cacao beans. The result was a thick coarse paste used to make a strong bitter drink.
This is the texture and flavour we want to recreate with this rough 80% bar. The cacao is lightly refined but it is still conched, removing some bitterness and astringency naturally found in the beans, leaving a crunchy yet well balanced flavour.
We love the cacao grains rolling on the tongue and crunching under the teeth, bursting in flavour. This bar is a celebration of the magical cacao plant and an example of chocolate that is not the sweet smooth candy that we know today.
Chocolate is a broad canvas that can be anything between sweet and savoury, smooth and coarse, and everything in between.