a hotter roast

13th December 2021

Ingredients

Again, we stuck with the 70% bars with 10% cocoa butter to compare with the previous bars:

734g cocoa nibs - costa esmeraldas
367g cane sugar
123g cocoa butter

Roasting

We tried a 140C roast this time in the hope that the flavours would change faster while roasting and we would get a better feel for when they were at their best. We tasted often and I think we got closer than last time to getting it right, but we definitely need more practice.

24 minutes at 141C

Refining

We tried to keep the refining the same as the previous batch for comparison, but life got in the way of getting the sugar in at the right time.

24.5 hours total
Sugar in the last 8.5 hours

Maturing

We only had 3 days of maturation time for this batch as we wanted to get it finished before Christmas, so we tempered it earlier than we wanted to, but it went well.

Tasting

The flavour this time is very similar to the last batch, but instead of releasing slowly as it melts, it comes at you all at once as soon as you start to eat it. The weird aftertaste from the last batch has gone, but the flavour is really very intense and a bit much.

Notes

We wondered whether using less cocoa butter would help with reducing the intensity of the flavour, so we’re going to try a batch with 5% instead of 10% next time.