Raaka Yacon 79% Belize

About: Raaka is a brand I generally like. It's hard to find, and its rarity adds to it's cachet. Some of the bars are really quite good, but this is perhaps not really one of them, as you can read about below. Please. Read below.

Elsewhere, I did mention that:

Raaka is made from unroasted cocoa, and it's different, and it's good.They claim their beans are ground at 145 degrees F, where are other manufacturers roast at 250 to 300 degrees F. It's plausible that roasting at higher temperature removes some flavor, and tasting some of their chocolate supports that idea.

Flavor: Just not much there. If you let it warm in your mouth for a while, it finally kicks in and comes around, delivering a wane, sad whimper of an "I am here.. in your mouth... trying to wake your taste buds, but oh gawd, I am tired." Yes, it's earthy. Yes, it's somewhat chocolatey, but oh yawn.... it's sleepy and barely there.

Texture: A bit too brittle. Just  a bit. The high cocoa butter content perhaps obscures the flavor.


My rating: 4 on the scale discussed below. While I like Raaka chocolates, this bar is not one I would bother with again.


I realized recently that my rating was too subjective and variable. Live and learn. So today I'm starting a more careful rating scale which goes as follows:

Rating Value	Meaning
1	Really bad chocolate. There's something just really really wrong here in almost every imaginable respect.
2	A bar with this rating has at least two drawbacks.
3	A bar where something is starting to get seriously wrong.... for example, really weak flavor with an otherwise acceptable texture.
4	This bar is below average, but just slightly. Mostly it's not worth eating again. Something isn't quite up to par, for example a poor texture but fine flavor.
5	This is an average good bar that's worth eating. There's nothing really wrong with it, but also nothing particularly spectacular. Or, perhaps it has a good characteristic that's evenly counter-weighted by something weak.
6	A solidly good bar with one characteristic that's above par, for example a great texture.
7	An solidly good chocolate that has two above par characteristics, but nothing mind-blowing. Good, above average flavor, but nothing to die for.
8	An excellent bar with no weaknesses and at least one characteristic that's super.
9	An awesome bar to die for with amazing texture and flavor.
10	You have been touched by God.

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