Soma Porcelana 70% Cacao

                                   

About: Soma is a Canadian chocolate maker "in the European tradition," meaning that they add cocoa butter to the mix. That (supposedly) makes the chocolate smoother than a regular bean-to-bar bar. For a small, two-store business, Soma has a pretty broad range of chocolate products: bars, flavored bars, drinking chocolate, cookies, gelato, etc etc etc.  Most of their chocolates are high cocoa content.

They have a reputation that spanned the continent - they're east coast, and I heard about them on the west coast, at a boutique chocolate shop. And... they're expensive. Maybe 5 times the cost of a good mass manufactured bar!

Flavor: They describe this bar as having a phenomenally long finish, and indeed it does. For a 70% bar, it has the smoothness and mellow flavor of a milk chocolate bar (without the cloying sweetness). The flavor is subtle; you aren't hit in the head with aroma. It sneaks up on you and then you realize that you're enveloped in a deep, rich, but ever-so-smooth chocolate flavor.

Texture: Smooth - definitely smooth.

My rating: I'm torn between an 8 or 9 here. Good texture. Very good flavor  - chocolate flavor, doubled down. Maybe an 8 because it didn't have that super fresh, fruity flavor you can get with bean-to-bar bars...

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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