Improvements

5th April 2021

Ingredients

We’re sticking with the 70% dark so that this batch is comparable to our first attempt, and sticking with the 10% cocoa butter. This is what we put in batch 2:

779g cocoa nibs
389g cane sugar
129g cocoa butter

Roasting

Since we thought our first roast was underdone, we went for a longer roast this time, including a longer stint at the higher initial temperature.

10 minutes at 178C
11 minutes to bring the temperature down to 120C
19 minutes at 120C for a total of 40 minutes

The beans were definitely more done than the first attempt, and we initially wondered whether they might be overdone, but concluded that they were definitely better.

Refining

We tried to keep the refining the same as the first batch, but we went over by half an hour.

22.5 hours

Tasting

Compared to the first batch, this batch tasted a bit darker and more chocolatey. The flavour didn’t take as long to develop in the mouth, and was richer and more pleasant. We were impressed with the level of improvement we achieved.

Notes

We want to experiment more with the roast while keeping other variables as similar as possible for the next batch. This batch was definitely better, but we wonder how much farther we can improve it.